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The Screaming Moderate

Choosing between two evils. An evil choice

5/17/2016

6 Comments

 
Picture
Hillary Clinton has drawn about the only Republican candidate she could easily beat this year – Donald Trump.

Donald Trump has drawn about the only Democratic candidate he could easily beat this year – Hillary Clinton.

For all the years each of us has had to choose between the lesser of two evils for president, this year takes the cake.

Both candidates’ negative ratings are in the stratosphere. Normally you can pretty reliably predict who’s going to win if either candidate has more than a 50 percent unfavorable rating.  This year, each is well over 50 percent and Trump is past 60 percent. Of course the general election campaign hasn't started yet. Each can add to their unfavorability before the election.

People say Hillary lies, cheats and steals. Other say Trump is unfit and doesn’t have the temperament to be president. Oh, and he lies too.

You choose.

I’ve spoken to some Republican friends who are not fans of Trump. But, they will vote for him because they hate the Clintons. Other Republican friends won’t vote for Trump and are looking for a third-party alternative, like Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. The question about voting for a third-party candidate or writing in someone is – while it may be a vote against Hillary and Donald, is it a vote for something because no third-party is going to win the presidency? I have Democratic friends who will vote for Hillary while holding their noses. What a year.

At best, a third party, in its wildest imaginings, could throw the election into the House of Representatives and guess who you’d get then? Since Republicans are in the majority, you get Donald Trump. So you may as well choose and be part of the problem, I mean solution.

So is a third-party or write-in vote the answer? It may soothe your conscience that you didn’t vote for Hillary or Trump, but you probably then really voted for both of them.

It is a most difficult year to make up one’s mind. And it’s a most important year to make up one’s mind.

While some argue the Supreme Court is at stake, does anyone trust that Trump would name a conservative justice? The question there really is, can you trust Donald Trump who has lied time and time again? We know Hillary will name liberal justices. Do you vote for Donald, take an unfit candidate and a hope that he’ll appoint conservatives? Or do you take Hillary an untrustworthy candidate and accept liberal justices?

A horrible choice, but a choice we need to make because that’s, well, our choice.


6 Comments
Marcia Lane
5/17/2016 10:32:06 am

Given the make-up of the Senate, I'm guessing Hillary would actually appoint someone more centrist. Maybe to the left of center, but probably not what many would think of as liberal. Is Garland a liberal in your mind, B. Jay?

Reply
B. Jay
5/17/2016 11:16:09 am

No, Marcy. I think he's a moderate.

Reply
Marcia Lane
5/17/2016 12:08:23 pm

So is it not possible that he would be a Hillary nominee? I can't see her trying to force a very liberal candidate through.

By the way, I agree that Hillary (and the whole Clinton gang) is not the most transparently ethical Democrat I could wish for, but in the discussion of qualified, knowledgeable candidates whose views on a range of subjects is a. known and b. within a range of normalcy of both of US and world thinking, I take her any day! Not an evil in my book, just not a perfect candidate.

Reply
Bobbie Richards
5/17/2016 06:31:47 pm

I agree with Marcia Lane. I am also changing my party affiliation from registered republican to unaffiliated.

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Gene Gibbons
5/17/2016 10:00:43 pm

I covered Hillary, B. Jay. And I think the untrustworthy tag she's gotten is a bad rap. Yes, she's a flawed human being as are we all. But I found her to be a decent, responsible person at heart. Not so her opponent, whom i think is the most unsavory, irresponsible individual ever to disgrace American politics.i don't think it's a tough choice at all. I'm m with her.

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Ellen Hume
5/18/2016 12:22:51 pm

Im with Gene on this. I've seen her up close. Shes actually a fine person, vary committed to the middle class and underdog. She is NOT Bill. Shes gotten smeared for decades. She will surprise you if shes elected. She coukd be an excellent, bridge-building president.

Reply



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    B. Jay Cooper

    B. Jay is a former deputy White House press secretary to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also headed the communications offices at the Republican National Committee, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Yale University. He is a former reporter and is the retired deputy managing director of APCO Worldwide's Washington, D.C., office.
    He is the father of three daughters and grandfather of five boys and one girl. He lives in Marion, Mass.

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