If anyone let anyone down, WE were the ones who let ourselves down,

[pnwmom]

Hillary didn't fail us.

She worked her heart out, but too many of us just took for granted that she'd win. Or didn't think it really mattered, or decided to cast a protest vote. Some of us didn't vote at all.

And now we're living with the consequences. But we can't blame it on Hillary. It's on us.

[cilla4progress]

1. I have to agree.

Been thinking this a lot lately.

[citood]

2. Its hard to blame only the candidate

When there's a primary process. The party put up the candidate...and anything else I have to say would be re-fighting the primaries.

[jodymarie aimee]

3. OF COURSE

I QUIT THE EXEC BOARD OF MY COUNTY'S PARTY LAST YEAR AS THEY WERE DO NOTHINGS. I AM THINKING OF QUITTING THE PARTY ALTOGETHER NOW. THEY DO NOTHING, BUT HAVE ICE CREAM SOCIALS, FISH FRIES, ETC...DISGUSTING...I WILL REMAIN A PROGRESSIVE BUT HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE THOSE DOPES. I NOTICE THOSE NOT IN THE PARTY DO THE MOST AROUND HERE.

[okieinpain]

4. yes hillary failed us. she ran a terrible campaign

and the people will have to pay for it.

[pnwmom]

7. Bullshit. She was 9 points ahead when Comey dropped his first letter bomb.

Then the undecided voters swung against her.

[okieinpain]

15. yeah that's all great about the 9 points but she

ran a crappy campaign. sorry to inform you of this.

"They started prepping meals and organizing hotel rooms.


SEIU — which had wanted to go to Michigan from the beginning, but been ordered not to — dialed Clinton’s top campaign aides to tell them about the new plan. According to several people familiar with the call, Brooklyn was furious.

Turn that bus around, the Clinton team ordered SEIU. Those volunteers needed to stay in Iowa to fool Donald Trump into competing there, not drive to Michigan, where the Democrat’s models projected a 5-point win through the morning of Election Day."

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/michigan-hillary-clinton-trump-232547

[JHan]

48. She did not run a crappy campaign.

Errors made does not equal a "crappy campaign".

She was a decent campaigner, she ran clean, she actually made the debates count for something with her composure, and she could have pulled off a win uniting progressives with republicans who were disenchanted.

Lots of fuckeries occurred both in and out of her control.

Hubris from her campaign cost her, but that doesn't equal "crappy campaign"

[Exultant Democracy]

66. Hubris is what got her in 2008 too, fact is her staff was terrible

in her first run for the White House and while better for the second clearly not better enough.

In 2008 they projected picking up basically every caucus state delegate and got caught with their pants down. Lots of people with jobs because of who they knew and were related to, over having competent people in the right places to make the right calls.

[guillaumeb]

52. Voter suppression.

It cannot be overlooked because it gave Trump his slim margin of electoral victory.

[Exultant Democracy]

65. Exactly Obama's people knew they we playing with fire in those states too.

In addition the Comey letter only gets dropped because we voted for a candidate who was under investigation for the majority of the campaign.

Say what you will about how the right wing manufactures scandals. However after Obama managed to have an almost totally scandal free White House, perhaps we should reevaluate the wisdom of that talking point. Obviously the republicans have no shame, but at the same time Obama could figure out how to avoid giving them target.

[delisen]

8. She ran a great campaign in US but forgot to campaign in Russia. n/t

[okieinpain]

16. read please.

"They started prepping meals and organizing hotel rooms.


SEIU — which had wanted to go to Michigan from the beginning, but been ordered not to — dialed Clinton’s top campaign aides to tell them about the new plan. According to several people familiar with the call, Brooklyn was furious.

Turn that bus around, the Clinton team ordered SEIU. Those volunteers needed to stay in Iowa to fool Donald Trump into competing there, not drive to Michigan, where the Democrat’s models projected a 5-point win through the morning of Election Day."

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/michigan-hillary-clinton-trump-232547

[delisen]

25. I have read that. Clinton's loss was due to Comey, Putin, voter suppression

and propaganda (newly dubbed "fake" news), sometimes given currency by Democrats.

I have belonged to 2 unions. All I can say is if I truly believed that I had to get to Michigan to save the nation, I would have respectfully told the campaign workers that they were crazy and I would have sped on to Michigan. I'd like to know which SEIU official told the bus to turn around.

Union members and union officials that docile need to toughen up or pass the torch.

[uponit7771]

60. Amen and Amen!!!

[uponit7771]

64. +1

[GumboYaYa]

12. Agreed...she had no ground game in the key states

spent tons of money on ads but ignored the blocking and tackling of politics.

Field work is hard and unrewarding, but it wins elections.

[okieinpain]

17. +1 n/t.

[leftstreet]

23. +1

[loyalsister]

20. It is irresponsible for anyone to be a candidate if they have a truckload of baggage

ESPECIALLY when they know first hand how the dirt digging and spin game goes.

[LisaM]

29. So Trump had no baggage? Other Dems had no baggage?

That's baloney.

[delisen]

32. Baggage is Bull Crap-Might as well ask Mitch McConnell who he wants us to run

I guess Gore had too much baggage with all that climate change crap, and Kerry had too much baggage because he could be smeared on his war hero record.

I am tired of Dems who dump on their own candidates.

[Squinch]

36. All the candidates had "baggage." They had just as much as Hillary. Difference was she had a vagina

to go along with the 'baggage."

Democrats who talk about "Hillary's baggage" are the ones who have fallen for the Republican's spin and mind games.

[Glamrock]

39. I'm of the opinion

that Dem's who talked about her baggage had their finger on the pulse of the ignorant masses. While we here knew it was all bullshit, there were millions if not 10's of millions of uninformed voters who believed that bullshit. 20 years of false accusations and witch hunts did the damage they were meant to. But, you know, Stein...

[Merlot]

41. Saying HRC had baggage did not mean

that she wasn't a good or qualified candidate. It was facing 20 years of reality. If she were elected and the senate and house were repub, she would have been impeached, the investigations would have been non-stop. The repubs told everyone that from the begining. I think there were uninformed voters who believed the BS, but there were also people who knew it was BS but didn't want to see 4 more years of investigations. Those people stayed home.

[Squinch]

49. Donald Trump had a lot more than 20 years of a lot seedier, crazier reality. His likelihood of

impeachments and investigations are certainly at least twice hers. This argument doesn't hold water.

[Merlot]

50. drumptf doens't have a political career

he hasn't had 20 years of democrats beating up on him, investigating him, demonizing him. He's had lawsuits which he settles and seals, and years of self-promotion as a great businessman. There isn't any compairson.

And he's not going to get impeached or investigated with the repubs.

[Squinch]

51. Clearly you don't live in New York. His past is filthy and Hillary's doesn't hold a candle to it.

[yardwork]

59. OMG. People GAVE IN to the Republican lies and threats?

[Squinch]

43. And half of those accusations, and half of the talk of her "baggage" came from duped Democrats.

We are sometimes our own worst enemies. We have to stop crapping on our own.

[yardwork]

57. Obviously that didn't prevent Trump from winning the White House.

Hillary Clinton did not have a lot of baggage, at all. Are you still seriously suggesting that her emails and Benghazi matter? ALL of Trump's people have private email servers and nobody cares. Trump just killed who knows how many people in a botched raid THAT HE ORDERED and nobody cares.

[loyalsister]

69. cozying up to big banks was a very bad idea

Especially AFTER they became a synonym for corruption among people who got hurt and or were outraged over the ethical and legal violations the led to a recession. Hiding the transcripts and breaking rules designed specifically to facilitate FOIA furthered the narrative of corruption.

To not criticize the lack of transparency is to forgive Nixon, Reagan, and Bush for their secrecy and enable if not endorse this current president and staff being secretive.

[mcar]

79. So how is it working out for you now?

[loyalsister]

80. Excuse me?

I voted for her. That doesn't mean I'm too dumb to be aware of campaign miscalculations and hope we learned a lesson.

[uponit7771]

63. BULL FUCKIN SHIT !!!! COMEY, Voter Suppression and RUSSIA !! Fuck all the other bullshit FUD is tryi

[loyalsister]

70. Comey was only able to do what he did because there was a kernal of truth to draw from

If there had not been an investigation to begin with, his comments about further investigation would not have been effective.

[uponit7771]

71. Red herring, there was no legally valid reason to investigate her in the first place...

... that's not doubt winger meme.

She did nothing that Chaevfetz (sp) is doing RIGHT NOW other than have her server resident...

The investigation being political made it invalid ... the subsequent bullshit was invalid ... period end of story.

[crazycatlady]

72. They both had more baggage than an airport

[loyalsister]

81. Context matters

Hers were acquired during time she spent as a public official working for our government. His was acquired through his individual dealings in businesses and with spouses. Since that has no potential effect on the average fool who voted for him or didn't vote at all they don't care.

[Jakes Progress]

75. Gee, but the dark force is strong with this one.

Have you ever had a thought that didn't come from fox news?

It would take me way too long to educate you and point out the gaps in your understanding and the shallowness of your thinking. But the deep acceptance of right wing propaganda by people of little thought are why we have trump in the white house.

Irresponsible is someone who votes with as little thought as your post indicates.

[Blue_Tires]

21. How much work did you put into her campaign?

Asking for a friend...

[TrekLuver]

40. Were mistakes made? Absolutely. Was it "terrible"...hardly. Were there self inflicted wounds...

YES. Were there external forces coming together in concert to take her down (the primary, trump constant lies, comey, wikileaks, her server, alt right fake news) ...Hell Yes. And guess what she still almost won...even with that shitstorm constantly raining down.

Honestly, what upsets me the most out of all of this is that the Pub's ended up being loyal in the end to a complete narcissistic dangerous asshole...they got one thing...LOYALTY. And I feel that the Democratic Party did not have that...but if they did we would of won handily.

[uponit7771]

62. BULL FUCKIN SHIT !!!! COMEY, Voter Suppression and RUSSIA !! Fuck all the other bullshit FUD is tryi

[Jakes Progress]

74. Keep making excuses for your own

actions.

Sure blame the lady who spent her entire life doing things for other people only to have dimwits who think fox news is cool believe any crap the news desk turds dropped.

But blaming her is easier then facing the truth, isn't it?

[Big Blue Marble]

5. Ridiculous, it is not time to blame the victims.

We do now need to reassert our political power. We need to ask more of our democratic leaders and
be prepared to give more of ourselves.

Let's not spend time rehashing the past. Let's start planning for the future of this already great country.

[okieinpain]

18. yes this is true, but we can't give her a clean pass on this

too much was riding on her being the right person. this mistake has to be front and center going forward.

[Big Blue Marble]

19. I do not give her a pass.

Her team was overly confident that their analytics were the key to winning, that and the money.

I was responding to the OP saying we should blame ourselves. The blame game does not
serve us. I do not understand why we waste even a second looking back and tearing at
each other. That is a sure way to lose going forward.

[delisen]

45. Clean pass? We had a gutsy Sec of State who earned the wrath of a Dictator

by telling the truth about his corrupt regime and its sham voting, and you think she was "not the right person."

She was the right person. She told us about Trump and she told us about Russia, Had she not stressed who Trump was, addressed the Russian interference, and the alt-right in the debates, there would have been much less awareness and less resistance after Nov 8.

The press and media would have been poised to normalize the abnormal. She primed the pump of awareness, gave us a heads up.

Look at what a screw-up Abraham Lincoln was- he did not appease the southern states got us into a civil war. Too much ws riding on him being the right person. this mistake has to be front and center going forward.

[Idoru]

6. Oh really?

Black women turned out to vote for Hillary. 94% for Hillary.

But we don't exist, as usual.

[pnwmom]

9. I meant we as in the general public. But you're right of course,

if the rest of America had voted like black women, we wouldn't be in this situation.

[Idoru]

13. Then don't include me

In your royal "we".

And she didn't lose, the election was stolen.

[pnwmom]

14. I included myself and millions of others who voted and worked for Hillary,

including you.

Yes, the election was stolen. But if more Americans had voted, the margin could have been too great to steal.

[delisen]

46. You exist for me. I am totally aware that who I am has been shaped by

what black women, and black men, and children have done for America.

[old guy]

10. No. Don't blame me!

I did what I could. I didn't vote for tRump nor did I encourage anyone else to. I railed against him on every level I could. If you want to fall on your sword, please proceed, but I won't.

[The_Voice_of_Reason]

22. THIS....and we NEED TO OWN IT!

[raccoon]

24. I voted for her. I don't blame myself for Orangeman being in the WH. nt

[seaglass]

27. This belongs in post-mortem which no longer exists. Unhelpful. Please delete. n/t

[Chasstev365]

28. The sad reality is that Democrats now have to have such a massive lead that cheating is implausible

With Goebellsvision, aka Fox News, spewing lies and convincing so many dumbasses to vote against their own interests, it's a mountain the Democrats must climb.

[moda253]

31. Oh awesome... This again.

Meanwhile I'm terrified for what happens tomorrow.

[Iggo]

35. Fuck that. I voted for her. This is NOT on me. Sell that shit somewhere else.

[Merlot]

42. This

[aikoaiko]

37. You're mostly right, but she is one of us and has her share of the blame, too.

[Tatiana]

44. It was intentional. They wanted everyone to think she would win.

Several pollsters, including Kellyanne CONway noticed that the race had tightened considerably in the last couple of weeks.

They deliberately lulled people into thinking Hillary had it in the bag. People who would have voted for her didn't make that extra effort because some probably thought -- oh she's ahead... she'll win anyway.

The media ran with this narrative up until election day, when they had to know it was false. Even in solidly blue Illinois, I could see the trouble in Michigan (and, apparently, so could Michael Moore).

Hillary's campaign staffers failed her, and ultimately, this country.

[LisaL]

47. Posters on DU were only too happy to believe that narrative.

The idea that election was in the bag was the worst idea ever.
But if you dared to say something like this before the election you'd get accused of being a concern troll.

[melman]

73. Yes

Concern trolling!


And all the people that used to say that shit are the same ones that want to blame everybody else.


Funny.

[liquid diamond]

53. I accept no responsibility

for Hillary's loss. I donated to her campaign and voted for her. I blame white racists and Bernie's fucking zealots for sitting out the election out of spite/revenge. You people have not only fucked yourselves but your children and their children. You really showed us didn't you?

[Rex]

54. The entire planet thought she would win. Bookies were already paying out bets.

She lost, because we don't live in a country that will admit Trump might be a Russian agent. I blame HRC and us for pretending we already won.

Sorry but nobody is blameless.

[LisaL]

58. I thought it was incredibly stupid to pay out bets before knowing the outcome.

[Rex]

83. Me too I mean WTF? Nobody can be that sure.

And we all thought so too. Almost all of us, we laughed off anyone that said Trump has a chance. I still don't get the EC votes in comparison to voting numbers around the country. However my current state is kinda confusion as to how such a huge Turd is now writing EOs.

[Gothmog]

55. The BOB and Greenies also hurt a great deal

[GeorgeGist]

56. RUBBISH.

[uponit7771]

61. Comey, voter suppression And Russia... Empirical factors everything else is guessing

[Mr. Ected]

67. We lost because of the OTHER AMERICA

The America that is largely uninformed, or misinformed.

The America that applies one set of standards to the Republican; another set to the Democrat.

The America that has been propagandized for decades.

The America with racist, xenophobic, hatemongering tendencies.

The America that views progressive thought as the enemy of the people.

The America that believes that the rule of law only applies when we are in office.

The America that views a successful Democratic President as unsuccessful, and his Republican predecessor as a decent but flawed man who did his best under the circumstances.

We lost because we care, we research, we reach out, and we aspire to real greatness....attributes that are belittled and cause us to be considered weak in comparison to the loud, vulgar, vile, cheating opponent.

My fear is that the genie has left the bottle, and will never be replaced.

[jmg257]

68. No, thanks. SHE was the candidate. For WHATEVER reasons too many people chose otherwise.

She needs to own it too.

[mcar]

76. Thank you!

[Jim Beard]

77. We were polling pumped up........

I had been watching the polls on Real Clear Politics and started watching them more closer to the Election.

I posted a thread expressing my concern and got some shitty responses and some agreed. Its those who were too self assured that was the problem.

[ecstatic]

78. She worked her ass off. Was ALWAYS prepared for every debate,

every town hall, etc. She was the most qualified person to ever run for President. Trump was the complete opposite and the American people (with the help of Russia, Comey, and shady GOP governors) rewarded him for it.

[Fearless]

82. It is the candidate's fault if they lose.

Doesn't matter who the candidate is. It is however our fault as a nation that we have Trump. Everyone could've done more to stop that.