Excuses Are Like ...

You know the saying:  "Excuses are like (a part of the anatomy that rhymes with "grass pole") - everybody's got one."  Except in the case of the Democrats' excuses for why Hillary lost the election, the saying should be "Excuses are like the hairs on your head," because there are so doggone many of them.

On this inauguration eve, let's enumerate them as we know them - debunking them along the way - then present the real reasons Hillary lost the election.

1. The Russian Email Hack.  I already debunked this in a previous post, so let's just summarize.  It's highly unlikely that the contents of those emails swayed Hillary voters to change their minds and vote for Trump in sufficient numbers to carry traditionally blue states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.  But if they did, it was the contents that swayed the voters, not the fact of the hack.  Those contents have never been disputed by the Clinton campaign, the DNC, or any rational liberal (wait, was that an oxymoron?).  And those contents revealed that the DNC conspired against Bernie Sanders in the primaries, that Clinton staffers insulted Catholics and Latinos, and that DNC chair Donna Brazile obtained debate questions and provided them to Clinton in advance.  In other words, Clinton and the DNC are just pissed that they got caught.
2. James Comey's revelation that the FBI was re-opening the Clinton email investigation following the discovery of 650,000 emails on Anthony Weiner's laptop.  I debunked that one, too, so another summary: Clinton should never have used a private email server, and could have had no plausible reason to other than to either hide information from the government, or share government information with whomever she pleased.  The Weiner emails might well have been relevant.  And Comey claimed, at the 11th hour, that the emails had all been reviewed (650,000 emails in about a week - riiight) and that the investigation was once again closed.  So any fence-sitters would know going into the polls that Hillary had yet again been exonerated by the FBI (which, by the way, operates under the purview of the same Attorney General who met on an airplane with Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, purportedly to talk about grandkids and golf).  So they'd have had no reason to vote against Hillary on the basis of Comey's earlier revelation that the investigation was re-opened, because it was closed prior to the opening of the polls on election day.
3. Bill Clinton blamed it on "angry white men."  Like the angry white man who wagged his finger at an interviewer and stated, "I did not ... have sex ... with that woman"?  Of all the people I know that voted for Trump, not one would I characterize as angry, and a number of them were women.  Bill of all people should know the difference between a man and a woman.

So why did Hillary really lose the election?  My underlying premise is that that's exactly what happened: those who voted for Trump were primarily voting against her, not for him.  She lost, more than he won.  Here's why, in order of importance:

1. This election was about a repudiation of the Obama presidency.  I don't mean this as a slam on Obama per se; this happens regularly in U.S. politics.  Many people were tired of Bush II after eight years, so they voted against the Republicans.  Obama was the Democrat candidate, so he won.  Often, after eight years of one party being in power, people want a change of direction, so they vote for one.  Note also that while Obama won re-election in 2012 by a wider margin of victory than his initial win in 2008 (thanks in part to record-low voter turnout on the part of Republicans in 2012, which was to some degree due to the fact that Mit Romney generated as much excitement as drying paint), Obama's platform continually cost the Democrats.  First in the 2010 mid-terms, then in the 2012 down-ticket races, then en masse in the 2014 mid-terms.  Finally, in 2016, Obama's party lost the White House, seats in both houses of Congress, and large numbers of seats in state legislatures and governorships.  In all those elections, the voters spoke loud and clear regarding Obama's policies.
2. Hillary's baggage.  Corruption has followed her throughout her political career, and America did not trust her.
3. The fact that Hillary is, and always has been, one of the most polarizing figures in American politics.  She's as caustic as sulfuric acid.
4. The fact that Hillary, in her elitist arrogance, took flyover states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania (the land of Obama's "God and guns" clingers) for granted, assuming they were forever blue.  So she ignored them, instead campaigning in places like Florida, but also in California and New York.  Why she campaigned in the latter two states - other than to hobnob with her buddies - is beyond me, as the population centers in those states will never vote red.  In other words, Hillary's campaign strategy was about as effective as Obama's foreign policy.

Oh, the left will blame it on everything but the truth.  And that's okay.  As long as they ignore the truth, they'll continue to make the same mistakes, and that'll make it harder for them to regain power.

After all, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.