larkandkatydid:

And I promise I’ll stop after this because bitterness is
unattractive and only productive bitterness is worth putting on one’s blog,
HOWEVER, there are some new variables to our political calculus that we have to
take seriously:

I stumped for a guy running on a single payer platform:

• In a state that Bernie Sanders won
• Who is one of the leading international experts on single
  payer healthcare
• And is young and handsome and talks like Obama if Obama was
  a burly Midwestern lacrosse bro
• And who Bernie Sanders campaigned hard for

 And we lost by 14 points.

And no election is every the same and there are always,
always dozens of variables but AT LEAST TWO are that Bernie Sanders put together
a winning coalition that included a lot of rural white guys who were profoundly
motivated by dislike of Hilary Clinton and/or wouldn’t vote for a brown guy who
was ten times as qualified as Bernie Sanders…which SUCKS. 

I’m not just saying this because it makes me angry and validates my on-going beef with Bernie Sanders.  I was really hoping and working hard to prove myself wrong on this shit!   I’m not even being bitter and cynical about this.  I think it means we just need to work harder and more and keep bringing these conversations into the public consciousness and build winning coalitions….but I don’t think we do anyone any favors by just ignoring the shitty aspects of our society and assuming anyone who notices them is a paid shill trying to crush your momentum. 

This is how I feel about the Chris G governor campaign. She’s a charismatic progressive that had been a teacher for 30 years and made education her key issue. She still lost to a warm bowl of tapioca that happened to have a penis by ten points. Sometimes gender matters as does race.