Before I go any further, I want to say one thing: I am ardently pro-Obama. I was there, in Chicago, in 2003, when he spoke out against the war. I was there in 2004, giving money and volunteering to help him win the primary and then the general election. I've given a stupid-crazy amount of money to see him win.
So don't anyone here dare question my bona fides. I assure you, my papers are entirely in order.
And, I've been a small-time participant in the Obama/Hillary/Edwards/Gravel (ok, I made that last part up) pie fights on dailykos as of late - a little blowing off steam never hurt anyone and the back-and-forth is one of the things I love about this site.
And somehow, for some reason, I recently took a shine to Kevvboy. I don't know him, I'll never meet him...but to paraphrase "True Romance", I like him - he's a real wild man.
And he was treated really, really roughly today. And this type of behavior really has got to stop.
His offense? He responded to the "Red State is terrified of Obama" diary by adding three simple words:
and Republicans lite
And for this, what did he get? A lot of invective and more than a few bagels.
Was he being juvenile? I'll leave that up to you to decide. I for one thought it was pretty clever, I thought it was pretty elegant, and I would have assumed it would either be laughed off or ignored.
Nope...my man got attacked pretty hard.
And this is what is so ridiculous. Obama is winning. We had a great night. We raised millions today. A candidate whom we love, respect, admire, and have faith in is taking the near-incumbent the distance and could do the impossible.
And Kevvboy is practically jumped for a little jab -- a jab that, like all good humor, actually made a pretty strong point.
I don't agree with that point. A lot of you don't agree with that point. But for God's sake people, there is more than one way to see the world (uh, which is the bedrock of liberalism last time I checked) and though you don't have to agree with that other way, it doesn't mean you open the cannons on the people who express it, either.
Especially when we're all on the same team.
This is not a call for love and peace and bliss.
It's a call to show a little restraint, show a little respect, get some damn perspective, and get over yourself. Otherwise, there are sites out there -- for you Clinton folks I recommend hillaryis44.org -- that would welcome your myopic view, wild accusations, partisan rancor, and over-arching silliness with open arms.
This thing is going to get ugly. It's unavoidable. But that doesn't mean that we, members of this community all, need to get ugly, too.
And that's one to grow on.