"Hater"

[WilliamPitt]

Um...pssst...this is, for all practical purposes, primary season.

Primary season is the most important season. It is when the voters get to choose from a much wider variety of candidates.

It's vital, and the fact that the average turnout for primaries all across the country hovers below 40% is a large part of the reason we're being "governed," by and large, by shitheads.

This is when we really, really get to do some choosing.

It's also when we debate the relative merits of the candidates. Sometimes with heat, because it's that important.

So.

When a supporter for Candidate X makes salient and accurate points about your Candidate Y, or vice-versa, please don't deploy "Well, you're just a hater" or some brain-absent permutation thereof.

You sound like a jackass, and have thoroughly missed the point of the exercise.

This is important. If you don't like it, find another hobby.

[daleanime]

1. K&R.....

and if you can't find something about your candidate that you don't like, you're not being very honest with yourself or anyone else.

[99Forever]

2. Right you are.

Nothing screams "I really have no legitimate counter argument" quite like the words, "Well, you're just a hater."

Lame and lazy.

[SoapBox]

3. K & R

Excellent.

[heaven05]

4. good one

nailed it.

[A Simple Game]

5. No this is not primary season. This is part of the reason for low voter turnout.

Primary season starts next year, not this year, not last year, and not the day after the last general election. By the time primary season gets here many people are burnt out by what has become perpetual campaigning, and by the general don't even want to think about it anymore. Hillary has been running almost non-stop for 12 years. Most of the Republican candidates have been running for at least 8 years.

We don't even have to mention the mountains of money do we? Should it be mentioned how many hours a week a Senator or Representative spends seeking donations?

We need a serious national discussion about our elections and should study how other countries accomplish higher turnouts with shorter campaign times.

[longship]

6. I agree with you ASG.

Perpetual campaign mode is insidious.

[jwirr]

17. If I am not mistaken both Iowa and New Hamshire are held in the first months of 2016. By then

the candidates need to have their positions well known in those states and the other early ones as well. That means campaigning earlier. And not just in those states. Popularity and viability are part of campaigning. That is what is happening this year. If you cut the time to less than one years it is a problem for those with less name recognition

How ever I do agree that continual campaigning is part of the reason the people turn off the whole thing. And that is part of what makes it so expensive.

[SaranchaIsWaiting]

7. Absolutely. This is NOT about the GOP right now.

This is about the best possible opponent against them.

So when I hear, whey don't you talk about how awful the Repuglicans are, I hear nothing. This is not the time for that. It is a time of serious decisions who will oppose them.

[MisterP]

12. yeah--you'd think that if they hate GOP policies so much, they'd be doubly angry at Dems that go out

of their way to pass those same policies, work with Republicans, and exclude any alternatives or complaining common folk

but no

[Duval]

8. Very important.

Thanks, Will. We get enough of that through our MSM, plus I think it would improve our overall psyche to see and hear less of it.

[PatrickforO]

9. That's right. Candidates need to answer for their prior stances on issues that matter.

[SheilaT]

10. True, but an awful lot of voters

tune out very early because of the way the primaries work, and that usually the candidate is picked before even half of the country has had a chance to participate. Maybe I have that percentage wrong, but it can feel that way.

I'm in New Mexico, and I just checked, and my state's primary is going to be in June. The best I can hope for is that at least two candidates are still battling it out that late, which isn't very likely. Hillary Clinton and her PUMAs kept things going that long in 2008, I believe.

[PeaceNikki]

11. This is the internet and you aren't the supreme ruler of it.

Surely you get that not everyone is here for an "exercise", right?

[NightWatcher]

13. If you think that the supporters of the other Dem candidates are 'haters'

You should hear what the repukes will say about our eventual nominee.

[cheapdate]

14. Yes, that's not how the game works.

When an argument is put forward, you may either:

A) contest the premises or the argument, OR
B) concede the point.

That's it, really. Anything else is a forfeit.

[L0oniX]

15. K & R

[BeanMusical]

16. Hater!

[RufusTFirefly]

18. K&R. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. n/t

[Skittles]

19. swooners SUCK, no matter who they are swooning for

STOP IT!!!!

[nashville_brook]

20. all of this.

[libodem]

21. Shizakoff for Congress

Vote for your favorite, Shithead for the people, by the people, and of the people.

Will, has a way with words.