I was told the only way to get banned is to write a GBCW diary. So, that’s why I'll do it (although I find the whole thing in bad taste). And yes. I know this is my first diary, and that “no one will miss me”, so please spare us all the usual nonsensical comments — although you probably won’t.
So, why.
- The DNC vote as the final straw for the Dem party: Elison wasn’t even the progressive choice. That would have been Samuel Ronan. Elison was a middle of the road choice with the backing of large part of the establishment — including the Democratic leaders in Congress. Someone just a little less than a corrupt corporate robot, and a little less ready to put the thumb on the scale again in the so-called “democratic” party. The DNC vote was the loudest ‘fuck you’ to the democratic wing of the Democratic Party I have ever heard. And it was also a clear test on whether *anything* can be learned
- Markos Moulitsas: He is getting worse and worse, and in the last months I have completely lost my respect for the man in terms of leadership. His analysis is a combination of cocksureness and mediocre. His predictions are bunk, his judgment bad. The final straw was not the aggressive campaign against open primaries or the shutting down of discussion and dialogue in the late Spring 2016. — The final straw is the doubling down after the hurtful lessons are staring everyone in the face. This is his place, and — you are right — I should leave
- Daily Kos irrelevancy: I find that I have stopped coming to DK for anything resembling informative analysis. There might be some stuff somewhere at all times. But the flood of simpleminded apologetics, empty partisanship, free floating hysteria and just plain false stories is overwhelming everything else. Incidentally the last truly interesting diaries I read in this place was before Markos’ 2016 shutdown
- Working against your own interest: In Dec. 2015 I predicted Trump had a 40% chance of winning the presidency (I ended up unhappily winning a lopsided bet with a friend). I watched how the candidate who the polls gave the best chances was rejected in the primaries. The murderous foreign policy instincts of Hillary Clinton made it hard for me to decide who was the lesser of two evils in the most depressing debacle of a Presidental election in my lifetime. But on the other hand, there is no doubt in my mind that Mike Pence was and is substantively worse than any of them and probably worse for the country and the world than any of the candidates that ran for the presidency in any party of any standing. And at the same time, the goal of installing Mike Pence is what most people of DK seems to be working furiously day and night to accomplish these days… Somehow most of DK did the part of maneuvering us into the worst position — and it seems to me that even in real time everyone is working to secure us the worst possible outcome. (At the same time, people are lambasting R or Green Party voters for working against their own interests.)
There is much much more to say, of course. But I have no confidence that anything anyone says will change your minds — or even make you reflect slightly on anything. The problem with bad judgment is that you need good judgment to acknowledge that you have had bad judgment. Nothing will be learned — and I am only looking away so as to try to preserve some sanity here.
So, please ban me,
Sincerely,