Blog Stage 4: Substantial commentary or criticism #2

On June 16, 2016, CounterPunch put up a blog entry Can Hillary Win Over Bernie Voters written by Ted Rall. Not long ago has Hillary won the democratic presidential nomination, yet it seems as if she is already losing the respect and interest of many of Bernie's supporters. Although Bernie and Hillary were both running for the democratic party, and it would seem like the Bernie supporters would slide their votes now for Hillary, this does not seem to be the case.

Ted Rall seems to be speaking directly to the public, or more specifically, those eligible to vote, and indirectly to Hillary Clinton. Ted Rall informs the public of Hillary's failure to win over many of the Bernie supporters so that the public may re-evaluate Clinton as a candidate. Although Ted Rall uses the pronoun "You," when referring to the public, he is also indirectly hinting at Clinton to change her ways, warning "It’s obvious to everyone that Hillary Clinton will need as many Bernie Sanders supporters as possible in November if she indeed becomes her party’s nominee.".

Although I have never heard of Ted Rall, or of his writings, or even of CounterPunch itself, I can argue that Ted Rall's credibility is sufficient enough to convince many readers. In fact, Ted Rall starts the blog entry with "Unless you follow politics closely, you could be forgiven for thinking that Hillary Clinton has locked up the Democratic presidential nomination. This is not true.". From the start he increases his credibility, ensuring that his words are reliable and that he is knowledgeable because he follows politics very closely.

He argues that Hillary is not living up as a presidential candidate as he condemns her for accepting bribes of big insurance companies, and for her  "I have nothing to learn from Bernie and he'll be lucky to get a speech at the convention" attitude. Ted Rall is not simply angry will Hillary, he hopes in making a change in how candidates run in elections.

Reading this blog, I've noticed a complete different style of writing. Previously I've critiqued a New York Times editorial, however I've noticed that Ted Rall writes much more bluntly and gets to his point right away. In some ways I see that Ted Rall's style of writing allows him to convey his true thoughts on presidential candidates and his opinions about this presidential election. Personally, I think Ted Rall's points were very convincing. I had thought Hillary Clinton would have actually won a lot of more Bernie supporters, however now I can now see why she would have some trouble doing so.