• PugJesus@lemmy.world
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    26 days ago

    You’re going to pretend that we were saying the same thing? And that what you were saying wasn’t entirely framed around blaming leftists for the campaign’s actions?

    I didn’t realize the campaign’s actions were “Failing to cast the votes for the progressives who stayed home”, fascinating how voters have no agency.

    You’re honestly going to pretend that you’re not assigning motivation and intent in your statements that I’m not making when you say progressives, “chose to sit out and not vote over voting for a corporate Dem against fascism,” and that “fascism was preferable to a moderate liberal,” you absolute joke?

    That’s literally what you’re claiming.

    You’re claiming progressives chose not to vote for Harris because Harris didn’t appeal to them, as a corporate Dem.

    The opposition was literal fascism.

    Thus, progressives who chose not to vote for Harris preferred not voting over voting for a corporate Dem against fascism.

    Like, this isn’t complex. It’s actually incredibly simple. There are only two pieces to this, and you accept both of them. It’s really astounding that you’re continually insisting otherwise just because it hurts your feelings to think about.

    And by the way, if stopping, “literal fucking fascism” was so important to the Harris campaign, maybe Harris shouldn’t have waited until two weeks before election day to actually use the word, “fascism.” Seems like, if the entire pitch to progressive groups was going to be, “my policy’s don’t matter, you have to vote for me to stop fascism,” they probably should have spent some time talking about fascism!

    Oh, okay, so because Harris waited too long to say the word ‘fascism’, THAT’S why the progressives chose, in your worldview, to let fascism win. Makes perfect sense.

    • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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      25 days ago

      I didn’t realize the campaign’s actions were “Failing to cast the votes for the progressives who stayed home”, fascinating how voters have no agency.

      The campaigns actions were, “Failing to motivate progressives who stayed home.” That’s how campaigns work. Candidates go out and get people to vote for them. It’s the most fundamental aspect of an election. If you fail to get people to vote for you, ya did a bad job.

      You’re claiming progressives chose not to vote for Harris because Harris didn’t appeal to them, as a corporate Dem.

      The opposition was literal fascism.

      Thus, progressives who chose not to vote for Harris preferred not voting over voting for a corporate Dem against fascism.

      I’m claiming unenthusiastic people don’t vote. Your assigning the intent on what they preferred. Maybe some of them chose to stay home in protest. Maybe some of them wanted to vote for Harris, but low motivation and poor access to polling made them decide one vote didn’t matter. That’s why getting your base excited is so important, and why I’m calling bullshit when you call it, “pandering,” and assigning them motivations. Do you get the difference yet? Do you see how you’re reframing what I’m saying to absolve the Democrats of blame and places it on voters? Is that clear yet? Cause there’s no other possible way I can say it.

      (And don’t think I missed that little goal post move from, “that progressives decided that fascism was preferable to a moderate liberal,” to “preferred not voting over voting for a corporate Dem.” Real cute.)

      Oh, okay, so because Harris waited too long to say the word ‘fascism’, THAT’S why the progressives chose, in your worldview, to let fascism win. Makes perfect sense.

      You’re entire fucking argument is, “progressives decided that fascism was better than voting for Harris.” If that’s the case, shouldn’t someone have told the voters that was the case? Everyone knew they were choosing between a centrist and a fascist, even though the centrist didn’t tell anybody that was the case?

      • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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        25 days ago

        The campaigns actions were, “Failing to motivate progressives who stayed home.” That’s how campaigns work. Candidates go out and get people to vote for them. It’s the most fundamental aspect of an election. If you fail to get people to vote for you, ya did a bad job.

        Okay?

        At no point did I say the campaign did a good job? In fact, I’m pretty sure I explicitly lambasted them.

        I’m claiming unenthusiastic people don’t vote.

        Yes, in this case, your argument centered around progressives. So your argument was that progressives, not being enthused enough by Harris, decided not to vote, even though the opposition was literal fascism.

        This isn’t complex.

        Your assigning the intent on what they preferred. Maybe some of them chose to stay home in protest.

        Oh, so if it was a PROTEST abstain in favor of fascism, that makes it… okay in your eyes?

        That still doesn’t actually contradict what I’ve been characterizing your argument as, by the way.

        You’re claiming progressives chose not to vote for Harris because Harris didn’t appeal to them, as a corporate Dem.

        Maybe some of them wanted to vote for Harris, but low motivation and poor access to polling made them decide one vote didn’t matter.

        So they wanted to vote for Harris, but decided that the threat of fascism wasn’t motivating enough.

        That’s why getting your base excited is so important, and why I’m calling bullshit when you call it, “pandering,”

        Literally what it is, whether you like it or not. My argument isn’t that campaigns shouldn’t pander to voters; it’s the idea that not being pandered to justifies whatever they do, up to and including welcoming literal fucking fascism into the country.

        and assigning them motivations.

        You were the one who assigned them motivations; namely, that they were unexcited for Harris et co. All I did was point out that that argument would mean that they necessarily considered their lack of excitement sufficient to stand by and allow fascism to win.

        Do you get the difference yet? Do you see how you’re reframing what I’m saying to absolve the Democrats of blame and places it on voters? Is that clear yet? Cause there’s no other possible way I can say it.

        “Acknowledging that people are responsible for how they vote or not vote is absolving Democrats of blame”

        Okay.

        • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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          25 days ago

          At no point did I say the campaign did a good job? In fact, I’m pretty sure I explicitly lambasted them.

          Citation needed.

          Oh, so if it was a PROTEST abstain in favor of fascism, that makes it… okay in your eyes?

          What? No. How did you read those words and come to that conclusion?

          So they wanted to vote for Harris, but decided that the threat of fascism wasn’t motivating enough.

          No, I’m saying low enthusiasm leads to low turnout, and as I’ve pointed out twice, the Harris campaign didn’t make this a referendum in fascism, and very distinctly avoided the word fascism for most of the campaign. You want to say, “well, they should have been motivated to vote for Harris to defeat fascism,” when that wasn’t what even Harris’s pitch to voters.

          You are right about one thing, though; this isn’t complex. In fact, I nailed it in the first comment:

          Funny that so many centrists have a strategy that boils down down to, “ignore leftists and then complain when they don’t vote for us.”

          No matter how many times you try to put this on the voters, it was Harris job to get voters out. She picked moderates over progressives, and that’s on her, not the progressives that didn’t come out. Accept it or keep blaming progressives and lose in 2028, it’s not my problem anymore. You can have the last word, since you’re clearly going outlast the heat death of the universe trying to get it, and just don’t care anymore.

          • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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            25 days ago

            Citation needed.

            God, reading comprehension has really gone downhill in the schools.

            What? No. How did you read those words and come to that conclusion?

            Your assigning the intent on what they preferred. Maybe some of them chose to stay home in protest.

            If them staying at home in protest isn’t meant as some kind of justification, then what is its relevance? The answer would be that it has fucking none. So are you backtracking, throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks, or deliberately making shite arguments to gum up the conversation?

            You want to say, “well, they should have been motivated to vote for Harris to defeat fascism,” when that wasn’t what even Harris’s pitch to voters.

            Ah, so we’re back to “Harris didn’t say fascism, therefore, it can’t possibly be the fault of voters who stayed home!” What an utterly servile position on civic participation. Nothing exists except what the elite put forward, huh?

            Here I thought self-proclaimed leftists might recognize fascism when it clearly and loudly presents itself, but apparently you think that progressives have the approximate political understanding of a toddler.

            No matter how many times you try to put this on the voters, it was Harris job to get voters out. She picked moderates over progressives, and that’s on her, not the progressives that didn’t come out.

            Again, you just clearly state the argument I’ve been REPEATEDLY assigning to you. Your argument is that Harris not being sufficiently appealing to progressives was justification for them supposedly sitting out the election and handing the victory over to fascists. My response is that that in no way absolves them of their duty to oppose fascism, and any so-called progressive who refuses to oppose fascism because the milquetoast Dem doesn’t appeal to them enough is a fucking fascist enabler.

            But hey, play apologist for enabling fascists all night long if you like. Clearly I can’t stop you.