I tthink I am the only one who would vote for all 4
Because, who else would vote for Linc?
I would say there are 4 candidates that I'd vote for in the general... but Chafee isn't even going to win his home state of Rhode Island. He's a good guy with actual political courage and coming from an extremely corrupt state, has never even had a hint of corruption around him. He's an old school liberal northeast republican and that puts him solidly in the middle of the Democratic pack these days. I have only voted for him once - and that was for Governor of Rhode Island. I don't vote for republicans, period. I didn't vote for him when he was my mayor and I didn't vote for him for Senator - I voted for Whitehouse and even Chafee himself later said the people of RI did the right thing by voting him out of office because of the make-up of the Senate at the time.
I think of Sanders as an old school Democrat who was made radical only by the shifting of the Democratic party to the right. He's my preferred candidate because I consider myself a radical socialist/feminist and his political views align the most closely with my own.
I think of Clinton as someone who can get shit done. It may not be pretty and she'll get just as much shit from the right as Obama has but she will fight instead of trying to meet them halfway. I like that. It's one of my biggest complaints with Obama - he tries to compromise with people whose idea of compromising is that you give them everything they want. She won't take shit from these people and she keeps coming out on top. Yes, she's more of a realist than Bernie, in my opinion, but the woman is a fighter and a realist. Without a revolution, none of what I consider the best policies are ever going to be implemented. She is the way things are vs the way I want things to be. But not enough people agree with me on the way things ought to be for me to believe a candidate who matches me exactly can ever be viable.
I would vote for O'Malley as well - don't know much about him, but what I've seen I've liked. I think he needs more time though. He would make a good VP to get that seasoning.
Yeah, Sanders is my preferred, but I learned a long time ago that my preferred isn't everyone else's preferred and all I can do is try to convince other people. Even if elected though, I do not think he would be as effective in the office as Clinton. The shit I want to see done just cannot happen with the world as it is right now.
For example, I want the military budget cut in half, including the covert military budget we the public never see. I want that money to go into social programs... including a minimum guaranteed income.
I have a whole list of shit that won't happen for another couple hundred years of slow change or a revolution.
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Why I support O'Malley:
1. Ended death penalty in Maryland
2. Prevented fracking in Maryland and put regulations in the way to prevent next GOP Gov Hogan fom easily allowing fracking.
3. Provided health insurance for 380,000
4. Reduced infant mortality to an all time low.
5. Provided meals to thousands of hungry children and moved toward a goal for eradicating childhood hunger.
6. Enacted a $10.10 living wage and a $11. minimum wage for State workers.
7. Supporter the Dream Act
8. Cut income taxes for 86% of Marylanders (raised taxes on the rich).
9. Reformed Maryland’s tax code to make it more progressive.
10. Enacted some of the nation’s most comprehensive reforms to protect homeowners from foreclosure.
There is a lot more, but I'll only add that Mother Jones magazine called him the best candidate on environmental issues.
Article here:
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/12/martin-omalley-longshot-presidential-candidate-and-real-climate-hawk
Check him out. A good place to start is DU's O'Malley group.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1281
Like yourself, I agree. We have excellent candidates and I will be proud to support whoever gets the Democratic nomination.
The shit I want to see done just cannot happen with the world as it is right now.
My perfect candidate does not exist in the world as it is. I can only vote for someone that I think is the best of the bunch. It's not the lesser of two evils. I only know that the Republican choices are even further away from my ideal than the Dems.
