Let me reveal something: I don't like Bernie Sanders...

[brooklynite]

I also don't like Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar or John Hickenlooper.

On the other hand, I don't NOT LIKE Sanders, Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Hickenlooper or any other politician.

The bottom line is that I don't invest emotional energy in the candidates I support. With the exception of a handful of politicians I've gotten to know personally, I don't see them as being worthy of adoration. They have a job to do, and I respect their knowledge, ideas, speaking ability, political skills, and general worthiness as a candidate. And if they fail to live up, I'll shift my support to a candidate who does better.

Right now, I'm supporting John Hickenlooper. But I've given money to three others. I've met with six of them. And if I find a candidate with a better skill set who I think has a better chance of winning, I'll focus my attention there.

I bring this up because I regularly get comments that I obviously "hate" someone else's candidate of choice, since I posted something negative. Let me be clear, I'll post relevant articles, positive or negative, about any candidate (including my own). If you find something about Hickenlooper or another candidate I support, feel free to do likewise. I may challenge the story's assumptions, but I'll never assume motive.

[MrsCoffee]

1. It's easy to keep emotion out of it when you aren't struggling for basic needs.

Many, if not most Americans aren’t in that position. 80% of American workers live paycheck to paycheck. The majority of people can’t afford a $400 emergency.

There is a reason emotions run high in politics.

At least for most.

[brooklynite]

9. If it makes you feel better, I learned this lesson when I was a lowly student...

...working as a Party Ward Committeeman.

[MrsCoffee]

10. Politics, religion and money.

There is a reason that people are advised caution discussing money, religion and politics in certain company. They are emotionally charged topics.

I do not question your lack of emotional investment. I just don’t think it’s very common.

[Perseus]

18. Not only when you are struggling for basic needs

But when you see that those you support are not doing their work, that they are allowing others to push them around, that the crooks continue to advance their agenda with zero accountability, that your future, that of your children, that of the planet are not being protected, that everywhere you go their is animosity, violence, discord, then your emotions become untangled, then you understand why their is so much violence out on the streets.

I hear all the time people say that politics are dirty, and I continuously answer the same thing "Politics are beautiful, it is our politicians who are dirty." Emotions are high because we see the orange buffoon every day lying, and we know he and his staff are lying, but no one says anything, no one calls it like it is, they are not "untruths", they are lies. Emotions get high when you see the repubs say and do anything they want, even insult and those you support do not respond adequately because of political correctness, so the crooks get away with their misdeeds, their lies and their corrupt actions.

Something drastic needs to happen for people to finally act, for Democrats in power to do the right thing and stop cowering when having to do the right thing. I am hoping that the new generation, people like AOC will change the tune in the Democratic party, she has shown that you do not have to go low like repubs do, that you don't have to be vulgar like the repubs, all you have to do is speak forcefully and with knowledge, always with the truth on your side, and it will be the bullies, the repubs who will cower as they always do and as they have shown when confronted by AOC, or the truth.

Anyway, I guess I have proven that I am emotional about what is happening, and I don't think it is limited to those who struggle to make ends meet, it affects us all.

[MrsCoffee]

19. I agree with you.

I think politics is highly emotional on a multitude of levels for a multitude of reasons.

Not much is going to change for the better if no one gets emotionally invested.

Just my opinion.

[louis c]

2. Good idea. Be as negative toward Democratic politicians on a Democratic site as possible...

...let's see if we can't do Trump's dirty work for him.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Did you actually read the OP?

The point was exactly the opposite what you seem to think.

[louis c]

5. Yes. The individual claims to have contributed to Dem candidates...

...and then says he or she will point out the flaws in each of our candidates. She doesn't trust politicians in general and no one should get too excited about any of them.

Those ingredients are a recipe for defeat.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Flaws will and should be noted. That's what primaries do.

All candidates have flaws and I want to know what their weak spots are before the general, not after. That’s not bashing, that’s evaluating, and it’s essential.

[louis c]

8. We'll see. I know one thing, Trump's base is intensely devoted to him...

...while our base will be debating our eventual candidate's "flaws". There is no need to so that, that's what the press is for. We should be debating our candidates virtues.

Using your theory, who needs the Russians?

[thesquanderer]

20. I'm not sure I see the virtue of posting negative pieces about any of our candidates, though.

Fact based stories, sure. If candidate X is in the (mainstream) news for accusations of misdeeds, yes, I'd expect that to be discussed here. Also, balanced analysis, as no candidate is perfect. But in general, I don't think straight-out negativity about any candidate is helpful to the community.

For whatever reasons (some of it presumably leftover 2016 bitterness) there are a lot of Sanders-knocking posts. Since there is a not-insignificant chance that he could be our nominee, I think that unnecessarily divides and weakens us. You can post what you think is great about your candidate, and even why you prefer him to another candidate, without making some other candidate out to be "like Trump" (seriously??), a pawn of the Russians, or otherwise beneath contempt. And let's face it, Sanders bears the brunt of the out and out negative posts here (otherwise the OP wouldn't have picked him above all others to use in the headline). This does not help us.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

21. I don't mean bashing. Nobody wants that.

What I'm referring to are facts raising legitimate issues. Did the candidate get a speeding ticket in 1993? I don't care. Did they fail to file tax returns in 2005? I do care. Did they recently cast a vote against something that matters to me? I really care about that and I want to know about it.

And even heaping praise on a candidate can backfire, to-wit:

"My Candidate A loves puppies and kittens."
"Oh, yeah? Well, my Candidate B loves puppies and kittens, and they love him back!"
"Meh. My candidate C loves puppies and kittens and bunnies! Bet your candidates can't beat that!"
"So what? The sun shines out of Candidate A's butt."
"Big deal. The sun shines even more brightly out of Candidate B's butt."
"Losers. Bot the sun and the moon shine out of Candidate C's butt."

While this is perhaps a frivolous example, heaping fulsome praise on candidates could easily devolve into stupid arguments about who is the most awesome, and really isn't much more useful than critical comments.

[McKim]

11. Excellent Comment!!!

Excellent comment!!!! Don’t take the bait, folks. Spend your energy on showing Americans what the Democratic Party will do for them when we win elections!

[Hortensis]

3. Sanders lied about my party, many state parties,

about what I believe and support, about politicians I admire, and about the candidate I preferred; and in so doing he injured and betrayed me personally.

He also tried to misuse party rules to effectively steal the primary election, which would have effectively disenfranchised not just millions of others but me, and I am entitled to take it personally. He allowed Russia to interfere on behalf of his candidacy without warning the nation, also a betrayal I am entitled to take personally. I live with the consequences every single day.

I do not like Bernie Sanders. I will never like Bernie Sanders. I despise Bernie Sanders.

But if there was no good alternative candidate, I would vote for him to run a county animal shelter if reliable people who knew him personally assured me he would do it not just competently, which I know he could handle if he chose, but ethically and humanely. I would require that reassurance.

[crazytown]

13. 'I would vote for him to run a county animal shelter'

[Hortensis]

17. :) Conditionally. His desire to impose one totalitarian answer

for government-regulated medical care on 300,000,000 million people isn't sufficiently in the spirit of Jefferson's declaration of an individual's right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Real freedom, not just theoretical, requires health, but it also requires a looseness those we give power to need to understand and respect. No one solution for people or animals.

[robbedvoter]

7. Very healty attitude. I have it towards the Dem candidates

However, there is one not-dem who insulted and erased me personally and as a gender/party and his goons keep at it - try as I might, I cannot keep emothion out of it.

[JayhawkSD]

12. How else do you have an election?

"Never say anything critical of another Democrat."

How do you hold an election if everyone is never saying anything but nice things about everyone? Every candidate is wonderful and deserves your vote. So you walk into the polling booth and do what? Vote for all of them?

Politics is becoming the art of the absurd.

[USALiberal]

14. I stopped reading at "I met with six of them" nt

[brooklynite]

16. Actually, seven if you count the dinner I arranged for Buttigieg last year...

[Decoy of Fenris]

15. Props to you. You've been very fair-handed in your postings, a rare quality this season.

Also, unrelated, thanks for the incredible work you do in keeping us informed as much as you can. You put in a lot of work for us here on the DU, and it's very appreciated.