We need to move forward
Some are not moving on and some are not being realistic.
There are a whole host of issues related to the defeat in this election. Not necessarily what some make it out to be.
My take on it all:
Yes, there is misogyny. Yes, it had an impact on this election. Was it the major or overarching factor? In my humble opinion, no.
Why?
Because she got tens of millions of votes. She got millions of more votes than the person that "won" the election. She got more votes than just about anyone that has ever won, much less lost, an election.
It is hard to argue that misogyny lost her the election when we look at it in that light. It sounds disingenuous to beat our chests about her popular vote win and then claim misogyny lost us the election when the majority of voters voted for her.
The simple fact is that the primaries exposed a weakness in the states she lost. She faced some of her greatest challenges in the Rust Belt states during the primaries and lingering signs afterward that I didn't see, nor most public polls, but people in her campaign should have known, should have seen possibilities for issues.
So here is where I am at in "laying blame":
1. I am far more willing to lay a lot of blame on the doorstep of the media. The 30+ minutes on an empty podium that trump would eventually talk at during the primaries was the a sure sign that things were going sideways coverage wise. The constant harping on emails.
The complete lack of objective reporting. No follow-up questions. Allowing Trump surrogates to monologue without challenge and no fact checking. News media was more concerned about ratings than they were about journalism.
2. Majority of governorships and state legislatures held by republicans. They run it, they make the rules and they have oversight of the process in their states. This is ultimately the fault of the DNC and years of failure to gain or hold as many states as it could, especially right after a census year (2010). The next significant failure will come when we don't hold enough states after the next census in 2020. Why? Those who draw the Congressional district lines greatly increase their chances to win. Gerrymandering 101.
3. Next would be Clinton's campaign inner-circle. More should have been done sooner to address Rust Belt states.
4. Comey.
Why didn't I mention Sanders? Do I think that Sanders adversely impacted her campaign? To the same degree that any primary opponent would, no more or less. No more or less than Clinton's primary campaign impacted Obama in 2008.
To me there is little difference in 2016 'Bernie or bust' and 2008 PUMA. They were both small fringe groups that had very little impact on the overall results.
Most importantly Beating up each other about this election is less than productive. It actually plays right into these fascist hands.
The more we attack each other the easier it is for them to disenfranchise and marginalize us.
As my sig line states:
Trump is a narcissistic, racist, bigoted and xenophobic fascist. We are either united in our fight against his agenda or we will all become a victim of it.
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