Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Presidential Candidates: Historic Parallels (Dems)

This is more difficult for me than doing Republicans. I like Democrats but my general snarkiness may not show that.

Hillary Clinton
Hillary is Bill and Bill is Hillary. Both are mostly great progressives. Both have too many ties to the industrial part of the military-industrial complex. And both are surgically attacked to Wall Street hedge fundies and bankers.

Bernie Sanders
In the early years of the 20th century, Eugene Debs ran for President four times on the Socialist Party ticket. He was beloved by workers and violently hated by wealthy industrialists and bankers. In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson had Debs arrested for sedition. His crime? He was accused of opposing World War I and criticizing President Wilson. (Were these still crimes I'd be in prison today.)

He was sentenced to ten years in prison for being an opposition politician. In 1920, he ran for President from his prison cell. The government banned him from appearing on the ballot but he still got over 900,000 votes as a write-in candidate.

Joe Biden
Joe reminds me of Martin Van Buren. He was universally regarded as a nice guy. He was Vice-President to Andrew Jackson and ran for President in 1836 to carry on the policies of his predecessor. Martin was a rather poor public speaker and something of a nebbish. He served only one term.

Martin O'Malley
That is Denali (nee Mount McKinley). William McKinley was an Irish-American and favored military adventurism; so is O'Malley. Unlike McKinley, O'Malley is not cozy with big bankers and not a vile racist.

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