How would I -- or you -- look to the world if subjected to 30 years of relentless, organized and fully-funded lies, calumny, distortions, faux outrage, hypocrisy, fabrications, attempted bullying and flagrant misogyny? Battered? Yes. Unbowed? If you're Hillary Clinton, Yes! Amazingly.
No male in the public arena has been subjected to -- or most likely would have had the courage and strength to endure -- the unrelenting attacks unleashed on Hillary Clinton over decades. And Secretary Clinton -- the real person, not the malicious caricature created by Republicans -- is a lot more than just "still standing". You want tough? Contrast Ms. Clinton to her naive, bombastic, dishonest short-panted schoolboy opponent.
If you or yours are even tempted to vote for a third party candidate, please consult with your mirror. Before denying Hillary Clinton your vote, rehearse what you will say to your pals, kids and grandkids if Americans destroy their future at the same time our nation humiliates itself before the rest of world. Do not forget how The 2000 Election Unleashed Disaster on the World.
If Hillary Clinton were "just" a former First Lady, we would look like any third world nation going for reflexive continuity. But pitting a former Senator of the nation's second most populous state and a former Secretary of State against what Bruce Springsteen so aptly summed up as "a con man"? That would seem a lot more than merely unbalanced...if she were a he.
The good news: The New Yorker's genuine journalism shows how Secretary Clinton has consistently been ahead of the Republicans in the real polls with Trump never having in fact gained that lead. Yes, really!
One need not love a candidate -- any candidate -- to vote for that person. Even if one is not Hillary Clinton's most enthusiastic supporter, acknowledge her strengths. Is she the perfect candidate? No. Would I be? You? Her opponent is so deeply flawed, so out of his depth that, without the complicity of greedy media and the willful madness of the Republican party, he would have been, quite properly, laughed off the public stage.
Do not believe three decades of character assassination directed at the Democratic candidate. Do not believe eighteen months of BS from the Republican candidate. Our future is too important to waste your vote.