What message would we send if we quickly rejected Bernie and crowned HRC?

[SheilaT]

175. Alas, the debates are meaningless.

They always are. They are not ever anything that resembles a debate in the meaningful sense of the word.

And that applies to both parties.

I honestly don't understand how the HRC supporters come up with the idea that only she can win the election in November, 2016. What, exactly, is their proof here? All the many general elections she won in the past? Her overwhelming march to the nomination in 2008?

The reality is, that any reasonable (by which I mean any of the possible nominees so far) Democrat stands a decent chance of winning in 2016, with various caveats. The very most important of which is that the good voters of this country tend to want to change parties after 8 years. The other is, it will depend on who the specific nominees are. On both sides.

There is also a charming, if naive, assumption on the part of Clinton's supporters that there is such a huge desire for a woman President that women will almost without exception vote for her. No. They won't. All the Democrats will, of course, if she is the nominee. But Republicans? No. They won't. They will be so unhappy that the first woman at the top of the ticket is a Democrat, they'll come out in vast numbers to vote against her. And that's not taking into consideration all the very conservative and religious people who sincerely believe a woman has absolutely not place in higher office. None of them will vote for her.

Then there's all the baggage she carries. It's not fair, but every failing of Bill Clinton will fall upon her. All of his sexual escapades. Then there's Benghazi. Then there's the claim she was fired for being too partisan during the Watergate thing. None of those should have anything to do with her candidacy, and as for me, none of them have any affect on whether or not I vote for her. But I don't watch Fox News. I have a reasonable understanding of what has happened all these years.

No. Hillary Clinton is by no means a shoo-in to the Presidency. And even her most enthusiastic supporters need to understand this, especially if they hope to see her nominated and then to win the election.