Hillary Clinton
Related: About this forumIn appreciation to Cha and so many others (thoughts on DU)
I rarely post to DU, though I've been a member since 2003, drawn here by the top 10 conservative idiots of the week I believe. I ended up sticking around and keeping tabs on the many things going on in our democracy. I don't recall what the environment was like back in 2008, other than it was contentious and people were vying very hard for their candidate of choice, as one would expect. I feel that things are much harsher this time around, and miss the days of working toward moving the candidates forward by their merits, such as during the John Kerry run in 2004. We fought against the Swift boat nonsense and worked together. Sadly we lost that bid for the white house, but the unity really brought the community together, and by 2008, we were a team.
Perhaps the popularity of the site has brought in a much larger audience than from those days. We really were "underground" but now I wonder.
I just wanted to say thank you for keeping DU sane and trying to keep us on track for what our ultimate goal happens to be, which is getting Democrats elected. As to myself, I'm an elected official in the great state of Texas, representing a very conservative area of San Antonio. Through hard work, and a genuine message, I was able to beat a 12 year Republican incumbent and will now serve for 6 years on the local community college board. I share this, not to gloat, but to show that we can win, even in DEEP RED Texas. We can get people out to vote and bring a message of hope and positivity that can appeal to both sides of the aisle. And we can do so without sacrificing our democratic principles.
So once again, thank you Cha, sheshe, chichiri, and my old friend TexasTowelie, and so many more for reminding me of what DU used to be and what it can be again.
Cheers and onward to victory
MrWendel
(1,881 posts)SharonClark
(10,014 posts)Nice to know you are serving your community in a positive way.
quickesst
(6,283 posts)...K&R
livetohike
(22,165 posts)leftofcool
(19,460 posts)Chichiri
(4,667 posts)Buzz Clik
(38,437 posts)Traffic at DU is way down compared to 2008. Threads on the "Latest Threads" would rotate off the bottom in less than an hour.
And, in 2008, it was nasty here, but I don't recall the really vicious postings against HRC that we're seeing today.
I wasn't aware, just seems more busy here of late
jsmirman
(4,507 posts)I remember having strong pro-Obama opinions in 2008, but I don't feel like we behaved *this* badly.
shadowandblossom
(718 posts)I think mostly it's that she's a woman who is daring to be winning. However there is also some top-down hostility coming from the Sanders camp from what I've seen; he makes constant insinuations about her character without any proof of wrongdoing and many young people seem to worship the ground he walks on and seem to want to regard him as perfect. He paints a simple picture where she represents everything "bad" whether or not it's true and portrays himself as the antidote to what ails are society. His narrative is simple and attractive, partly because it is so simple. So those are some factors.
Watching a rally, before he came on, I saw a lot of hostility toward her coming from staff (petty and nasty attitude) and have heard second hand their e-mails tend to say nasty things about her; I haven't seen them myself though. Then there's her portrayal in the media which is I feel, full of double standards and weirdly harsh. They spin every word that does or does not come out of her mouth. And many sites have nasty things to say that aren't grounded in reality. As with anyone, there are things to dislike, but even the outlandish stuff is believed. There's also the fact that a lot of his supporters are younger.
My brother is drinking the Koolaide regarding her, while another friend prefers Sanders but lacks the irrational hatred toward Clinton that seems to pair with it for some. I would have rather seen her duke it out with O'Mallley because I like a more straightforward fight, but, people liked who they liked.
DemonGoddess
(4,640 posts)lunamagica
(9,967 posts)Cha, sheshe, chichiri, TexasTowelie
Cha
(297,774 posts)on winning your seat on your local community college board!
So many keep this site sane but we're dwindling thanks to the majority on the juries who hide our posts.. not because we're breaking the TOS, but because they can.
The Hillary group keeps my blood pressure down, that's for sure.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,274 posts)Hopefully sanity will return once the primary is over
pandr32
(11,625 posts)Stand and Fight
(7,480 posts)I'd give you a standing ovation if I could for posting this, as it's this sort of positive post that is sorely lacking nowadays. (Especially in the GD: P realm).
Hekate
(90,848 posts)Thanks.