Thank You Dem Guys and Gals

Thank You Dem Guys and Gals

And then there were two. It’s Joe and Bernie at the ripe old ages of 77 and 78 respectively. I wrote a long time ago about our needing to seek out a younger candidate like a Buttigieg, but that wasn’t to be. Then I went towards Mike and Kim went towards Elizabeth. But wait, they are 78 and 70. Amy is looking like a youngster at 59. But age is not what I want to talk about. In fact, its not even about Joe and Bernie. There will be plenty of time between now and Milwaukee and lots of gaffs and guffaws to write about. What I want to address is the list of Democratic candidates that have now dropped out of the race and what they mean to us.

First let’s go back and look at the list of Presidential candidates over the last ten elections:

Trump v. H. Clinton

Obama v. Romney

Obama v. McCain

Bush W. v. Kerry

Bush W. v. Gore

Clinton v. Dole

Clinton v. Bush G.

Bush G. v. Dukakis

Reagan v. Mondale

Reagan v. Carter

Every single one of these men and women who LOST these elections were stalwarts and excellent representatives of the United States that we would have been proud to say were our President. I will not run down the list one-by-one but I challenge anyone to say that any of these people didn’t comport themselves honorably. People might think Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Bush Senior, Dole, Gore, Kerry, McCain and Romney wee all boring or flat, but they were all honorable without question. I purposefully left Hilary off because I know there are a bunch of people who still want to hate her and lock her up, but whenever I question why that is, I get vague comments about email servers, Benghazi and the hated Clinton dynasty (as opposed to the Bush dynasty?). Let’s face it, people, the most smarmy people in politics have had over three years of complete control over all U.S. agencies that have every scrap of evidence or whatever might pass for evidence and….nothing. No charges. In fact, what the law enforcement folks hate to do, to rule out possible suspects, has happened for Hilary. So why the hatred? As tempted as I am to blame Trump and as not innocent as he is, I don’t feel I can hang this around his neck. There’s more to it.

It’s about a patent lack of civility, but how bipartisan is that trend? I am forced to consider the issue as fairly as I can because all my Republican friends tell me that there is no difference between Democratic and Republican politicians. The view is that they are all crooked and dishonest with one no better than the other. There is a desire to liken the “cold-hearted conservatives” and the “lib-tards”, but I’m not a buyer of that line of reasoning. The very term “lib-tard” says a lot to me on this issue. Cold-hearted may be unfair and may not apply to all conservatives, but it is not denigrating in the same way that likening liberals to mentally challenged people and further putting-down those with that type of disability with the politically incorrect terminology of someone being retarded. I assure you that the names used to describe liberals seem more graphic and offensive than the names for conservatives. Maybe Republicans are just wittier.

Let’s stick up the unsuccessful candidates from the 2020 Democratic race versus the unsuccessful candidates from the 2016 Republican race”

2016. 2020

Cruz Booker

Bush J. Harris

Kasich Bloomberg

Rubio Warren

Carson Gabbard

Fiorina Buttigieg

Christie Klobuchar

Santorum Steyer

Paul Yang

Huckabee Gillibrand

Gilmore Bullock

Pataki Williamson

Graham Castro

Jindal Bennett

Walker DeBlasio

Perry Inslee

Hickenlooper

O’Rourke

Swalwell

Patrick

I will show my bias by saying that 8/16 of the Republican candidates are perfectly honorable people (with no regard for IQ). On the other hand, I will suggest that 16/20 of the Democratic candidates are honorable people. By my count, the differential is 50% versus 80% and I consider that count to be statistically significant.

I am watching Lawrence O’Donnell comment about Elizabeth Warren and why she was the best part of the 2020 race. That makes me want to say that the best part of this race was the following:

Beto O’Rourke – for his passion

Jay Inslee – for his climate change focus

Steve Bullock – for his rugged individual decency

Michael Bennett – for his soft-spoken manners

Cory Booker – for reminding us why Rhode Scholars come in all colors

Mike Bloomberg – for reminding us that not all money is ill spent

Elizabeth Warren – for showing us that a woman is competent to lead

Pete Buttigieg – for his decent, brave, articulate calmness

Andrew Yang – for math

Kamala Harris – for her pointed determination

I am proud to have voted in the Democratic primary and to say to anyone who wants to know, that I am blue to the bone. I challenge all my Republican friends to do an honest and descriptive list with similar passion…but wait, don’t let Trump find out you have anything good to say about anyone but him. Thanks to all the great Dem guys and gals that put it all on the line for democracy in 2020.