An Election that started as being about issues has deteriorated into sex and "least unlikable"

[Armstead]

What a fucking country we live in.

Sometimes I think we deserve to get the hosing we are collectively receiving.

Why bother to reach for anything better?

Jerry Springer for President!

[lapfog_1]

1. Hey! At least the accusations of chairs being thrown around

would be completely believable!!!

[Armstead]

7. Clinton and Trump will probably throw their podiums at each otehr in the debate

[LoverOfLiberty]

10. Do you honestly think

Sanders' supporters are innocent? You folks have slung some serious mud this primary season.

[Armstead]

11. Nobody is "innocent" ....But legitimate critiques have also frequently been labeled smears

It is an issue that our system is seriously corrupted. And discussing that is not off limits. The only way to ciorrect problems is to admit to them.

Sanders has overall been very focused on those issues. Sorry if that hurts your feelings.

[LoverOfLiberty]

12. You can't and didn't hurt my feelings

not sure why the zinger at the end of an otherwise reasonable post.

[bettyellen]

2. Sex? Whut? I have no idea whatcha talking about.

[Armstead]

4. Have you been watching the newschannels the last week or so?

It's all about Trump's boorishness and sexual obnoxiousness vs. Bill's sexual obnoxiousness.

Big issues are whether Trump made some woman strip down to her bathing suit at a party, and whether Hillary Clinton is responsible for being an enabler Bills wayward behavior....And spiced up with hints about otehr exploits to be revealed.

Oh sure. There are diversions. Which likely nominee is personally the least unlikable among the majority of Americans.

Debates over concentration of wealth, the decline of the middle class, the plight of the poor? Opening up the political process to new ideas? .....It all seems so quaint and "last month."

Yeah, it's going to be a very deep and thoughtful six months. And we're just at the beginning.

Personally I am soon going to transform from a political junkie to a total avoidence of political news. Pandora instead of MSNBC for background as I work.

To paraphrase Jackson Browne -- "I'm gonna be a happy idiot."

[bettyellen]

9. Being a sexist pig is absolutely an issue- and has nothing to do with sex itself. Jeeze.

I don't even know what to say to you if you are actually claiming Trump's treatment and attitudes towards women is not important. If it was black people he spoke of in a special way, you;d get it. But this, you are blind to. WOW.
you have some serious blindspots, and it is appalling.

[Armstead]

13. It's important...But are we going to be talking about nothing but that for the next six months?

Trump is a sexist dog. I get it. Everyone gets it.

My point is that as the "pivot" shifts to the general election, issues are becoming much less important than personalities.

Which is a pattern that has kept discussion of real problems and solutions to systemic problems buried under the veneer of politics as soap opera and team sport for far too long.

[bettyellen]

14. Not everyone gets it- most voters barely know Trump except as a famous TV person.

It's not just a personality flaw- it is a massive prejudice toward the MAJORITY of reliable voters. You get that women voters are more numerous and reliable voters. We damn well matter. Conflating sexism and sex- likening it to a sop opera? WTF, you should be embarrassed. Seriously clueless.

[ContinentalOp]

3. It has never really been about issues. It's always been about character.

Their stated positions on the issues are quite close together. But Sanders supporters start from the assumption that Clinton is a liar, a panderer, and so corrupt that we can't possibly take her platform at face value. Most of the criticisms of Clinton are based on opinions about her personal character, not the issues that you supposedly care about.

[auntpurl]

5. +100000

[Armstead]

6. Their perspectives are not similar. Some overlap on spec, but a fundamentally different vision....

of wealth and power, and who government should be accountable to.

yes personality and character enter into it too -- but it is more a matter of the national character, and which siode of that each represents. Corporate Tycoons and Wall St' Bankster Elites...or the rest of us.

[HubertHeaver]

8. She does have a history.