Much is being made of the oddly named "strike" by pro-Clinton DK diarists. I'm glad quite a few Kossacks have already commented there about the inappropriateness of calling this boycott a strike. And not a very meaningful boycott either, as they are sacrificing no pay or benefits, just a free forum from which to argue their point. So far as boycotts go, this one's about as effective as vowing you won't talk to anyone until Bush is out of the White House. It's kinda hard to protest when you take a vow of silence.
If these diarists think that leaving when the going gets rough is the mark of a principled person, I think they're kidding themselves (just like they are with their support of Clinton, but that's another discussion). This protest will get at most one look from most Kossacks and then, because the boycotting diarists are no longer publishing, everyone will forget about them. (Would that we could as easily forget about their candidate.)
I don't know these people so I don't want to be mean to them, but strategy wise this is the kind of painful choice wingnuts make when they're angry. How dare Katie Couric wrinkle her nose while speaking of our President! Just for that I'm not watching Survivor again until she apologizes on the air. Uh, sure. And a thousand years from now when a team of forensic archeo-bloggo-statisticians figure out the huge sacrifice you made, I'm sure they'll be very impressed. As am I.
As far as protests go, this is right up there with muttering under your breath after being cut off in traffic. You're mad at some people so as a result you're going to stop speaking to everyone? Does this mean you're going to stop sending me Christmas cards this year? Or should I make it a point to check my brakelines before driving anywhere? Will a note wrapped around a brick come sailing through my window tonight in response to this diary?
I'm also not clear if you're protesting all of us, or just Markos. I hope the former because I have met the latter and he is as short as advertised. Don't fuck with short people. Seriously. They'll kick you in the balls, or worse. In this case he might charge you for the bandwidth you've been wasting prior to this "strike."
But having been on strike, I suppose I should commend you. Strikes, after all, are serious business. When my local joined the national strike against Firestone in 1976, it wasn't a casual decision. Jobs were scarce thanks to the Ford recession, especially for strikers who would most likely up and leave after a contract was signed. But the company hardballed us and the strike went on a while. Six months. Six months without income but bills to pay. I was lucky to be single. Coworkers with families really had it rough, many incurring debts they were years in paying off.
But finally the national union settled. Too easily we thought and my local, dead broke and hurting voted to go out on local strike. And we did. We went back to work and then a few hours later walked right back out again. Our plant made most of the earthmoving and tractor tires, and Firestone had customers waiting in line for those products. We stayed out thirty days and then the company literally bought a judge who forced us to go back to work or face a $10,000 a day fine.
Our principles cost us a lot of money, and we only got some of what we wanted. But we fought the company in the only way we had available to us, a strike. The newspapers called us greedy because we wanted cost of living adjustments and better health insurance. We didn't lose, but we didn't win much, and needless to say that was the last "decent" contract we ever signed.
A few years later another company in Des Moines, Delavan, just plain locked out their workers and hired permanent replacements. Then Reagan became President and broke PATCO for striking. The meatpackers got rolled over everytime they fought cuts in benefits and increases in line speed. From the '70s up until the present working men and women who've dared go on strike have paid a heavy price for standing up for their rights.
People getting pissy with you because they don't like your candidate doesn't quite seem to be in the same category to me, but then I wouldn't know the hell you're going through because refusing to repent for voting for Ralph Nader in 2000 never caused me any hardship by way of criticism from snotty know-it-alls.
I dunno. I suppose I had a point in here somewheres, but mostly I'm just sad that the Kossack Clintonistas are such pitiful, anemic supporters of their candidate. Taking your ball and going home never won any elections.
Or maybe we're supposed to be sad you're gone. Maybe you're hoping we'll ask you to come back and run the prom committee (because like the SNL Barack we're just not competent without you). Or maybe we'll just get another ball and will get along without you just fine.
And after this self-righteous screed you may be surprised to learn that I quit blogging a few weeks ago. I called it burnout because that's what it was. But I had been treated meanly by some Clinton supporters because of things I had written. Maybe I should have thrown a tantrum and quit because of them. Truthfully, I'm glad I admitted to being burned out. Now I don't have to go around being mad anymore.
Obama '08.
Because the Rev. Jerome Wright is a cool dude and we can only hope some of his outlook soaked into Barack.