I vow to end divisive, cynical or negative comments against the other candidates, and their supporters. I swear to respond swiftly, with facts and truth, but also with conciliatory words to argumentative or misinformed posts. I take an oath to say positive, reassuring things to angry, outraged, misguided, or misinformed supporters of other candidates whenever possible.
I will disagree with "hey, I know you're feeling upset right now, we all are, but..." and "listen, i respect your point of view but there a couple of points where I disagree..." or "no hard feelings, but you have a few things wrong..."
Let's be good sports. After all, isn't it almost over, and didn't we win?
"If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what’s happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic party," -Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
"Question: Do you still think the Democratic race can be resolved before the convention?
Reid: Easy.
Q: How is that?
Reid: It will be done.
Q: It just will?
Reid: Yep.
Q: Magically?
Reid: No, it will be done. I had a conversation with Governor Dean (Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean) today. Things are being done.
That's all the Nevada Democrat would say about it." -reviewjournal.com
"Obama's campaign has been extraordinary and titillating for me and my family. We have four children with their spouses, we have 11 grandchildren, four or five of them are married, and all of them, except one, are for Obama. I think that Obama will be almost automatically a healing factor in the animosity now and the distrust that relates to our country and its government." -Jimmy Carter, Party official
"I don't want to superimpose my personal views; I want to reflect the will of the voters. Honestly, I don't want to decide this." -Donna L. Brazile, D.C.
Now for something completely different:
"It’s impossible to imagine The Terminator, as a former aide calls her, giving up. Unless every circuit is out, she’ll regenerate enough to claw her way out of the grave, crawl through the Rezko Memorial Lawn and up Obama’s wall, hurl her torso into the house and brutally haunt his dreams." - Maureen Dowd
The wording is fairly dowdy, but the metaphor is dead on! In case you never...
OK then. Now if you'll allow me a minit of off topic rant.
How come every talking head assumes that a terrorist attack would change the game in American politics? This from Frank Rich of the New Fork Tines, 2007:
"We are repeatedly told that with Barack Obama still trailing by double digits in most polls, the only way Mrs. Clinton could lose her tight hold on the nomination and, presumably, the White House would be if she were bruised in Iowa (where both John Edwards and Senator Obama remain competitive) or derailed by unforeseeable events like a scandal or a domestic terror attack."
How dumb are we in America to let that happen? Why don't our talking heads instead say:
"We in America don't allow our political will to be batted about like a ping pong ball"
And I her it all the time - and so do the "American People", to the point that I think they just accept that that is how they are going to act, cause that's what everyone says they'll do. Why do our writers and speakers re-enforce the idea that we are weak and stupid and divided? Aren't they responsible to echo our resolve, and our best interests, not exploit our weaknesses?
The Times can really, really suck. But they do have their moments. Say what you will about David Brooks for example, (my opinion is that he's good natured and boyish lad, but is too easily influenced by the dark side. They may have placed his desk too near Krugman's lair on the first day of class(though, in fairness Krugman's been sticking to his good topics lately))
"No wonder the Clinton campaign feels impersonal. It’s like a machine for the production of politics. It plows ahead from event to event following its own iron logic. The only question is whether Clinton herself can step outside the apparatus long enough to turn it off and withdraw voluntarily or whether she will force the rest of her party to intervene and jam the gears.
If she does the former, she would surprise everybody with a display of self-sacrifice. Her campaign would cruise along at a lower register until North Carolina, then use that as an occasion to withdraw. If she does not, she would soldier on doggedly, taking down as many allies as necessary." -David Brooks
OK, so Hillary is a monster, some do agree, but now Bill Clinton is Joe McCarthy? and Bill Richardson is Judas Iscariot?!? HAHA! So that makes Bill Clinton Jesus, and Hillary, uh Mary Magdelene? the Whore!?! Waitaminit, that's gotta be backwards. yeah, it's Bill who's the whore, so that makes Hillary Jesus, and Obama is Pontius Pilate. Makes perfect sense! Yes, that's right, the Roman's were Black African Slave Masters, and Rev. Jeremiah Wright was probably just like Juius Caesar. That means Jesus may very well have been a white woman, possibly a security mom. Oh thank God, it all adds up! Someone tell Hillary so she can reminisce about her 3 temptations in the wilderness at a press conference:
"I remember I was out there in the desert and it was soo dry and I hadn't eaten in, oh you know, four score and such and such days, i'll have to check the exact number, and then Satan came up to me, out of nowhere, and he had three temptations that he had to ask, so I passed them all with perfect marks so that was just great. Ah, memories, I remember like it was yesterday." -Hillary Clinton
Silly season in politics is officially open! No wonder Obama went on vacation. Time to crack open the Cheetos and flip on the youtube! But wait, we don't have enough idiots in the MSM, politico has to cheese us up one of their own!?!
But who gets it? Who really gets how silly it all is? Who do we look to for a sense of perspective and decency and clarity in these times of disconnect? Only one sock truly understands:
But seriously, I've said it once and I'll say it again: this aint the primary, it's the general, and we're gonna win. But in the words of the immortal Chuck Todd last night on Olbermann, we are reaching the peak of the hill over which the extended media coverage of our ongoing contest stops helping us, and begins to erode our ability to come together to destroy John McCain in the general.
Queue the cheesy music:
We need to come together, especially the outspoken Kossacks, we commentators, opinionators and posters on undecided territories across the web. We need to extend the olive branch, and thus give the other side a noble path to defeat. If the superdelegates or party leaders end it, they will only make Obama look weak and the democrats look elitist. I tell you the job is ours: to start being decent to the other side, and to win graciously. I ask you to join me in my vow to hold this party together, and to be conciliatory on the web to all other sides whenever possible.
One last thing, here's Obama speaking to the Democratic leaders in Ws, the speech of the next president to his party:
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