General News If Hillary is the nominee...

Only because he's surrounded by 2 borderline Fascists on either side in Trump and Cruz.

 

Put it this way, this - Rubio Trumps Trump: Shut Down Any Place Muslims Gather To Be 'Inspired' - was his response to Trump's "close down mosques" idea.

And this - Six GOP Candidates Pledge To Sign Anti-Gay Discrimination Into Law | ThinkProgress - is what he thinks of lgbt rights

And without even getting into him on abortion, immigration and climate change I have shown that Rubio is every bit as nuts as Cruz and Trump. He's just much better at hiding how dangerous he really is.

 

Basically, we say to ourselves "If Hillary doesn't get the nomination, then I think the Republicans should win control of all branches of government". If you seriously prefer Republicans over Clinton, then do whatever you want. Just be mindful that your vote may have consequences if you don't choose wisely.

---------- Post added 20th Feb 2016 at 09:09 PM ----------

Trump probably is more moderate. When you actually look at his stances, he's really not that conservative. He just takes a few issues and acts really conservative on them and then the media takes it from there.

Did you know he's willing to support some gay rights laws? Most of the other candidates (except for Kasich) would not support any gay rights laws.

 

I'll probably never vote Republican because most of the time they don't support LGBT rights. Rubio and Cruz are too extreme on gay rights. Trump is just...Trump. I would maybe vote Kasich but he won't get the nom. It's a shame.

Granted, Bernie OR Hillary is the better choice in this election. We can't be divided like the Republicans...if a Democrat wins the White House we may very well see the demise of this backwards Republican party.

 

I'm too young anyway, but I wouldn't vote for Hilary with a gun to my head. I dislike her more than a fair amount of people on the GOP, but I wouldn't vote for any of them either. I am not going to vote for the 'lesser' of two evils. That is the stupid and backwards mentality that has created our broken and corrupt 2 party system.

 

I've been for Hillary from day one. I feel like my beloved Democratic Party is leaving me behind by embracing these whacko Social Justice Warriors and now wanting to nominate an unelectable socialist. If Sanders got the nomination, I'd either write in Hillary Clinton or even do the unthinkable: vote for Mike Bloomberg if he jumps in the race.

 

I like Hillary better than anything the GOP has to offer and no third party candidate has a shot at winning, so yes I'm gonna vote for Hillary if she wins the nom. Tho, chances are my state is going to go red again, so it probably won't matter.

 

It sounds as if you're a little scared of Bernie Sanders winning the nomination, AG. I know Hillary is still more than likely going to be the nominee barring a Sanders upset on Super Tuesday, and I will have no qualms voting for her or Bernie if either wins, and I'd hope all Democrats would realize that's the only way we'll win 2016. The infighting among Democrats is starting to get nasty, and I'm very put off by that, and even though it does make me want to vote third party to a lesser extent also. However, I know the implications of the 2016 election would be too large to do so, and I thought you would have the same mindset as me on this as well. The 'unelectable' argument against Sanders is getting very old, and so are the many Hillary supporters who say that his supporters aren't true Democrats. The same way many Sanders' supporters smear Clinton as a conservative and attempt to say her supporters aren't real progressives. Both sides are in the wrong by attacking and smearing the other, and the infighting between the supporters and the candidates needs to stop before it alienates more voters. Democratic voters have to vote Democratic if we want to win. We have two outstanding candidates who have a chance to progress President Obama's agendas. Both are electable, and both are Presidential. We can discuss all day long about whether one is better than the other, but both are far better than any GOP alternative.

To answer OP's question, I'm voting for the Democratic nominee no matter what. The only scenario I could see myself voting third party would be one where Hillary goes full negative on Bernie Sanders, and completely alienates the younger wing of the party.

 

Hilary is going to be the next president. If Bernie sanders got the nominee and I had the option to vote then I wouldn't. I don't want no socialist in office!!!

 

Haha same!

 

See, here's the thing. If you want to parse down my views, I'm you're average, run-of-the-mill liberal Democrat: progressive taxation, support for Keyenesian economics, pro-choice, pro-gay marriage. Bill Maher explains my problem with what the Democratic Party is now embracing, and its equivalent on the right:

[YOUTUBE]luhSVN5mgNY[/YOUTUBE]

"The government is here to protect a lot of things, but your feelings aren't one of them...They are martyrs without a cause, whipping themselves up over issues that are better solved with Xanax."

 

Democratic socialist is a little different form a regular socialist. A lot of our basic principles are key aspects of Democratic Socialist.

Also, Bernie has been very very consistent with his beliefs throughout time and he has aligned very well with the Democratic Party. Democrats have a lot of socialistic tendencies. Hillary is saying today the same things Bernie has been saying for the past 20 years. I trust Bernie way more than I trust Hillary.

Bernie is able to gather many moderate voters. He's what we need to win the election. Most polls show he does a way better job at beating Republicans than Hillary can in 1 to 1 elections. If Hillary gets the nomination, the Democratic Party may just lose in 2016.

And really? You wouldn't vote? You would rather have a Republican in office than a "socialist". (a Democratic socialist-- someone who has socialistic tendencies but still beliefs in free political power and allowing the democratic process to unfold. Someone who wants to solve the massive wage gap between the 1% and poor through democratic means.)

---------- Post added 21st Feb 2016 at 11:26 PM ----------

Unelectable? He's able to gather much more moderate and independent support. Hillary is on the verge of being indicted and is polled as very untrusted by most Americans. Look at some polls! When you match up Hillary with Republican candidates, she loses to Rubio and Cruz by wide margins. Bernie BEATS all the top Republican candidates by wide margins. Hillary has more supporters who would vote for Bernie if they had too. Bernie has less supporters who would vote for Hillary if they had to. Bernie is also very very good at getting moderate votes. To win an election, you NEED moderate votes.

Look back to my response to Andrew for your socialist comment.

---------- Post added 21st Feb 2016 at 11:30 PM ----------

Thank you!

 

Logically speaking. GOP will do anything to end marriage equality.
Anything else is basically throwing away a vote because it's not going to get enough to get enough electoral votes for a win.

So, I don't trust Hillary and I don't like her. But she has my vote because of the alternative.

 

This is why we need Sanders. We can't keep voting in the person whom we assume will be the least disastrous. The fact that this attitude has pervaded several if not countless election cycles is a tragedy of the commons. We need to vote for the one we *do* want in office, not vote to keep the worst of the nasties out.

I saw on fb that Hillary just won Nevada. It makes me sad :/ because I really don't know who I'll vote for if she wins the nomination. The GOP will be a hard sell any way you slice it.

 

If Hillary is the Democratic Nominee I would vote for her only because third parties never have any chance in our elections.

 

That depends on what state you're in. Because of the electoral college system, you don't really risk any of those things by casting a protest vote for a 3rd party candidate if you live in a dark blue state, such as California.

If I were in a state that could conceivably be won by the Republican nominee, I would vote for Hillary in the general election if she was nominated. However, since my state will be won by the Democratic nominee, and since I think Hillary will only stand up for my rights as an LGBT person when it's politically advantageous for her to do so, I'd probably either vote 3rd party or leave the presidential part of the ballot blank in November if she's the nominee.

If Sanders is the nominee, I'll vote for him in the general election. In fact, I just changed my party affiliation specifically to vote against Clinton for Sanders in the primaries. Sanders has a much better track record on LGBT right. Aside from some comments he made in 2006 about same-sex marriage in Vermont - which he later claimed that he meant that it would be a bad time politically to push the legislation in that state (not that he was against same-sex marriage) - he seems to have been fighting for LGBT rights since the freakin 70s.

LGBT rights is not the only reason why I would prefer Sanders to be nominated over Clinton, but the fact that Clinton appears (at least to me) to only be supporting my rights as an LGBT person since it's now politically in her best interest, and the fact that she's presenting herself as someone who's always been a staunch supporter of LGBT rights, makes me despise her.

That being said, Clinton being in the White House would be a lot better than Trump or any of the other Republican candidates, even though I think that she's full of shit.

---------- Post added 22nd Feb 2016 at 12:58 AM ----------

That's the problem with the first past the post voting, the math works out such that there will eventually be only 2 dominant parties. I'm a big supporter of the alternative vote, which allows people to vote for 3rd parties, while also letting them have their vote count for the a major party if their 3rd party candidate loses:

[YOUTUBE]3Y3jE3B8HsE[/YOUTUBE]

 

Ooh-ho-hoo, political!

I agree with you on all of that.

No, I'm sorry, I can't agree with all of that, especially what I've put in bold. I'm a Log Cabin Republican, I agree with a lot of the more economic values of conservatism, where of course socially I'm more liberal. I guess some would say that makes me a "libertarian," but I don't think that's something anyone really wants to be affiliated with right now.

Now then, let's look at Trump: yeah he's a blow hard and an ass-hat, but I'm voting for him. Why? Because unlike Hildog, he actually believes in what he's saying, however wrong he is, he actually believes the crap coming out of his mouth and that's to be admired. Hildog is just spewing out lies desperately in hopes that she can accomplish something with her life before she becomes an old maid. She doesn't actually believe anything she says, she just says a lot of pretty words that don't mean anything, where Trump says a lot of ugly words that actually mean something (no matter how wrong they might be). Such is the insanity of politics in general.

As for Trump (and let's face it, this whole conversation is about Trump), do you really think someone so involved with reality TV and Hollywood is going to actually actively try and set back gay rights a hundred years? I don't. I think he would be making just as much headway if he was running as a Democrat; the only reason he's running as a Republican is because he's a mega billionaire and people expect it and he can get a hold of hayseed members of the Republican community like me and actually get us on board with the bullshit he spews.

Besides all of this, Bernie Sanders looks about as healthy as a terminally ill AIDS patient with stage five cancer. I don't want to see him get elected and die of natural causes in the White House-- that'd be bad for everybody! Bernie is a lot like Trump, he believes in what he's saying, but unfortunately his advanced age makes him a bad candidate. And don't start coming down on me with the "But Ronald Reagan was old!" argument, Ronald Reagan was clearly in good health, something Trump is and Bernie, to anyone with a pair of eyes, obviously isn't.

I'm a gay Republican, yes that's a thing, I know other gay Republicans. We exist.