from day once,so the strongest candidate survives.

The problem with that is that there is a sizable contingent of people within our party (many of them in positions of power and influence) who think the best approach is in fact to "be concerned about what a bunch of morons will say" and whose campaign advice is too often to lay low, don't say anything that might be perceived as even mildly controversial, and hope that the Republican opponent does or say something so stupid that they get disqualified or completely turn off voters.

...whoever demonstrates a willingness to go for the gold. I'm not interested in someone who's already given up half the field before a discussion has already begun. If you don't get there, at least you can say you tried.

Anyone who thinks gaffes are going to still be a thing going forward needs to reflect on the fact that Trump is president now. The people who are supporting Trump today are a lost cause and need not be of concern. The masses who don't vote are the most important block and according to polling they tend to agree with us.

So go for the gold! Shoot for the moon! "Pragmatism" needs to go out the window. Push hard and don't quit.

Good post.

No more room for being "safe" or "polite" or "civil".

Be strong. Be assertive. Be proud of being a Democrat and a progressive.

We need the best leader amongst men and women to repair this mess.

It has a value of itself. It is to show that the Democratic party will not bow to the misogynistic forces that denied Clinton her victory. We will not allow them to win, and getting a male nominee will be seen as the Dems acknowledging that a woman cannot win. And then... You KNOW what will happen. The repukes will chose an Aunt Lydia woman candidate - a Bachman, Ivanka, Huckabee Sanders candidate - and then they will turn around and berate the Democrats for being misogynistic for not voting for her.

...it doesn't matter. Either way they'll find something to harp on. That's all they know how to do. A mindset that a candidate has to have some external quality in order to be acceptable is not OK and automatically discounts other candidates based on something that does not matter.

We should stick to policy. If they nominate a woman, we should still stick to policy. If they nominate a black, transgender, atheist we should stick to policy.