Did you know that arguing about candidates on DU will not affect who will win the nomination?

[ProfessorPlum]

Just wanted to throw that out there. There is no Democratic Underground primary, we award no delegates, and god knows the rest of the Democratic electorate doesn't give two little poops about how some online community thinks they should vote. Your killer argument about why Hickenlooper is a policy god and about to ignite the party will probably have little to no effect on people's opinions, either here or in the American electorate at large.

On the other hand (and here is the upside), the vehemence of your disagreement with someone here over who is the best candidate, and who is the worst, will have absolutely NOTHING to do with how "unified" Democrats and other decent people will be about getting rid of Trump. All of the calls for unity, and to stop fighting, and to stop being divided, and to "pledge" that you will vote for the eventual nominee, are basically wastes of time as the vast majority of people here are not "divided" about the need to Dump Trump. Rend your garments all you want to, but the level of division here arguing over candidates won't mean much at all when someone sews up the nomination.

So, everyone can stop posting calls for "unity". There will be unity aplenty out in the real world come November 2020. And don't be discouraged if it seems like we disagree with each other. We are supposed to when picking favorite candidates. And also realize that the winner of the primary is probably already determined in the heads of all of the voters in the states who aren't on DU. Our disagreements here mean little . .. and that's a good thing.

[brooklynite]

1. Now you've hurt their feelings...

[hlthe2b]

2. No Way!

How CAN that be?

[PDittie]

3. Well said. In the meantime:

Trump says Biden accusations are work of Dem ‘socialists’

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/03/trump-biden-accusations-1251003

“It looks like the only non-, sort of heavy socialist, he is being taken care of pretty well by the socialists,” Trump said. “They got to him. Our former vice president. I was going to call him — I don’t know him well. I was gonna say, ‘Welcome to the world, Joe. Are you having a good time, Joe?’”

I'd be interested in in knowing how many DUers believe the president is telling the truth here.

[peggysue2]

20. Trump is trolling

Do I believe him? I wouldn't believe the man any farther than I could throw him. He's simply trolling the juices of his own sick mind.

He doesn't even make any sense.

[applegrove]

4. That must be why their are trolls here and somebody evil shut down the

DU on election day 2016.

[marylandblue]

10. The trolls are all over the place, on other forums, facebook, twitter etc.

All you can do is not feed them and report violations.

[bearsfootball516]

5. I enjoyed this. Cathartic. And accurate.

Some posters tend to exaggerate the importance of DU. There are maybe 150-200 regular posters here. Hillary got 66 million votes. That means that DU would make up roughly 0.000002 percent of the electorate. DU is a cool place to talk politics with other Democrats, but it's completely irrelevant on a national scale.

And I've seen posters who believe Russian hackers/trolls took DU down on election night because they were afraid DU would bring down all of their plans.

[jberryhill]

6. People take DU so seriously

In terms of "number of email addresses which have ever signed up" it seems large.

But really if you look at posts here, it seems like there's maybe a couple of dozen people who participate. The thread view counts aren't unique visitors. My junior high school had more students than DU has active members.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to race around in the Lamborghini I bought from my DU trolling paycheck.

[Skinner]

7. Having been thru the DU primaries in 2016....

I can say with certainty that the tone of the discussions might not make any difference OUT THERE in the rest of the country, but it makes a huge difference here on this website. We had a lot of DUers in 2016 who decided to take their ball and go home when the primaries were over, in part because they were upset about how poorly they were treated here. (At least that's what they claimed -- I'll let others decide for themselves whether it was sincere.)

I'll take calls for unity any day over the divisive shitposting that passed for "discussion" back in 2016. We can compare and contrast the various primary candidates without being jerks about it. Occasionally reminding everyone that we share a goal in 2020 seems pretty harmless -- it might even be a net positive.

I know it pisses off some people to be reminded that they really ought to vote for the Democratic nominee in the general election next year. But honestly, I give exactly zero fucks about those people.

[ProfessorPlum]

12. There was a group of people who went rogue and broke away from DU in 2004 as well

when certain candidates did poorly in the primary. I was invited to leave DU with "injured" parties in both 2004 and 2016. And though my favorite candidate did not win those primaries, DU was still the best place to analyze positions, learn about news, and think about the campaign.

and put me down as being in favor of not being jerks about it.

[LiberalLovinLug]

16. It seems uncertain what is considered "divisive shitposting" and what is honest criticism

I suppose that is to be expected as we all have our own definitions of where the boundary is between them. And it will work itself out.

I can understand, of course, not allowing personal attacks or rudeness etc.. against fellow DUers in posts. But where does that go in speaking up for your candidate by criticizing some of the others by comparison? Is "that candidate caters to Wall Street" (and by that question that candidates loyalties and principles) constitute overly critical? Or conversely, "that candidate is living with rainbows and unicorns if they think single payer will ever go over" (And thus question that candidates honesty and integrity)

I agree with the Professor. But also that what we say in here, is a reflection of what is being said by others in the news elsehwere as well. This site is only a reflection of the bigger world. The good, bad, and the ugly. It should be "what goes on in primary discussions, stays in primary discussion." And everyone that is a part of this Primaries Forum should be required to pledge that they will support whomever the eventual Democratic nominee is, before they are allowed to participate in it. (Maybe you could even attach a sig line on everyone in here automatically that reads that way.)

But I promise to try and not be as jerky as I'm sure some think I can be. Its a good principle.

[CTyankee]

23. It seems to me that given the history of the U.S. that bickering amongst ourselves about politics

is a fine old American tradition (with regrettable exceptions of violent behavior). Why should it be different here on DU? Some people are going to take it all personally and take their ball and go home.

I'm all for calls for unity and folks not being jerks. But we shouldn't get our hopes up for that to always happen when it comes to politics. We believe passionately and we act passionately. We have rules that we agree to follow here. Let's have a little faith in ourselves.

[bigtree]

8. of course

...I do know, from experience, how easy it is to lose perspective on these threads.

[stonecutter357]

9. lots of russian cricist actors/rwnj's !

[W_HAMILTON]

11. "No single rain drop thinks it's responsible for the flood."

I disagree with your premise.

You could pick out any single thing -- from a small community on an internet message board to the most popular news show -- and say that it won't affect something as consequential as who will win the primary or whether Democrats coalesce around their eventual nominee, but I believe we all play a part in doing just that.

Everything you say now could have been said in 2016 and we saw how that turned out for us.

[defacto7]

13. +1

[peggysue2]

21. Well said!

[FM123]

28. Yes, we all play a part.

[ProfessorPlum]

32. what I'm saying is don't let conflicts here distress you (one) too much

there are people with different opinions, and probably also trolls, Russian and otherwise, who will accidently or with malicious intent raise one's blood pressure because Someone on the Internet is Wrong.

What I'm saying is - it's ok for people, even on DU, to be wrong about [insert your favorite candidate here]. So, don't let it stress you out needlessly. There was a lot of back and forth, and brusqueness, here in 2004, 2008, and 2016, and yet DU continues to function as a community. We'll get through this primary season, and we may or may not be able to swing anyone's vote here, but we shouldn't let that stain our feelings for the DU community. It can get rancorous - but remember the actual stakes are small (in terms of how many votes we could actually turn with an internet post). We comment, write, and opine about large events that have tremendous effects on everyone in the world, but we can take solace in the fact that the world isn't depending on us to save it by posting that killer argument on DU.

I hope that makes sense.

And I agree with your observation about small things having big consequences, en masse. I hope we are all working out in the real world to create change in the humane direction.

[ProfessorPlum]

33. oh, also, put the assholes on full ignore

that helps too

[Mr.Bill]

14. It's sort of like cable news...

One night when Greta Van Sustren was still on Fox, she said something like "I know we like to think we're a big deal here, but we need to realize that on a busy day about one half of one percent of the US population is watching us."

I'm amazed she wasn't fired for that, but it was true.

[BlueFlorida]

15. People are simply sensitive about

the lack of unity in 2016 which was malicious and purposeful. Having said that, I agree with your entire post.

[frazzled]

17. I think people just want an outlet to vent their opinions

It's like shouting at the TV. It does no good in the real world, but it does makes you feel better in the moment. Sometimes typing something out just helps to clarify one's own positions. Makes you think about and clearly articulate why you're for or against a candidate. I don't particularly care if anyone agrees with my opinions. Everybody's opinions are valid (though often wrong!).

I feel perfectly justified in pointing out a candidate's deficits (or strengths). Mostly I'm thinking out loud. But I'm never under the illusion that it will convince anyone to change their mind or deter them from voting their choice.

There is, however, a sort of "cool kid" factor that accumulates around Internet posts. Remember how John Edwards (very curiously) became the darling here and at Kos and other supposedly liberal sites? Inexplicable, still. Yet bombed early on. I could cite other examples of Internet heroes who flatline in the real world. Indeed, whenever I sense this site has picked its cool kid in a primary, I get pretty sure my non-cool candidate has a chance.

[CTyankee]

24. My husband used to say "You watch Morning Joe, then you go on DU and then you're pissed off

for the rest of the day."

god bless the poor guy being married to a fanatical DUer...

[Gothmog]

18. I come to DU for information and to see what other people are arguing about

I am lawyer/college debater. One does not change people's mind on an internet board.

The real world is a fun place and I am very active on a number of issues including a congressional campaign for my district. Due to Beto, my county turned blue and now we have people announcing already for 2020 races for both Congress and local races. We have several judges and a couple of state house races who have announced already. In 2018, the party chair failed to recruit candidates for every judicial race and the only county wide races that the GOP won were uncontested races. We will not make that mistake this cycle

It is nice to see Democrats line up so early to run in 2020 on the local level. In 2016, my GOP congresscritter won by more than 19% and in 2018 we reduced the margin to 4.6%. There are fun rumors that despite NRCC demands, my congresscritter may retire. I have a function to go to on Saturday for that race and two meetings next week on Tuesday (with the state party representatives) and Wednesday on redistricting.

Texas is turning blue and it is fun watching the GOP scramble. The latest is a voter suppression bill that is working it way though the Texas legislature that we will have to sue to strike down or limit.

I have contributed so far to three candidates and will contribute to Biden when he enters. I am waiting to see who I support and will no doubt end up on the voter protection team for one of the candidates. In 2016, I had fun reviewing and helping on the application for Hillary Clinton to get onto the ballot in Texas and have the research and memorandum saved.

The real world is a fun place.

[CTyankee]

25. I love to hear about Texas...really exciting. I am a 3rd generation Texan who moved north in

disgust from the way Texas was going politically in the 60s and onward. Now I look forward to news abut Beto and other progressive Texans. It makes me much happier about my native state...

[Gothmog]

26. We may have two quality candidates fighting to run against Cornyn

MJ Hegar and Joaquin Castro both are considering taking on Cornyn. In 2014 we could not get a quality candidate to take on Senator Box Turtle and so had a doctor who self funded. I would be happy to support either candidate

Texas has six congressional seats on the DCCC red to blue list. This will be fun

[CTyankee]

27. Way to go, Texas!

[Gothmog]

34. You will like this

Link to tweet

[USALiberal]

19. Thanks for this, it is silly to think we have that much power!! nt

[oasis]

22. No wonder Rush Limbaugh stopped picking on us.

[customerserviceguy]

29. If that's true

then why allow discussions of the Democratic presidential race at all? Just suspend the candidate forums, nix the posts that try to say something about a candidate, then let us discuss only after the nominee has been picked.

I mean, if our discussions, prickly though they might be, are meaningless, why have them?

[stillcool]

30. I'm just getting back..

picked the wrong time to wade back into these waters, but I remember all to well the rough seas.

[Cousin Dupree]

31. Yes!