As the recent months and weeks have progressed, I have found myself reading DailyKos less and less, commenting less and less, and looking to other media more than ever. The shrill nonsense coming from people from various wings of the party, and camps from both major dem candidates has been, for lack of a better word, insane.
I came into this primary season as a John Edwards supporter. I liked his unabashedly progressive platform, his willingness to take on powerful interests, and his plainspoken appeal to Americans of all stripes. Eventually, he didn't get there. He dropped out, and I moved on to support Senator Obama. I thought he was the closest to Edwards that we had, a very good Senator with an ability to remain progressive while still working with those who disagreed with him. However, I had, and continue to have, no real problem with Hillary Clinton, and would be happy to support her when the general election comes around. I guess I can't say the same for a lot of the people here. And while there is nothing wrong with that, the way people have gone about their politicking has been pretty disgusting.
It's been said before.
But it needs to be said again.
In the past few days, I've seen posts accusing Hillary of being a stealth Republican. I've seen virtually the same said about Barack. I saw a post today completely denigrating the entire Ohio electorate. I've seen the word "Leiberman" thrown around more times than at a Lieberman family reunion (that was a terrible joke, and I'm leaving it in anyway). I've seen threats to vote for the other party, or to not vote (which to me, in this election year, is tantamount to the same), if one's preferred candidate were to not get the nomination.
What happened to this place? If I remember correctly, even a year ago, people discussed policy. People discussed healthcare. People discussed how to get out of the clusterf*ck known as the Iraq War. People debated the value of pushing for true progressives versus supposedly more viable moderates, or insider progressives wersus more maverick candidates who were more moderate on individual issues. We had REAL DISCUSSIONS. We discussed the future of the Democratic Party, of progressive values beyond the party.
This place is turning into a left-wing version of one of those ridiculous combat panel shows on Fox News. A bunch of idiots throwing feces as each other.
For the Obama supporters, it's great to back the guy. It's great to produce substantive diaries about what he is doing, why he can win, what he could be doing better, why people should back him, etc. Same goes for Hillary. Shit, promote her candidacy all you want.
But when it turns into the stuff I've been reading here...
You're making DailyKos look like what its enemies, the O'Reillys of the world, etc., claim it is. So stop.
We're losing our credibility, and we're losing our minds.
Thanks.