Calling All Hillary Haters! - Updated w/ Poll

Disclaimer: I currently support and will be voting for John Edwards.

I haven't written a diary for ever because of grad school but now I feel I need to finally speak up about the current anti-Hillary sentiment on DKos that seems to have reached a fever pitch lately. This diary is not going to be fanciful; I am not going to bore you with cute hyperlinks, block quotes, pretty pictures or screen shots or youtube links or any of that. I just wish to throw in my 2 cents with regard to Hillary and her inevitable nomination. More on the other side...

Let's face it folks: Hillary became the de facto Democratic nominee the very day she declared her candidacy for president. From that day forward, all she has been doing is simply going through the motions. Yes, she is part of the establishment. Yes, she is calculating. Yes, she now seems to be a hawk on some issues. However, has anybody really sat down and thought about why she is that way right now? I offer the following theories:

Hillary is running a campaign for the general election not for the primaries. She does not need to campaign for the primaries per se, given that she became the Democratic nominee months ago when she declared her intention to run for president.

Despite republican delusions, Hillary is the candidate most suited to beat any republican, including Rudolph "$9.11" Giuliani and Grandpa Fred on a single ticket!

Hillary is best poised to cover every American with healthcare. She has the most experience and, like she says, she "has the battle scars to show for it."

Hillary has learned from Kerry's failed campaign. She knows she will be pounded by republicans if she cozies up to DKos and to the Democratic left while running in the general election. We have to be able to suffer through whatever distance she is intentionally putting between us and herself in exchange for a Democratic presidency and a beginning to the end of this horrible Iraq war. Bill was never quite on the left himself yet he was and still is beloved by most Dems. I have no doubt Hillary will turn out to be just fine for all of us.

Edwards is still my guy and I do intend to vote for him in the primaries. Nonetheless, I am being very pragmatic in conceding that he has no chance in hell to become the Democratic nominee. As soon as the primaries are over and Hillary officially becomes the nominee, I intend to fully support her, especially given the fact that she will in all likelihood pick Ohio's governor Ted Strickland as her running mate.

Frankly, after 7 years of Chimpie, I don't care which Democrat gets to become president. I only care that a Democrat becomes the next President of the United States. Does anyone here really think that Hillary won't be a million times preferable to Chimpie and his gang or any other republican running for president?

Hillary and Bill (yes, it will likely be a co-presidency) are in the best position to restore America's reputation, end the war, and to begin to undo the damage that republicans have done to this country. So are undoubtedly Barack Obama and John Edwards. But the reality is that Hillary is the only one among them that will get as far as the White House.

Folks, I am only asking that we lay off Hillary a bit. Support your candidate by all means but please don't bloody the inevitable Democratic nominee even before republicans get a chance to do so themselves.

Peace!