What's killing me about this election is that it is 100% about brand. Not parties, but rather the brand of the candidates themselves. This is pretty obvious when one of the surviving five candidates is known to his followers as "Bernie", and Donald Trump is considered a serious contender.
Not only that, but candidates are so driven by their brand that they have to insult the people on their own side of the aisle, rather than courting the middle. I have been told by Hillary Clinton that I am naive. I have been told by Hillary Clinton's followers that I am a misogynist, a racist, and basically just as rotten as a Rand Paul voter. And I'm a lefty.
Granted, Sander's partisans haven't exactly been a model of civility, either, which leaves everyone on the left in the painful position of not being able to point at Trump and Cruz and laugh, without being hypocrites.
But we'll do that anyway, because that's what brands are for. You can ignore these little inconsistencies, because fuck if you'll be reasonable in front of your friends, right?
Not only that, but candidates are so driven by their brand that they have to insult the people on their own side of the aisle, rather than courting the middle. I have been told by Hillary Clinton that I am naive. I have been told by Hillary Clinton's followers that I am a misogynist, a racist, and basically just as rotten as a Rand Paul voter. And I'm a lefty.
Granted, Sander's partisans haven't exactly been a model of civility, either, which leaves everyone on the left in the painful position of not being able to point at Trump and Cruz and laugh, without being hypocrites.
But we'll do that anyway, because that's what brands are for. You can ignore these little inconsistencies, because fuck if you'll be reasonable in front of your friends, right?