I was beginning to feel unloved...

East coast Cherokee or Oklahoma Cherokee?

From what my grandfather told me, some family members left NC and headed west.... There is also some Seminole in the family as well. So I'm Scottish, English, Cherokee, and Swedish with a drop of Seminole. Makes for lots of fun!

apparently, I committed a mortal sin and posted within the Bernie group regarding the use of a comment by Peggy Noonan in an OP. I never disrespected Bernie or his supporters, but they are a touchy lot. My comment was simply that we shouldn't use the opinions of Republican pundits against a fellow Democrat regardless of the candidate we support. They resorted to personal attack, and I decided it was time to commit to Hillary publicly.

I think I would have been safer in GD....

I was beginning to wonder if Noonan was the new love bunny of DU.

So glad you reacted as I did.... like you sid... PEGGY FUCKING NOONAN??????

I was beginning to wonder if I was nuts... I couldn't believe how it turned into such childish attack.

We should all be so lucky! And actually, many others of us ARE!

I think Bernie Sanders is a great candidate. If Hillary were not in the race, I would already be soundly encamped with the Bernie-ites. He's got a very good perspective and a nimble mind and LONG overdue ideas - many of which he's held and talked about for years. I've always wanted to hear that kind of stuff coming out of the mouth of my presidential candidate!

However, even longer than that, I've wanted to see a woman take the reins. I realized awhile back that I was actually a pretty staunch feminist (and PROUD of it, mind you!) from a pretty early age. Fifth grade or so. I don't know why I thought the way I thought, or why I felt as I did about certain things that I observed. I don't know what made me conclude the way I have, but it appears I was pretty far left from as early as I can remember, as far as slowly becoming aware and really present - as one leaves one's childhood.
- Like, why did I sit there and wonder silently WHY I should take anything seriously from one of the neighborhood priests who came over to our school once a week from the parish church to preside at catechism class - when he'd lecture about the proper Catholic marriage and family life. I'd be thinking - "how could you know? You don't have a wife, or kids. You've never been married, or had to go to work to support a family. How can you possibly know what it's like? How can you tell us who are actually living it how YOU think it's supposed to go?"
- Like, why did I start wondering why there weren't more women in big jobs. When I watched the news, as a kid during dinnertime because we ate dinner in front of the TV, and it was all men on there except for Pauline Frederick, Liz Trotta, and Catherine Mackin, I sat there and wondered where the women were? Why weren't there more girls on there? I was really pleased when NBC announced its coverage of the political conventions during election season, and I noticed when they presented a format with four chief correspondents. Guess what? One of 'em was a woman, Cassie Mackin, for a change! I think that was for 1968. When the Kennedy assassination happened, the big four were John Chancellor, Sander Vanocur, Edwin Newman, and Frank McGee. No women.
- I wondered about my mom's and my dad's roles in the family structure and wondering just why it was that the man was always the leader and women seemed secondary. You get that a lot in the Catholic Church. Women are second-class citizens. We can't say Mass. We can't climb the hierarchy and have full equal voice in how the church is run. No women in the College of Cardinals! So No women ever get a say in who becomes Pope. And I always was annoyed by that. Any answers to my "why" on that one were always insufficient and unacceptable.

I want a woman in that job.

All other things being equal - or mostly equal - THAT tips the scale for me.

A woman brings a different mentality, a different sensibility, a completely and chemically and organically different approach to the job. Harry Reid was interviewed recently and he was asked about what's been the biggest change in the Senate. Positive change, that is. He said the Senate got better when more women came in. He said with more women Senators, more has gotten accomplished. More work got done. Because women approach things differently. Women don't bring issues to the table that often come down to the very psychologically basic "whose is bigger?" Women don't have power-posturing on their minds and gamesmanship and rankings and vendettas and domination-obsessions. Women just get together and say "what's the problem? And how can we fix it?" And then they hunker down and start getting work done. That's what Harry Reid said. And he said he hoped that the future would find even more women joining that exclusive club-of-only-100, because then, seriously, more would get done.

We've had 44 Y-chromosomes in a row. There've been 44 Presidents of the United States and ALL 44 have been men. All 44 from the Testosterone Club. I'd frankly like to see what a dose of estrogen might do, instead. I want to see THAT mindset in charge, for a change. It's damn time, and we actually have a great candidate ready to go at this damn time! Things just aligned. And as I've pointed out many times, women's issues are so far on the back burner that they're not even on the stove anymore. Women's issues are second-class citizens too. And women's issues cross ALL boundaries, demographics, colors of skin, nationalities, and religious belief systems (or lack thereof). WHY is it still such a frickin' struggle to achieve income equality on the job? WHY are women STILL being paid less than men in comparable jobs? WHY are other issues important to working women - such as family leave, paid sick leave, pension protections, and yes - affordable health care (that absolutely impacts the workplace) such an uphill battle? WHY is it still nearly impossible to get anything done about affordable childcare so women even CAN overwork and get underpaid? WHY are we continuing to lose ground on a woman's right to choose? Why are so many women asking the same thing - WHY ARE WE STILL FIGHTING THIS? THIS WAS SETTLED!!!! DECADES AGO!!!!!

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Well, nothing else is working. Maybe we need to break that final glass ceiling and see if THAT will make any difference. Hillary actually mentioned the choice issue in her big speech. We need a champion there. Who better than a woman who is also President of the United States? I mean, come ON. It's time. How long are we going to be told to wait, to be patient, to go sit down because the man is gonna take the reins? How long are OUR issues going to go without the ultimate strong voice on our side? And oddly enough, we have a candidate who's spent a lifetime focusing on the issues directly affecting women and children. Here in America AND across the globe.

I want a woman in that job. It's just TIME, dammit.

DAYUM do we EVVVVER!!!!! And that's pretty much it.

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We need to hit the reset button.

Friendly territory!!!

I stand with Hillary!

I do like O'Malley, but there is no question Hillary is more qualified.

I don't want vitriol running the country, no disrespect to Bernie. I always have been supportive of his philosophy and politics. I do NOT see him as fringe. But after these last few weeks, I'm done.

I don't quite 'grok' where all the HRC people are coming from, but that's it for me. I'm going to continue to promote the positive and important things she has done and respresents, but not Bernie any longer. It's almost as some people really, really want people to not like Sanders and drive them to HRC or to not vote/ vote Green = GOP win.

I am aware it could be going on although it seems very unlikely. There was a chance showing dissent here was a way to justify the GOP stealing the election, such as 'See! Democrats hate HRC! Our guy won!'

But most unpleasantries come from those who also disdained (and still do) Obama and the Democratic Party. The humor of that doesn't escape me, as Bernie is as much a Democrat as HRC. But I'm in this camp now.

I'd been talking to people IRL and pushing Bernie, recing DU threads, posting videos, etc. I was going to vote for him in the primary and after that, whoever the general election winner was.


They win. If this is what they wanted they have won. But in the end, we all lose. So you have my welcome. I hope you enjoy your time here. They've all been very gracious to me, but knew I was fencesitting.

you won't feel unloved here!

Thanks!!!!!

Thanks!!

Here at least we get a little relief from the constant dumping and criticizing and sniping that seems to erupt here - the minute one invokes the "H" word. I even got pissed off and yelled about it in one of the threads a few days ago! I won't take any credit for it, but the next day, DUer cali started a thread recommending that everyone in the Bernie Sanders camp here be nice and let us enjoy Hillary's launching speech the following day, and not pee in our pickle barrel, out of respect. I thought that was REALLY cool and VERY considerate! And I eagerly note that they almost totally complied. I appreciated that A LOT - from cali, and also from everybody else who cooperated.

But man, aside from that, you say one thing positive about Hillary Clinton and they POUNCE! Here comes the instant avalanche of criticism and barbs and snark and she's this and she's that and she's horrible and she sucks and she's a hypocrite and she's owned by Wall Street and she wants war and all this shit. Which I do NOT care to hear, and I do not agree with. Just dumping, dumping, and more dumping! I certainly don't dump on anybody about Bernie Sanders. I like too much about what he says. The ONLY critical thing I've had to say about him is a post only just today, expressing my concern about his stand on guns. One person tells me he supports liberal access to guns because Vermonters like hunting, and has voted against restrictions on gun ownership and so on, while another person tells me he doesn't vote that way at all. I don't know what's true and I'll have to go research that further. But for me, that's a HUGE problem, because it would be difficult for me to support someone who doesn't see a need to rein in the wanton access to any damn gun somebody feels like having or prancing around with, menacing and bullying people in public!

I've already said MANY times that if Bernie Sanders beats Hillary Clinton to the nomination, I will be MORE THAN HAPPY to vote for him, actively support him, and work for him. Eagerly! I'm also very sorry to say I don't hear much of that, at all, from the Bernie camp - about returning that favor if she prevails over him. The best I find in those cases is among the "well, I guess I'll go ahead and vote for her but don't expect me to help" or "I'll have to hold my nose and vote for her..." quips. And some still insist they'll not vote, period. GREAT. One more default vote for the bad guys then. NO flexibility or give-and-take or compromise. Sorry to vent but it really troubles me, and irks me. I'm sick of the nonstop fault-finding and Hillary-bashing. And I'm old enough to remember how it went in 1968 - with Hubert Humphrey versus Gene McCarthy for the Democratic nomination - and the Gene McCarthy people refused to budge and refused to compromise and refused to unite behind ONE candidate for that November, and what was the result? PRESIDENT RICHARD FUCKING NIXON. And I fear that with such rigid refusal being manifested again from some of our fellow Dems - we're doomed to repeat that horrible scenario next year and get a fucking republi-CON in the White House. And then we're REALLY screwed.

With women's issues getting either ignored completely or focused on by CONservative pirates and bedroom busybodies, in an effort to drag us back to the Dark Ages (preferably by our hair a la duggars-style), I think it's rather urgent that a woman be put in charge, for a change. THAT mindset. THAT perspective. THAT understanding. Our right to choose is on the ropes and nobody seems to care much about that anymore. To me, it's an absolute, and a non-negotiable. It's first on my list with ANY candidate. I watch the LGBT community making marvelous and long-delayed gains. And I envy that, because for women, it's the opposite. We're losing ground, state by state. It feels as though we're the forgotten (or maybe even abandoned) cause.

Hillary is NOT perfect. But she's my choice, too. I heard her speech yesterday and started getting all teary-eyed. Because I'm 62 this year, and I have been waiting a LIFETIME to be able to vote for a woman for President. And only with her arrival on the political scene have I found ANY woman, at or near that level, to be as capable and well-qualified - and brilliant, AND flexible as she is. Who else do you know, who's female and THIS experienced and THIS involved, who's paid this many dues, who brings THIS MUCH to the table? What other woman politician is there like that?

YES, I'll repeat - I like Bernie Sanders too. But SHEESH! And I have to be careful now because it's really begun to piss me off, what just rains down like a monsoon from some of his most ardent followers here. It's actually made me consider leaving DU for awhile - that's how bad it's gotten. OR, maybe I should be fair and say that's how bad it seems to have gotten - at least TO ME personally. And I know I really shouldn't be taking it personally like that. So for that, let me apologize.

Thanks!!!

Just curious.

The rest of me is Scottish, English, and Swedish... Democrat!

They insult me... and I get banned for replying to their insults.... (politely for the most part). I guess I didn't roll over and take the comments like a good little girl. They don't like people who fight back.

I swear, how do you have meaningful dialogue with a group of people who will not discuss anything? They are so convinced they hold the corner on righteousness because they assume they are more progressive than anyone else. Baloney....

Honestly, I wasn't trying to start anything, but only to comment I didn't think Noonan's remark was appropriate in the context it was used. I don't think Bernie would either.

I have to admit though... it was fun!

I was shocked at how they reacted... way too sanctimonious for my taste.

Good to be among friends.

OMGs, that is scraping the bottom of a very rancid bowl.

Noonan? Ronald Reagan's speechwriter?

She commented on TV this morning, but how badly she thought Hillary's was and a Sanders supporter included her comment in the OP.

One Democrat does not criticize another Democrat using comments from a Republican pundit...especially of her ilk.

Peggy Noonan doesn't like Hillary, therefore....uh, therefore something...or other....

Hey, at least Noonan doesn't discriminate on the grounds of coloring the candidate:s hair.

I try and avoid as many of their threads. Try and read threads that are started by fellow supporters who post GD threads and my gawd the ugliness.

Anywho, positive vibes . . .

Ugly is an apt word...

We don't eat our own if they don't tow the line.