Observation time: Mostly from the last couple of days. Up front, I'll say I'm supporting Dean and I'm not a Democrat -- nor do I intend to become one. There's been a lot of flack over Dean's comment about not necessarily being able to guarantee his supporters will follow the Dem nominee to the finish line. Next November. There's also been a lot of flack about how well or badly Terry McAuliffe is positioned as a leader of the Democratic party. And to top off this not so tasty bit of pre-election appetizer, there's some contention between people who support the DLC and a smaller subsection of people who think the DNC is doing a good job. (Or not.)
I pretty committed to voting ABB come November. A month ago I would have said I was absolutely committed to ABB. Six months ago I was ready to use any means to get Bush out of the Whitehouse -- legal or otherwise.
But I have to tell you, I'm having a hard time keeping my commitment rock solid. I'll admit that DK isn't necessarily representative of all Democrats or the general electorate and that the posters here are self-selectively vocal about what they like and what they want and what they don't like or want.
I'm not a twenty something new kid playing politics for the first time. But I have to say I've never before become this deeply entrenched in party politics since I was in college. I got burned then, but I was a young idealist 25 years ago. I support Dean, I like Edwards, but I don't think he can win, and the candidate who really has me happy but who has no shot at winning is Braun. Clark makes me nervous for a lot of reasons, some of them from the personal experience of military members of my family, but more so because the man has absolutely no non-military policy experience and no experience with domestic agendas. Great ideas, good form and he photographs well, but I'm not swayed.
Watching the hatchet job the Democratic nominees are doing on each other, including Dean, isn't giving me any greater faith in the Democratic party. The Democrats may say they have the big tent, but it's more like a county fair, with lots of little exhibition tents. Some interesting, some educational, but not every tent will appeal to every voter. In several other diaries, there's a recitation of Josh Marshal's invocation of the word "entitlement", and on reading it, it struck me as why I've never been willing to throw in my lot with the democrats wholesale.
No party is entitled to my vote, nor is any candidate. It's a speed bump that the Democrats haven't managed to level as well as the Republicans have. They have their buzz words and Dena has it right when he says it's God, guns and gays, but they've got corporate America too -- by the balls in some cases or vice versa. The Democratic party may think they should have everyone else -- but they don't. And for me the why is becoming more clear as this primary season drags on.
The Dems may fight for everything I think is good in the world, but while the Republicans may turn on and devour anyone who isn't with them, the Democrats, it seems, eat their young...and when I step back and look, I have to wonder why I should feel obligated to a party that has such poor eating habits.
The ABB cry is to me, becoming a call to the feast, and I'm a little leery of sitting down to the table, feeling that with one wrong move I'll be thrown back out to the wolves.
So while you guys are busy tearing down each other's candidates and giving knee jerk defenses to your own candidate of choice, you might want to think about it. Because I promise you, we feral voters are -- and we aren't so sure the differences between the two parties, as results are counted, are that significant. And results are all that matter.
So, let me reiterate: I'm voting ABB, but the vote is still out on the Democratic party.