Thank you to the diarist who published this.
The behavior of many in this community toward Clinton's campaign and her supporters has been inexcusable. Absolutely inexcusable. Daily Kos is rock-solid Obama country, and just look at what have we done with our likeminded majority: Instead of listening to anything Obama said about uniting, we have behaved like hateful, vengeful children in a turf war. We have utterly driven out the Clinton supporters. The few that are left remain silent.
This is good for our movement, how? This is good for America, how? We have segregated the place! We have closed the gates on those who do not agree with us! We have failed, and fallen. No, not "we." Not me. I have never had a problem reconciling my support for Obama with my respect for Clinton and her supporters. You, so many of you, who are my allies on so many of the issues of our day, have abandoned your principles and taken leave of your senses, all in the name of upholding your ridiculous, pointless vendetta. The only question left to answer is whether we're the Montagues or the Capulets.
I have only one conclusion to draw: Progressives might be right on the issues, but, in terms of honor and integrity, we're no better than the Republicans.
With allies like you, who needs the Republicans? Your misconduct and pettiness has proven that democracy is a joke. The only way to achieve real progress is to have the most power...and you are why this is so, because you cannot, or will not, put your own interests aside for one second and make room in your small view of the world for those who crack their eggs on the other end.
Jesus, even in victory you won't let it go! What's the matter with you? We are so far beyond the point of having an intelligent conversation on the merits of Barack Obama versus Hillary Clinton. I can't wait for this damn circus to be over, because right now I am ashamed of my own community.
I understand what folly it is for a nobody like me to say something like this to an unreceptive audience, but, damn it, sometimes we all need a kick in our complacency. Although my words are harsher, what I am saying is the same thing that many of our best diarists in the upper echelon have been saying for months now. Today I add my voice to theirs, with a fury all my own.
And before you dismiss me as yet another dog who doesn't agree with you, and tell me to "go get my own blog," bear in mind that you do not get to decide who is worthy of these great orange halls and who is not. We are a community and, for all my discontent at this moment, further splintering is the last thing I want.
So please take it to heart, those of you with a mind to listen: Enough, enough, of this ceaseless, hateful attack on Hillary Clinton and her supporters. She is a fine progressive and her supporters have every right in the universe to support her until the race is run. Whether some (or many!) of her supporters may suffer from the same failings of character as some (or many!) of Obama's supporters do, is beside the point. This is about what we stand for as a movement of progressives and liberals. Strangely enough, it was John McCain, of all people, who, when speaking on America's policy of torture, said that America should not torture its prisoners, no matter how vile they may be, because "It's not about them. It's about us."
When you cede the high ground to John Fucking McCain, you have a problem. Admit that, and we can move forward together. Remember, I support Obama too. So too will many of those who, for now, support Clinton. We're all in this together against a right-wing movement that has crippled America and shaken the world. We have so much to do, and we must unite to do it. This strife must stop. Only your egotism and your inability to be inclusive of your own natural allies sustains this asinine, destructive schism at which the Republicans so heartily laugh. You have the power to snuff out their glee and help bring our movement back together, simply by opening your minds a fraction of an inch. This schism ends when you decide.
Let us use the occasion of Obama's inexorable victory to show some graciousness and forgive the people who we have worst offended: Ourselves.