An apology.
This probably... Will wind up unseen by a much larger contingent than the first time I posted this. And yeah, I accept and own up to that. I've gone straight down to the bone trying to collate and wrap up and prettify all of the reasons I couldn't countenance the idea of pulling the lever for Clinton if it came down to it; and to be fair, I deserve my amount of flak for it. And looking back at old messages between myself and someone I used to viciously butt heads with, looking back at the people I'd considered allies only to have been MASSIVELY wrong after seeing the kind of things they'd post without direct DU oversight, I know exactly what's spurring this.
Trump is a bloody nightmare. I was willing to flay skin and muscle from bone to fight the primaries down to the very last second-- and then I had to start paying attention to Trump. A less qualified man has never been fielded in politics before; and as much as I get abrasive, as much as I get out and out hostile with people, I can't countenance letting him get into office. It was re-reading a candid talk with a poster who has once again been FFR'd-- altogether sure he'll come back and keep doing his thing regardless-- that brought me back to this topic, and another poster that said "I might have wanted to wait till after the convention to post this thread".
He was right. My timing was off, and I took that to believe the people I'd considered ideological enemies were more willing to dig a trench and shoot us in front of it rather than work across any kind of aisle that wasn't filled with concertina wire. I'll freely admit, my hostility, my abrasiveness, it drove me to a point of mania. Because no, I couldn't believe in Clinton, not until rereading old messages with people that I still have respect for.
"But, even still, our history as Black people in this nation has taught us that the "government", though imperfect, has been our guardians, from protecting the Freedman during Reconstruction, to integration and anti-discrimination enforcement."
"Though imperfect". In all the time I'd spent angry, absolutely incensed by both the numbers of Hillary's supporters who couldn't restrain being smarmy and condescending; and Bernie's supporters who stamped their feet, hurled blatantly sexist invective, and really comported themselves no better than the outrageously offensive fundamentalists I've spent years deriding where the other site's concerned, those two words never occurred to me. Wouldn't have occurred to me. "Though imperfect". That has a lot to do with how I was raised, but that doesn't matter right now; what matters is that we're not going to be able to get perfect. Would it be nice? You bet your ass. But we have have to make do at the end of the day.
So far, both sides have looked nasty at one point or another. I'm certain that for every insufferable Clinton supporter, there's an absolutely infuriating Sanders supporter, and vice versa. And I'm even more certain that a vast number here would call me an absolutely infuriating Sanders supporter. You'd have been right. I was a jackass. But once again, I find myself coming back to that poster's words; albeit mangled through my own language: it's about survival, dumbasses. Survive to be dealt into the next hand, and hope to bluff our way to the pot.
I don't think the election will be as simple as the pools will paint it. Sure, Trump is in single percentage point odds right now; but I don't think it'll be that easy. As such... I'd like to wholeheartedly apologize for the things I've said up till now, and the misinformation that I'd believed in that propped up a flawed image of our candidate. Let's get down to business, and get these recalcitrant fucktrumpets out of office already.
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were more willing to dig a trench and shoot us in front of it rather than work across any kind of aisle that wasn't filled with concertina wire
absolutely incensed by both the numbers of Hillary's supporters who couldn't restrain being smarmy and condescending
And this is why we don't (shouldn't) continue attacking Bernie and his supporters (his actual supporters, not the Busters who are not his supporters). Once people don't feel cornered they can stop being reactive and start thinking again; and most of us on both previous sides were in a reaction spiral that was feeding off of the previous real, or perceived, attack.
I don't remember any of your posts, VulgarPoet, but if everyone that said something stupid or terrible during the primaries had to apologize we'd all be apologizing until 2020.
I thank you for your heartfelt post. Now let's go win.
seriously we have to crush this demagogue, so that the ilk that follows him crawl back into the darkness. It up to all of us. 
