Spoil Sport

Of course Democrats are whining that Gary Johnson and Jill Stein "spoiled" what would otherwise have been Hillary Clinton's triumph. Umm ... horseapples, as I explain in yesterday's Garrison Center op-ed.

Basically the "spoiler" argument boils down to an argument that voters are too stupid to choose wisely.

Even if that's true (and I'd say that either likely outcome in this election would have constituted strong supporting evidence), it doesn't strike me as a great campaign line. "Hey, you should have only been allowed to vote for me last time because you're dumb as a box of rocks, how about we try again?" probably isn't going to appear in any ads before an "I approve of this message" voiceover, for good reason.

Hillary Clinton ran a condescending campaign. She took two particular voting blocs for granted, namely blue collar workers in the Rust Belt and Latinos nationwide,* and her hubris vis a vis those demographics cost her Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. In other words, it cost her the election.

Gary Johnson and Jill Stein were, to be perfectly blunt, not stellar candidates. Yet they both did quite well compared to their parties' usual presidential results. Why?

Because Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton suck, that's why.

Note to Democrats and Republicans: If you don't want to lose voters to third party candidates, stop sucking instead of whining about the other candidates and their voters.

* Trump did better with Latino voters this year than Mitt Romney did in 2012.