Because sometimes, this community is more about people than it is about candidates.
Obviously things have been neither pretty nor peaceful lately here at DailyKos, but as in all things, there are good times and bad, thick and thin.
But you know what? Instead of tips and flames, recs and HRs, let's just give thanks for the decent, thoughtful people who post here on a regular basis.
In no particular order;
bonddad and Jerome a Paris for insightful posts on the economy.
Brandon Friedman for a clear minded perspective on the war in Iraq.
mcjoan for keeping us up to tabs on the fight against retroactive immunity.
Kagro X for truly informative posts on constantly overlooked but critically important legislative procedures.
Meteor Blades for, well, lots of things.
Jeffrey Feldman for keeping us on message.
JeffLieber and Bill in Portland Maine for their humor.
nyceve for never letting us forget that healthcare is absolutely a progressive priority and a human priority.
Pocket Nines for their great coverage of recent primaries and caucuses.
poblano for their undying commitment to well reasoned reports on primaries and caucuses.
grannyhelen for always being nothing less than perfectly polite, even when I disagreed.
a lot of prominent Edwards diarists for never wavering from a cause we had in common, candidates aside.
teacherken for being thoughtful in all things.
clammyc for always being right on point.
pastordan for never forgetting what truly matters.
cool beer and cheap hats for always facilitating the good times. sheddhead
Guiness and corned beef for never failing us the one day of the year our bodies can handle you. FresnoKossack
the perfect ass groove for allowing for comfortable blogging. DawnG
That was just a quick list based on immediate personal recollections, and I'm all up for suggestions, nominations and additions, to be credited to their author, of course. This is especially true for polite (non-striking) Clinton supporters (and other candidate supporters), as I'm sometimes just as blinded as a lot of others in ignoring the reason and passion that they too feel.
But really, I want to thank all of the decent members of DailyKos, in addition to the ones I listed, especially all those candidate supporters who were grounded in the truth and tempered by humility, and who hang in there no matter what the odds. It is you who make DailyKos so good on its best days, and isn't that what this is really all about?
We have a true community here, with some people who abuse the privileges of community. But let us not allow that to act as a deterrent to the posterity and success of DailyKos, because for everything that some people have to say, DailyKos has been a progressive force for good for years, providing the money and the manpower to literally be the change we wish to see in the world.
So that said, I'm not leaving this community I've grown to love and appreciate - instead, I will offer my thanks to my decent fellow Kossacks, and extend an olive branch to all those who are willing and eager to participate in the ever-ongoing process of making DailyKos the ideal progressive community we all know it can be. As in all things, let us ultimately leave DailyKos, whenever that time may come, better than we found it.