If you are reading this, and have read any of my blogposts or anything I've posted on social media, you already know who I'm not voting for. There's no surprises here, nothing new to report. In some ways, writing about it is just a waste of time.
I have read and listened to countless opinions, watched and/or engaged in numerous debates, watched hours upon hours of news coverage. What’s left to say?
Well for what its worth, there are a couple of things I want to discuss.
For starters, let's go back to the event where Joe Biden says he felt compelled to enter the race.
Charlottesville Virginia, the second weekend in August 2017. A clash between protesters. A statue of Robert E. Lee was being removed, and a group of made up of White Supremacists, Neo-Nazi's and other alt-right organizations planned to march on the city. One of the white supremacists drove his car through a group of counter-protesters, killing a 31 year old woman and injuring 19 others.
President Trump, at his golf course in Bedminster, NJ came on TV and said
"We all must be united and condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Let's come together as one!" ...."we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides."
There was some immediate blowback for the words "on many sides". Several of Trump's staffers encouraged him to give another statement, which he did, from the White House two days later...
"To anyone who acted criminally in this weekend's racist violence, you will be held fully accountable. Justice will be delivered. ... Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the K.K.K., neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans."
In Bob Woodward's book Fear, the author says that after Trump gave those remarks, Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and Economic Advisor Gary Cohn greeted the President and showered him with praise. Cohn telling Trump it was "your finest moment as president."
However, a Fox News correspondent referred to the second speech as a "course correction". And this sent Trump over the edge.
According to Woodward, Trump told Rob Porter...."That was the biggest fucking mistake I've made. You never make those concessions. You never apologize."
A day later at Trump Tower, he made his infamous "very fine people on both sides." comment.
To me, that story right there is the essence of the person we have as our President now. A man so self indulgent, he'd rather be thought of a racist than admit he misspoke.
Alan Colmes for many years was the token liberal at Fox News. He was teamed with Sean Hannity to create Fox's version of CNN's Crossfire. When Fox got rid of him, he would still come on Don Imus' radio show and serve as their token liberal.
Back in 2016 before the election while debating Imus' wife Deirdre and producer Bernard McGuirk, Colmes said "I don't think Trump's a racist. I think he's worse than a racist. Racists, as despicable as they are, at least stand for something. Trump only stands for himself."
I didn't quite understand where Colmes was going with that. What could possibly be worse than a racist?
That would be someone who actually uses racism and division to achieve a goal. Maybe Trump doesn't really think Mexicans are rapists, or that Barack Obama was a Kenyan born Muslim.
Maybe he doesn't think that the KKK has fine people in there.
But he said all those things. And it's bad enough if he believes any of that shit. If he's just saying those things because he thinks it's going to get him votes? Well that's what Colmes meant as worse than a racist.
I was once involved in a FB discussion about when it was that we decided that Trump was unfit for office. I realize that many folks thought he was never fit, but many of us even if we didn't vote for him, knew we had to give him a chance. Many people chose Charlottesville. Some felt it was the press conference in Helsinki, where standing next to Vladmir Putin, he said "President Putin said it's not Russia (who interfered in the 2016 election) and I don't see why it would be." (after his own intellegence people told him it was the Russians)
The moderator of the FB discussion James Tubridy, said for him it was when Trump invited two Russian nationals into the Oval Office, with the Russian translator the only other American allowed in the meeting. There is a whole laundry list, and I'm not going to get into it all here. The point is, and really what ties all his indiscretions together, is one common theme. That Donald Trump is looking out for only one person.
Himself.
The tax cut? Who did that benefit? Mostly rich people like himself.
All the clean air regulations his administration has rolled back? Less money for his businesses to pay.
I could go on and on. I won’t. There is no need.
Joe Biden is not perfect, we all know that. But I've always felt he was a good and decent man. I remember I had just gotten out of the hospital after my heart scare in 2015, and watching Beau Biden's funeral on CNN. I remember watching Vice President Biden, at what had to be one of the worst moments of his life, comforting his grandkids, who had either just lost their father or their uncle. I thought it almost incomprehensible that this was the second time in his life he had to bury a child, something nobody should have to go through once. How anyone can question the man's intestinal fortitude is beyond me.
I also remember reading a New Yorker profile on Biden. It talked about how back during the transition from the Bush 43 administration to the Obama administration, several world leaders reached out to Biden, whom they all knew and respected from his time as a Senate Chairman, to get an idea about Obama. Obama at first was less than thrilled about this, but soon realized that having someone with Biden's experience could only help with his foreign policy vision.
To me his qualifications are impeccable.
And for all the Trumpsters who keep saying "He's had 47 years and nothing to show for it", I say find and read that article. I know fat chance right?
Ok, then how about this? In Joe Biden's 47 years in public service, how many Americans have died because of his neglect? I guarantee you it's nowhere near the 200,000 that have died in 6 months because Donald Trump didn't have a pandemic plan.
I’m not going to convince anyone. There was a time where I thought I could. That was a loooong time ago. Nothing I say, especially about politics is going to change anyone’s mind. That much is true in ordinary times, which these certainly are not.
So why put my $0.02 in where that is probably way overpriced?
I knew when I woke up on Wednesday November 9, 2016 I wasn’t going to be happy. One of two people I didn’t want was going to be elected our nation’s 45th President. I figured it would be Hillary Clinton.
I had made up my mind that I wouldn’t give either Clinton or Trump my vote. I felt confident that I had made the right decision.
I didn’t.
My feelings for Hillary Clinton haven’t changed. She’s still the master of saying one thing and doing something else. She’s still the one who said “I’m not going to stand by my man” then did just that. She still the one who blasted the Bush administration for the Iraq war, a war she voted for. She still she’s herself as a pioneer, though she wouldn’t have been elected dog catcher here in NY, much less US Senator, if not for her husband.
And with all that, I should have voted for her in 2016.
I’ve never admitted that before.
Because as much of a liar as I believe she is, Trump is 100 times worse. As much as I feel there would have been divisiveness in our politics with her as President, it wouldn’t have gotten to this point.
As much as I want to smash my computer every time some putz types “But her emails...” as if what she did was no big deal, I also believe we wouldn’t have 200,000 dead of COVID-19 if she was in charge.
Trump’s hatred of all things Obama caused him to get rid of the playbook the administration had set up to handle pandemics. For that alone, we’d have been better off with President Hillary Clinton.
But I also know she wouldn’t have bowed down to Vladimir Putin or went for a glorified photo op at the DMZ with Kim Jong Un.
As self centered as I always felt she was/is, I still believe she would have respected the office.
I don’t mean to come off as arrogant or self important. I know most people take their vote seriously as I do. I can look back at every time I have voted for President and say that I voted for the person I thought was the best choice at the time. I haven’t always voted for the winner (my record in case you were wondering is 3-4). In three of the four times my candidates lost, I still felt my choice was the right choice. I voted for John McCain in 2008. As much respect as I have for Barack Obama, I still don’t regret voting for McCain.
I can’t say that about what I did in 2016.
I can’t comfort myself by saying it didn’t matter. That Hillary was going to waltz to victory in NY no matter who I voted for. I can’t comfort myself as I tried to do by saying “Hey I didn’t vote for Trump either.” My vote is no more important than yours, but it’s as important as everyone else’s. It’s one of the few things we can truly call our own.
And that's what this is all about really. I don't know if anyone will see this in the future. But even if I come back and read this 10-20 years from now, I want it known that I did the right thing. I have to live with having not done that in 2016.
When I wake up on Wednesday morning, no matter what the outcome, I will do so knowing I made the right decision. That I voted on the right side of history.
PREDICTION
As one of my best friends here in Oceanside would say "No Shot"
I'm not touching this with a 10-foot pole. Call me gutless, that's fine. I'm keeping my mouth shut this time.
If you haven't done so please vote.
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