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This is Paul Hirsch

Paul Hirsch

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If You Lose, It’s Your Fault

Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and…Greenies(?), I’m going to address each of you separately. There is SO much I could discuss, but I’m only going to touch on electability. This post is NOT about qualifications. It is about candidates being viable. If this pisses you off – good! I’m pissed off. You’re pissed off. It’s the last day of this democratic atrocity we call the 2016 Election, and you should be pissed off. Tomorrow, it’ll be time to take on a new tone. Today? It’s rant time!

Dear Republicans,

All you had to do was give us ANYONE else (except maybe Cruz), and your candidate would have been picking out curtains and china patterns two months ago. Being a politician running for office doesn’t disqualify you as an “insider.” It makes you a public servant seeking to serve in the highest public service office in the land. You know what might have been a REAL revolution? Watching half the Democratic party flip over to vote for Kasich, Bush or Pataki, or possibly rolling enough Dems to create a public mandate around Rubio, Graham, Walker, Fiorina or Christie. Sure, bad stuff would have come out, but it wouldn’t have torn your party to shreds (you’re making an admirable effort of stitching it back together, but too little too late?).

You gave us Trump, a man who has never been a civil servant, but more importantly, has rarely (never?) shown himself to make a decision of any significance that wasn’t in his own best interests, first, foremost and by far. Clinton has made bad decisions, good decisions, been thwarted by her peers and a leader among her peers. In other words, she has a public service record, good and bad. She is vulnerable because she breeds uncertainty, and it makes everyone uncomfortable. She’s embroiled in scandalous circumstances that are complex and visibly unfavorable toward her, and she is very vulnerable as a result. You might have given us the one candidate in Trump who is unable to beat her despite her vulnerabilities, and that’s on you.

Dear Democrats,

Hillary Clinton? Really? Having your heart in the right place and presiding over positive outcomes are two different things. She may make a great display of the former, but there’s not enough of the latter to overcome her ghosts and skeletons, and it should worry you greatly that this is the case. If she could show enough clear, strong victories with measurable results for the people she’s promising to lift up, that would be one thing. But whatever victories she might have are weak compared to her vulnerabilities, and none of them are new or were unknown to you during the primaries. A substantial minority within your own party were vocal about their mistrust of her character, and certainly the entire Republican constituency felt/feels the same way.

You had the opportunity to put a progressive standard-bearer with googobs of HUMBLE public service into the race. Had you nominated Bernie Sanders or even O’Malley, sure, either could be attacked on a few points, but they would be policy differences between the parties, exactly what’s supposed to be attacked, defended and debated during an election. You knew this was an election based more on character and less on policy, and you chose the candidate with completely, utterly shite character as far as public perception is concerned. You might have given us the one candidate in Clinton who is unable to beat a self-centered businessman with no public service record, and that’s on you.

Dear Libertarians,

You ran your ticket in the wrong order, and your main guy stopped the weed a week too late – the brain cells didn’t have enough time to regenerate. You should be thrilled to even get 5% of this vote.

Dear Greenies,

When your party name is based on a single issue, the only way you’re going to get votes is if the nation agrees that one issue is the single most important issue they face. You might think it is, but if the nation doesn’t agree, it doesn’t make a lick of difference. Rebrand as the Progressive Party or something/anything else, and maybe someone will pay attention to you next time. You keep doing the same thing and getting the same result. There’s a saying about that, and it’s not very flattering.

I rarely make a post just to point fingers. These are rare times. After tonight’s election, I’ll have plenty more to say about how we move forward. Today, with the election about to end, I needed to get these things off my chest. Your mileage may vary.