cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/12214870
never argued for third party candidates; you can check my history. but blaming this bullshit on people who do rather than the party that actively and proudly wants it is also a bit single minded.
it’s one thing to argue not voting or voting third party is the same as voting for republicans (which i always argue that it is) but seeing news like this shouldn’t make your first thought “this is because of third party voters”.
no, it’s republicans first. and democrats second, by the way. depressing voter turnout is something they have done for as long as I’ve been aware of us politics, probably more. it’s their job to turn non-voters into democratic voters, not the republicans’ job.
yet time and time again their best argument has always been “look at these cunts, we promise we’ll be at least 10% better”. that’s dumb. they banked on this message with Hillary and everyone paid for it.
this is one of those rare instances where they haven’t been as patronizing and dismissive of their base. they’ve actually listened, and convinced biden to drop out, and harris picked the VP candidate favored by the voters rather than making cynically strategic plays. i hope they win and learn a lesson from this.