What will interest me today

  • After watching the political, financial and media elite coagulate around Hillary!™.
  • After watching The Donald Trump Show.
  • After watching the complete and utter denial that any other choices exist by the party apparatchik.
  • It will be interesting to see how many reject the common wisdom.

How many don't vote.
How many vote "other".

This election has been:

Between "two" of the most untrustworthy candidates ever put forward by the two main parties
The most intellectually bereft that I can remember.
The most divisive.
The most "mememememe" by the respective candidates. Behaving as if we are electing the next "Great Dictator".
Utterly vile.

Who has been excluded from this farce?

Us and our worthless hopes and dreams.
Divisiveness has been driven like a stake into our still beating hearts.
When this has not worked, menaces have been replaced by ridicule.
Whatever the result "the frothing at the mouth partisans" on both sides will be enabled. We are in for four ridiculously long years.

I don't think in all my travels that I have seen anything [political] quite so depressing and as for foreign policy it was between which candidate could be the most bellicose. "American Exceptionalism" received another overdose of amphetamines.

How many will have resisted giving this electoral circus unmerited support?

How much more money will be sucked in next time to bolster a deliberately divisive, corrupt and rigged system?

How much longer will we allow ourselves no choice having been reduced to reliable voting blocks based upon wealth, race, gender and sexuality. Nothing depresses me more than:

Such and such a race will yada, yada.
Women who do not vote for a woman are yada yada.

When the hell will we be treated as thinking rational adults? Our intelligence has been battered mercilessly for decades, it will take decades more to treat the damage done.

Ra ra ra, vote the least bad!

Hell no.

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Alligator Ed's picture

This is the best quote and hoped-for plan to emerge from this knuckle-dragging circus freak show. The two best performers, Bernie and Jill, have been carefully ushered to the sidelines and their cheerleaders alternately condemned, ejected, or solicited as circumstances demanded.

My vote is for Jill but hope that Trump will win, so that the drainage project can begin.

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I expect Hillary to win, by hook or by crook. The one upside I see in her over Trump is that she enters office a lot closer to impeachment than he would. Opening the Clinton crime family can of worms with Congressional subpoenas could very well lead to a Nixon waving from the helicopter moment within a couple of years. Tim Kaine has all the leadership potential of a used Kleenex, so the moment of Democratic Party collapse could then be nigh.

Don't blame me for trying to find a silver lining, at least.

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"What a revolting development this is!" - Chester A. Riley

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elenacarlena's picture

But it would give me great satisfaction to wipe that smug smile off her face.

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Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.

We'd have to bring back that Hillary "Downfall" spoof to get an idea of what that would be like.

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You're everywhere and nowhere baby, that's where you're at
Going down a bumpy hillside, in your hippy hat
Flying across the country, and getting fat
Saying everything is groovy, when your tires are flat

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhpgepbvIhY]

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elenacarlena's picture

Tim Kaine has all the leadership potential of a used Kleenex

May I steal?

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Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.

Alligator Ed's picture

Tim Kaine has all the leadership potential of a used Kleenex

He could actually hasten Demexit.

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Lt. Commander Philip Francis Queeg: Get that red-headed fellow over there, that one there!
Lt. Keith: Sir, it's impossible to tell which one is red-headed. They're all wearing their helmets.

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featheredsprite's picture

"My vote is for Jill but hope that Trump will win, so that the drainage project can begin."

We were so completely screwed over by the Democrats, from top to bottom, that I'd like to see the party destroyed.

PUMA.

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

exactly how I feel to a T.

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Solidarity forever

May God have mercy on our souls.

(I voted for Jill Stein.)

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tourniquet's picture

interested to see what time this morning the AP calls the race for clinton.

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GIANT ALL-CAPS SIG

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When they conspired to screw Bernie and elevate Trump in the primaries.

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flowerfarmer's picture

as the perfect stalking horse.
He modulated his Disgust-O-Meter performance with just a tinge of Way Over The Line to ensure Her 'win'.

That's what co-conspiritors do.

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Bisbonian's picture

"You're next."

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

dance you monster's picture

At a visceral level, probably nothing. Because this election is not about what represents the 99% and our needs or aspirations or values -- only who will achieve what for one or another segment of the 1% who'll be happy to shut the doors to our voices tomorrow morning.

At some distant intellectual level, just as one watches a game between sports teams one doesn't follow, I will be interested to see a couple of things in my corner of the nation (the Philly 'burbs) that everyone says is everything today. I know we won't be likely to know just what the totals for third-party candidates will be, certainly not tonight, maybe never. TPTB won't want any eyes or ears turned in those directions. But I would like to see how closely (or not) the vote tallies align with the exit polls -- we've witnessed some divergences in those in recent months, and this is a region with electronic voting and a firmly pro-Clinton political machine to buff over any blemishes (or bully anyone who points the blemishes out).

And I'll be interested, like you, in turnout. Driving around the western suburbs of Philly yesterday -- the area touted as Hillary's firewall, where her campaign is claiming great support -- the number of yard signs was noticeably low (little enthusiasm for anyone here) but Trump's outnumbered Clinton's by a YUUUGE margin, maybe six- or eight-to-one. Turnout: do my neighbors here or others' neighbors anywhere else make the effort to legitimize what has occurred this past year-and-a-half? And will the outcome reflect an advantage in substance or in software?

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Citizen Of Earth's picture

He timed the escalation of Iraq fighting Just Exactly Perfect. On election eve half the news was about driving the boogie men ISIS out of Mosul. Be afraid. Vote your fear. Goebbels would be in awe.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

You nailed it LaFem. Go Green!

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Bisbonian's picture

We won't have any way to accurately measure most of those things.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

polkageist's picture

I was disgusted when I walked in to vote and loudly announced that "never had so many been offered so little." One of the poll workers mimed putting a gag on and it was obvious that my sentiment was pretty popular. The place was crowded at 8 am so maybe the turnout will be bigger than the pundits were prophesying.

For the first time in my looooong voting history, there was an exit poll person outside. The flyer said the poll was being taken by the "Freedom Forum" which has some controversy in its history. But who cares? We can't trust our government so why shouldn't we do whatever we can to force some honesty from it/them?

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-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962

riverlover's picture

but has a fact-filled article (whatever the basis of the "facts) on who is "data-collecting" today, with links embedded. If anyone cares to follow.

I will not be voting until this afternoon. I checked, still listed as registered (but Democratic, not Green, as my county has not updated older registrations since January, 2016). #DemExit in July. I will vote Stein, also anti-Schumer for the Green woman. Then, I don't know.

My daughter's dog is unwell. Intestinal blockage. In this AM (second time) for another Xray to see if it's budged (not complete blockage yesterday). The thousands of $$$ for tomorrow's egg harvest from daughter may end up being spent on veterinary bills, not student debt. Shit happens. I feel awful about the situation, happened to a previous dog of ours, $10K for one botched surgery followed by a second and a week in doggie ICU. He survived. I am not sure that daughter knows all the financial details of what her parents did for our Zamster. Please don't let that happen.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

I still haven't got over it, the house seems so empty, at least psycho kitty is fine even he cannot take up the vacant space.

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riverlover's picture

with accumulating medical problems. Likely a bad breeding line. I have lasted at most 4 months without a replacement. But Newfies and Sammies are out. Too big. My Cairn pup goes in for her first grooming today. Currently her ears look like those of a Silky Terrier. And I can't see her eyes. Wink

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

we have been given first choice, no decision as yet

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Puppies are a handful, but the joy they bring is not to be missed.

The older I get, the more I prefer dogs to people. They're better than we are.

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and then there are monkeys.

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...tell myself i don't belong to that species.

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featheredsprite's picture

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

1. The Democratic Party has permanently alienated a part of its reliable base. I refer to Bernie voters who saw the rancid, cheating underbelly of the DNC exposed and who want nothing to do further with a party with virtually no guiding ethos except to win at any cost. Some of these folks may turn out today to vote against Trump but they consider it their last final hurrah for the Party. Others will stay home or vote for Jill. Big backfire on the whole Bernie Bro strategy which morphed into the just as cataclysmically stupid "basket of deplorables" strategy. I don't recall any campaign anywhere that relied on insulting and stigmatizing voters as opposed to the candidate.

2. I echo DallasDoc that Hillary will have a very rough time, in particular if Dems don't take the Senate. Republicans are ready, willing and able to hold hearings and besmirch her legitimacy from the getgo.

3. I don't trust the polling regardless of who it favors or by how much. As an example, in the last Virginia Senate elections,Senator Mark Warner was supposed to have a double digit advantage over Ed Gillespie to retain his Senate seat. He won by a percentage of 1 percentage point. This was predicted by literally no one.

4. Speaking of Virginia. I live here. Virginia keeps being put in the Democratic column but I think it will go Trump.

5. The Celebrity factor. Minnesotans elected Jessie Ventura and Californians elected Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both were the result of the populace's disgust with business as usual and both states are considered generally liberal yet they both elected celebrities with no experience in government to their state's highest office. I don't see any reason why this same zeitgeist couldn't be translated to the National stage.

6. Speaking of Zeitgeist and point #5, the general disgust with politics and politicians could easily translate to what Michael Moore called the "Biggest F!@K You!" vote in history.

7. Change election as defined by David Axelrod. I think he says a winning candidate has to be seen as either the change or the cure. Aside from gender, HRC does not offer change nor is she seen as the cure, since she is the third Obama term. Note - Bernie would have been seen as both the change and the cure despite running as a Democrat.

8. Democrats were put in a box after having two terms with limited notable successes, the most public one, Obamacare being seen as going down the tubes as we speak. Obama gave a rousing speech about how great things are, i.e. unemployment down, wages going up, etc. which only made him look out of touch since unemployment is down generally because long-term unemployed are no longer counted or people are underemployed or over-employed (2 part-time jobs, etc.) and the labor participation rate is way way down. Wages going up slightly after years of stagnation is good, but they have a long long way to go before making up the stagnation.

9. Hillary has an enthusiasm deficit and a fatigue factor exacerbated by the 20 month slow rolling email scandal and pay for play perceptions which cause some percentage of the electorate to view her as unethical at best or criminal at worst. She seems to be an advocate of extra-judicial killings (wanting to drone Assange for example) and displays an an uncomfortable comfort with engaging in military misadventures. On the other hand Trump has demonstrated the moral failings of racism, sexism, xenophobia, religious bias, ignorance, narcissism, bullying, sexual harassment, unethical business practices, etc. etc. This is why most people consider both candidates as unthinkable, but yet they are forced to vote for one or the other. So, all voters for the most part are holding their noses.

10. I think the beltway may be underestimating the gun vote. This segment is a lot bigger than people seem to realize and they seem to believe for whatever reason that Hillary wants their guns.

Summation - I think this election comes down to which candidate do people fear more? Because of his overt idiocies, I think more people fear Trump more than they fear the more covert failings of HRC. Yet at the same time, the Change factor and fear and alienation and visceral hatred of Americans for their political system which they blame for their current economic despair tilts it towards Trump and his anti-trade pact stance factors in here. Trump is the id vote and Hillary is the ego vote. IMO at this time and place I think the id will override the ego and hate for the system will overcome fear of a specific individual. Democrats chose to run the only candidate with enough baggage to sink them in a battle with an overtly explicitly unacceptable opponant. Trump will be elected as the FU candidate.

There, I said it. Please understand a Trump victory is not my hope but it is my expectation. Let's hope I'm wrong and the pollsters are right.

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" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "

before the "leftish" blogs turn on her, I will enjoy mocking them, the cowards.

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Bisbonian's picture

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

I hope you're wrong. I think the damage Trump would do in the White House, with his full unleashing of the oligarchs' worst impulses, might well exceed even the damage Hillary would do. The SCOTUS argument can't be ignored either, no matter how clumsily it is wielded as a cudgel by Democratic partisans.

I'd rather see the Democratic Party disintegrate in a Nixon scenario than to see it brutally suppressed by Il Duce. But you may well be right, and I may have to retire early to France or Italy.

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Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

But its compelling for both sides so its probably a wash in its effects.

I think it comes to down to enthusiasm. And in such a bizarre contest it may be the enthusiasm of which candidate is disliked more by the other side. It's the ultimate negative election.

Ah, here's another factor - how many people will vote for Trump just so they don't have to see James Carville on TV any longer?

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" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "

WaterLily's picture

I could not disagree more. Why? Two words: Merrick Garland.

Not only the fact that Obama chose him over anyone else, but that a nominee even the Republicans love can't get confirmed.

No way, no how, is this different under HRC.

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Bisbonian's picture

Damn, I wish I had thought of that. But I already voted for Jill.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

lotlizard's picture

by which is meant deference to victimization as a way of atoning for the United States’ “original sin” of slavery.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-08/trump-clinton-and-culture-defer...

One thing this means is that deference toward victimization has evolved into a means to power. As deference acknowledges America’s indebtedness, it seems to redeem the nation and to validate its exceptional status in the world. This brings real power—the kind of power that puts people into office and that gives a special shine to commercial ventures it attaches to.

Since the ’60s the Democratic Party, and liberalism generally, have thrived on the power of deference. When Hillary Clinton speaks of a “basket of deplorables,” she follows with a basket of isms and phobias—racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and Islamaphobia. Each ism and phobia is an opportunity for her to show deference toward a victimized group and to cast herself as America’s redeemer. And, by implication, conservatism is bereft of deference. Donald Trump supporters are cast as small grudging people, as haters who blindly love America and long for its exclusionary past. Against this she is the very archetype of American redemption. The term “progressive” is code for redemption from a hate-driven America.

So deference is a power to muscle with. And it works by stigmatization, by threatening to label people as regressive bigots. Mrs. Clinton, Democrats and liberals generally practice combat by stigma. …

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at times, to hope for a Trump victory. Then I read about rumors of Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich being slated for high positions in a Trump Administration. This is believable and not at all reassuring. It's difficult to gauge the degree of lunacy that Trump might unleash. While John Podesta and his army of corporate lobbyists are far from being ideal guardians of the Imperial Throne, at least they are somewhat rational. I think they'll probably win the day, faute de mieux.

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native

Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

that would result from a Trump win. The scapegoats will be:

The media for covering emailgate (not Hillary for running emailgate)

Bernie Bros for holding a grudge and not returning obediently to vote for their stigmatizers.

Sexists which will be anyone who didn't vote for Hillary

Deplorables who turned out to be a greater percentage of the population than anticipated

African Americans who did not revere the Obama legacy to the extent that was required.

Youth voters with their irrational and inexplicable love for all things Swedish

Donna Brazile for not turning over enough debate questions

and the NUMBER 1 Scapegoat for a Hillary Clinton loss:

James Comey

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" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "

might still be considered a viable scapegoat as well.

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native

WoodsDweller's picture

Do you all think that Ted Cruz will start campaigning in Iowa tomorrow or take a day off first?

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

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No early voting. Long lines b4 polls opened. I was voter 160. When I voted afternoon of the primary (we were a Super Tuesday state this year) I was low 400s.

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Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

will be visiting in order to "thank the poll workers"? Worked before, should work again, right?

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" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "

polkageist's picture

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-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962

lotlizard's picture

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Azazello's picture

There will be a Perv in the White House no matter how the election turns out.

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Alligator Ed's picture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPU_7DEwPuM

You'll see some of my cousins too

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Cassiodorus's picture

Today's narration for this election will be brought to you by Billy Preston:

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

featheredsprite's picture

Or something like that.

Anyway, if the republicans need 30% of NYC to win the state, that means that Hillary needs about 2/3 of NYC. Ajamu and Jill have been really working the Bronx. If the Republicans watch the polls closely enough, maybe we can get enough of the votes to deny Her Majesty that prize.

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

Hetrose's picture

How well the Green Party does. Really want them to go well past that 5% mark and see it rocket forward from there.

I voted for Jill just a few hours ago. Also voted for a few Dems who I knew to be Berners, several (not nearly enough on the ballot) from the Mountain Party (affiliated with the Green Party), and where there was no one running except a Repuke (way too many of those here in WV) I wrote in my own name as a statement vote.

I sort of like, just a little more, the thought of: first the fall of the Republicans, followed by the rise of the Greens, followed by the fall of Dems, followed by the fall of the Oligarchs, followed by Democracy.

Stay strong, calm, determined, and safe.

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damn, damn, damn. wish i had known that yesterday when filling out my absentee ballot. just saw a link on Jack Pine Radicals to a certified list of write-in candidates that included Sanders. when did this happen? i thought the candidate themselves had to declare as a write-in candidate. wish i had known yesterday. i had not read anything about Sanders being a write-in candidate for CA. granted i unsubscribed from him when he endorsed Clinton.

shit. Sad

http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov//statewide-elections/2016-general/list-w...

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Lenzabi's picture

Well, the state has my ballot for Stein, here is hoping for the best!

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So long, and thanks for all the fish

jwa13's picture

and it is starting to look as though The $Hill might lose -- what a concept! The talking heads and DC Establishment are in total denial --
The DNC could have had a sweep of the executive office, Senate, downstate ballots, etc. if they had decided ("elected") to follow the "will of the people", as clearly expressed during the primaries (i.e., Bernie Sanders and progressive down-ballot candidates); except that these were suppressed (much of the time).

Instead, the Wasserman-Schultz wing of The Party (formerly known as "Democrats") decided to shove The $Hill down our throats, because it "... was her turn"; and also because the money just kept rolling in -- from Wall Street, hedge funds, Clinton Foundation "supporters", wherever.

Eat $Hit, DNC, $Hill, and Wasserman-$chultz --

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When Cicero had finished speaking, the people said “How well he spoke”.
When Demosthenes had finished speaking, the people said “Let us march”.