They Don't Want Us to be Enthusiastic About HRC but We Are

I'm still having fun with this meme of the rapper DJ Khaled.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/01/more-proof-they-dont-want-you-to-vote.html

Krugman has a great piece that frames the Democratic race perfectly.

"The appeal of the Sanders campaign, at least to people I know, is that it brings a sense of possibility. For those who were joyful and uplifted on inauguration day 2009, the years that followed have been a vast letdown: American politics got even uglier, policy progress always fell short of dreams. Now comes Sanders — very different in personal style from Obama 2008, but again someone who seems different and offers the hope of transformation. And some people really want to hear that message, and don’t want to hear that they’re being unrealistic."

"But there’s something else, which I keep encountering, and which I’m sure I’m not the only one to notice: even among progressives, the two-decade-plus smear campaign against the Clintons has had its effect. I keep being told about terrible things the Clintons did that never actually happened, but were carefully fomented right-wing legends — except I’m hearing them from people on the left. The sense that where there’s smoke there must be fire — when the reality was nothing but Richard Mellon Scaife with a smoke machine — is very much out there, still."

"Unfortunately, that underlying Foxification of perceptions marries all too well with the tendency of some — only some — Sanders supporters to assume that any skepticism about their hero’s proposals or prospects must reflect personal corruption. Something like that was probably inevitable in a campaign whose premise is that everything is rigged by the oligarchy, but it interacts with the vague perception, the product of all those years of right-wing smearing, that there’s a lot of Clinton dirt."

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/pre-iowa-notes/?module=BlogPost-ReadMore&version=Blog%20Main&action=Click&contentCollection=Opinion&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body#more-39512

Yes, I have encountered many Bernie supporters on Twitter repeating the vilest of lies from Fox and friends that have made their rounds for 24 years nationally.

The Emoprogs who repeat these smears-Bernie himself now seems to want to talk about emails-had similar levels of opprobrium against President Obama. I recall feverished comments that he was 'pure evil'-on Jane Hamsher's old site that was not uncommon.

But Krugman also gets the inverse of this. Many Hillary supporters see this as something that she has wrongfully been subjected to for 24 years and are very disappointed to see Bernie folks repeating these same lies.

I think Bernie will regret trying to use this email thing as a way to get votes.

"On the other hand, that history is, I think, one factor behind a phenomenon we saw in 2008 and will see again this year: there’s a lot more passionate support for Clinton than either Sanders supporters or the news media imagine. There are a lot of Democrats who see her as someone who has been subjected to character assassination, to vicious attacks, on a scale few women and no men in politics have ever encountered — yet she’s still standing, still capable of remarkable grace under fire. If you didn’t see something heroic about her performance in the Benghazi hearing, you’re missing something essential."

"And Clinton’s dogged realism, while it doesn’t inspire the same kind of uplift as Sanders’s promise of change, can be inspiring in its own way."

I certainly find it inspiring.

Krugman then points out that the DMR poll showed her with even higher levels of enthusiasm than the Bern. 

Yes, we are enthusiastic over her, Bernie, and we won't forget you trying to hit her with the emails.