Think of it this way - ALL of our candidates have great merit. NONE of theirs do.

[NRaleighLiberal]

The inevitable spirited discussions here, at dinner tables and bars and any place political discussions occur, will get heated and testy. Feelings will get hurt, friendships broken, folks ignored. That's politics, and it is discussion boards. My feeling is that what is most important is that our candidates will impact each other in the coming months, during the primaries and debates, and hopefully, in ways that will benefit the most people in this country (NOT the big money and corporations). There is no perfect candidate, no perfect politician. Truth be told I TRUST no politician. (I only trust one person in my life - my wife). How could I? I've never met them - there is no basis of trust, no relationship.

But I like certain positions and principles of certain politicians. And of course I hope that a Democrat wins the White House in 2016, and of course I will vote for and support whoever the Democratic candidate is that is selected to run against the certifiable clown car member from their side with less than a fraction of intellect, skill, ethics and empathy of ANY of ours.

And when our Democratic candidate wins, I will breathe a big sigh of relief. Again.

[cyberswede]

1. K&R

Awesome post, NRL.

[FSogol]

2. True dat. n/t

[Agschmid]

3. Yup.

[MBplayer]

4. Hear! Hear!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. I like how you think, my dear NRL! And I agree. n/t

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. I am an optimist!

what can I say...maybe it's all those tomatoes!

[canoeist52]

12. This post brought to you by The Ketchup Advisory Board.

Plain to see you're getting enough!

[Kali]

7. yep!

I haven't trashed this forum but I try to avoid it.

[JaneyVee]

8. KNR! A voice of reason.

[oasis]

9. Screw Coca Cola, it's the POSITIVE that refreshes.

[JoePhilly]

10. Well said.

[LibDemAlways]

11. Don't forget that we live in a country where

intellect, skill, ethics, and empathy are considered negatives by a significant percentage of the electorate. Millions voted for Bush and would gladly vote for any of the cretins with an R after their name. The Democratic nominee is by no means a shoe-in.

[NRaleighLiberal]

13. Yes, I know that full well. In fact...

my cynical view of the appeal of Trump (gasp) is that we are developing a reality TV addicted, non-thinking population - and, electorate. It is hard to conceive of it...esp since we turned off the teevee 7 years ago, and if we even get a peek at it when travelling, it is inconceivable the utter crap that so many choose to visually ingest!

[R B Garr]

14. Very nice!

Great sentiments.

[Bryan]

15. K&R

It is important to remember that despite disagreements and differences of approach and style, all of our candidates believe that America needs to be and can be better in serving all of its people. The entire Republican slate is made up of selfish assholes who deride pluralism and pander to a paranoid worldview that America is a perfect state that is only endangered by a hostile Other.