We're chasing a version of America that only exists in a fantasy.

[maxrandb]

Retrumplicans are some horrid and disgusting people, but they understand policy.

He may be a serial pu$$y grabbing moron, racist, thief, grifter, conman and worthless piece of amphibian shit, but he gives them racist, corporate judges and tax cuts for the wealthy.

He's a disgusting, putrid sack of festering boils in a cheap suit, but he'll fuck over minorities and voting rights.

He's the fucking leader of the God Damned Retrumplican Party, but I'm supposed to need more "proof" that "Democrats are better than Retrumplicans"?

It seems that Ralph Northam is still trying to figure out what the fuck happened. Was it him in the photo? Was it not him? Did he dress up like Michael Jackson? Can he moonwalk?

Is every Democrat in Virginia just one skeleton in a closet away from hell? I don't have the foggiest idea.

I'm not a minority so I can never understand how this hurts and disgusts on a visceral level. I can't walk in those shoes.

But it makes me want to ask some questions.

Were Ralph Northam a raging racist, would he hide that fact by doing all he can to protect the voting rights of minorities? Would he fight to strengthen unions to lift the poor into the Middle Class? Would he fight to expand Medicaid?

There is nothing in his policies that gives the impression he's a flaming racist. In fact, his policies seem to reflect just the opposite.

The Retrumplican candidate for who ran against Tim Kaine for Virginia Senator this year was Corey Stewart.

Corey Stewart is a close associate and supporter of the guy who organized the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.

Corey Stewart likes to spend his off time dressing up in Confederate uniforms.

Corey Stewart ran a campaign that centered around; “we are going to defend our Confederate Statues to the death!”…well, that and “tax cuts for the rich” and “deregulation for the corporations”.

As far as I know, there are NO photos of blackface in Corey Stewart’s college yearbook. Though this being Virginia…who knows? Oh, never mind, he's originally from Minnesota...obviously no racism there, huh? It is likely that MN School Yearbooks probably don't contain a bunch of shit like Virginia's used to...or maybe still do. Again, I don't know.

Yet, we have a president who claims he's the "least racist person in the world", but his policies and his actions...not 35 years ago, but as recently as two minutes ago, show him to be an asshatted bigot. Don’t know if there are any blackface photos associated with Donnie Shit for Brains, but he did tell us, just last year, that Nazi’s and Axe-Body-Spray wearing morons with Tiki-Torches chanting “Blood and Soil” and “Jews will not replace us”, were just “good people on the other side”. As if Nazism and Freedom were just two fucking sides of the same fucking coin.

Am I missing something?

I'm going to say something here that might piss off some people.

The vast majority of people don't give a rat’s ass about the character of leaders. They care if their fucking policies are going to help, or harm them.

Maybe I'm cynical, but I think we're chasing a version of America that only exists in a fantasy world.

With few exceptions, your neighbor who you invite over for the Sunday cookout would fuck you over without even a reach around if it benefitted him.

I would like my politicians to be decent and honest and moral people, but what is more important to me is that they will fucking fight for me.

I don't need purity. I need a politician who will fight like hell to strengthen unions.

I don't need purity. I need a politician who will fight like hell to protect reproductive rights.

I don't need purity. I need a politician who will fight like hell to protect the voting franchise.

I don't need purity. I need a politician who will fight like hell for the middle class, the working poor and the poor, and will fight to limit the power of the 1%.

I don't need purity. I need a politician who will NOT nominate pricks like Thomas, Alito, Roberts, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh to the supreme Court, or the “giggling Confederate” Sessions as Attorney General.

I want a White House that does not have Steven Miller as a “senior advisor”…even if it means that senior advisor would be Joe Manchin.

I want a Congress that has Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House…NOT Paul “Koch Fellator” Ryan.

I want a fighter who will fight for the right things and fight for the right policies.

I don’t need the Democratic Party to “prove” they are “better than the Retrumplicans”. The Democratic Party nominated a fantastic, incredibly smart, expertly prepared, came from nothing and worked her ass off woman, devoted and caring leader, dedicated mother and grandmother…and one who had fought her entire adult life to improve the lives of the Middle Class and poor. Had fought for health care. Had fought against poverty. Had fought for equal rights. Had fought for women.

Retrumplicans nominated Donnie Short Fingers.

Please don’t tell me what “Democrats need to do to show we are better than Retrumplicans”.

There is quite a difference between taking each accusers allegation seriously, and demanding the head of the accused on a spike.

Maybe not rushing to judgement or behaving like the Queen of Hearts “Sentence First…then trial”, is also what makes us “better than Retrumplicans”.

The America you're looking for. The one where we treat each other with respect, have politicians and other leaders pure as the driven snow, and elevate only the "best" to high office...let me know when you find it.

In the meantime, I'll take Ralph Northam, Justin Fairfax and Bob Herring over George "Makaka" Allen, Jim Gilmore, Ed Gillespie, Bob McDonald, Ken Cucinelli, or Corey Stewart anytime.

[LiberalArkie]

1. Correct.

[Phoenix61]

2. Well said

[Hortensis]

3. Disagree. America always needed plenty of improvement,

and always will, but I spent several decades of my life grateful to have been born here while watching the news.

Obama: If you could choose a time to be “young, gifted, and black” in America, you’d choose right now.

He's also meant that for all people, not just the young audience he was addressing. That was before things went terribly wrong in 2016, but I'm sure he'd say the same today. Not America in some imaginary better days when many were paid more but many also died before they could enjoy their pensions, but now.

[maxrandb]

4. And how did America repay President Obama?

we elected a moron who spent 2 years pushing a racist birtherism attack against him.

[Hortensis]

6. No, we didn't. Speak for yourself.

[maxrandb]

11. Don't try to divorce yourself from what America did

it just perpetuates the fantasy that we are some type of country that would never elect a moron like Donnie Shit for Brains.

Bottom line is we did.

Racist birther shit was not enough to stop it.

Admitted sexual assault was not enough to stop it.

Documented criminal behavior, multiple bankruptcies and fraud was not enough to stop it.

Riddle me this. If America is truly that "Shining City on a Hill", how did it end up with the drawbridge troll as it's leader?

You can either pretend that America is some fantasy land of soft kittens and unicorns that poop Rainbow Sherbet, or we can face the harsh reality that we are a country that put this orange piece of amphibian shit's finger on our nuclear missile forces.

To fix a problem, you have to admit there's a problem.

America, we have a problem.

[Hortensis]

12. Imo sophistry, and why would you ever want to make

this phony argument?

We're not ants. You yourself prove that your attitudes are extremely different from mine, and I can't begin to imagine what satisfaction you get out of yours. But I reject them.

[maxrandb]

10. Sorry, but you don't get to do that...none of us do

If you're an American...the face of our fucking country is an orange racist moron.

America ELECTED FUCKING DONNIE SHOT FINGERS

If you're an American...own it!!

Doing anything else, or saying "well, he doesn't represent the real America" just perpetuates the fantasy.

I too had a fantasy. I believed, deep in my soul, that the America I love and served over 30 years in the Navy would never elect such a moronic caricature of a disgusting worthless human being as Donnie Shit for Brains. Boy, was that a fucking wake-up call.

I had a fantasy that America would never take a clown that, you know in your heart, does not deserve one fucking second of our serious thoughts or time, and elevate that person to the highest office in the land.

We can make all the excuses, or go over all the reasons that he didn't really win.

- He got less votes
- The media skewed in favor of him
- The Electoral College fucked us
- Russia did it
- Democrats were to consumed with eating their own (gee, where have we seen that?)

Bottom line is, unless you are ready to denounce your citizenship and move...DONNIE SHIT FOR BRAINS IS OUR AMERICAN PRESIDENT

If only the Retrumplicans had demanded his resignation for his current year racism...NOT 35 years ago stupidity, maybe he wouldn't be the face of our fucking country, but he is.

But right now, and for a great deal into the future, when you gaze on the American Flag, there is going to be a giant orange shitstain smeared over the Stars and Stripes.

[dalton99a]

5. The perfect is the enemy of the good.

- Voltaire

Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without. - Confucius

[exboyfil]

7. Sums it up perfectly

"The vast majority of people don't give a rat’s ass about the character of leaders. They care if their fucking policies are going to help, or harm them."

I would say who you are now is far more important than who you were 30 years ago.

We started down this trail by using past accusations against Moore to win a Senate seat. It worked. In the case of Kavanaugh it did not. In both cases we were unable to make our political case to defeat the candidate of today.

[maxrandb]

14. I don't think we can compare this to Kavanaugh

There was contemporaneous evidence. He lied...a lot. There was more than just Kavanaugh and Ford in the room and the Retrumplicans refused to call that person to testify.

But, I get your point. What's good for the goose is good for the gander...unfortunately, it appears that it is only the Democratic Party that is expected to hold their member's accountable.

I hate that this is the case, but if we continue down this road and demand the scalp of any Democrat accused of ANY offense, that will result in nothing but unilateral disarmament.

I'm not big on loyalty for loyalty's sake, but we've gone way off the rails in the opposite direction. The Retrumplican know this and will use this against Democrats every chance they get. If there's not a chance, or a scandal, they'll create one.

This period in our history is no time for "Kumbaya". It's time for "hold on to your butts"

[ProfessorPlum]

8. Thank you for bringing the focus back to policy and what actually matters in the lives of people

purity is nice to hope for/work for. But there is so much ground to be made up for in policy in the meantime.