Obama haters-Hillary haters: Just stop it!

(Image by darkblack, of course!)
Both Democratic candidates have their supporters. I initially gravitated toward Edwards. After he left, I stayed ambivalent. Both candidates have positives and negatives. And either, at their worst, would be far better than St. John McSame. And recently I came to support Obama.
Barring a stunning reversal of fortune, my party is heading into November with a candidate who thinks the GOP is “the party of ideas,” who badmouths socialized medicine, progressive partisans, liberals (and their Chablis-soaked limos), and who says he was “called to serve” by Christ himself.
As Obama’s former friend and mentor recently noted, “he says what he has to say as a politician.”
Sure, I understand that to overtake a more-popular and more-experienced party rival, it’s necessary and appropriate to destroy her and her husband’s reputation via completely fraudulent charges of racism. Sausage ain’t beanbag, as they say.
And this, from a different Corrente blogger:
I finally realized why I was having such a hard time saying that I’d vote for Obama if he is the nominee.
I’ve been voting straight ticket Democratic just about my entire adult life, and one of the big reaons is that I find the GOP’s use of its Southern Strategy abhorrent.
Obama’s use of race baiting in an effort to create huge margins and massive turnout in the AA community is his own “Southern Strategy.” Every time I think about what they’ve done to Bill and Hillary Clinton in the name of securing the nomination, I feel ill.
So I’m sitting November out if Obama is the nominee. I’m not going to vote for a “Democrat” who employs the tactics I find most abhorrent in Republicans.
Wow, just wow. And they’re not the only Liberal bloggers to be anti-Obama. Taylor Marsh joins in:
I will say this much. I am a fighter for Democratic and progressive causes. I will fight against John McCain’s candidacy with every fiber of my being.
Hey there. Loved the top of your site today pointing out the Republican disaster and can’t wait to have your wonderful talent focused on McCain. And you’re quite a fighter. Thanks. - Tony (reader email)
That said, since I can’t make the case for Senator Obama now, I won’t be making it later. His fans will have to do that. There is no way I can ethically or in good conscience turn 180 degrees to start touting him. But I can and will stand up for Democratic principles. So the focus will be on making sure John McCain is not elected.
As for why Obama supporters, which some of you call “trolls” will continue to be welcomed here, it’s because discourse in the Democratic party between our camps is important. If you don’t want to talk to them don’t.
I just don’t get it. At least Taylor will work against McSame. That says a lot.
But I still don’t get it. Perhaps my co-bloggers here or commenters can enlighten me.
Now for the anti-Hillary camp, here’s one blogger:
With the champion of universal health care, education reform, nuclear non-proliferation, the environment and the nation’s poor out of the running, I find myself turning towards the candidate who, I think, shares John Edwards’ hunger for change, and deep belief in the innate decency of the American people. That candidate is not Hillary Rodham Clinton.
As a woman and a feminist, l feel a profound sense of sadness that I cannot, in good conscience, support Hillary Rodham Clinton’s historic bid for the presidency. Because to me, being a feminist means not only supporting initiatives that improve women’s lives as mothers, workers, caretakers and citizens, it means being a driving force in the quest to better understand women’s roles in our homes, our nation, and in the world. Being a feminist does not mean voting for the only woman in the Presidential race - it means voting for the person who will stand up for all women, and the issues that directly affect us and our families.
And from Democratic Underground, posted by a user:
if she gets the nomination. I am an Obama supporter, but I could never help McCain win. This country would not recover. Hillary has done a lot these pass few weeks to piss me off, my respect for her has been greatly diminished. I do think she will harm the party if she stays in the race too long. That said, if by chance she gets the nomination I would not think twice to vote for her. Any Democrat that acts like a spoiled child and says they will vote for McCain if their candidate loses is just not thinking straight. Grow up people!
There are more like that in the thread following the main post, so there is I-won’t-vote-for-Hillary sentiment out there. And here is one more anti-Hillary blogger:
Today Clinton neglected to vote on the FISA bill and she lost my vote. She offers a Comprehensive Government Reform page on her web site, but won’t stand up NOW against vast, illegal spying in our out of control surveillance society. Obama, on the other hand, voted against telecom immunity. I called Clinton’s campaign office to let them know this decided it, and then donated to Obama’s campaign.
Maybe I’m missing the point, but the anti-Hillary posts seem a little calmer, more rational, more issue-based. The anti-Obama posts seem, well, I don’t actually know. Surely they’re based on issues, but that seems to get lost in the interpretation.
Thankfully, we have some willing to talk sense:
Finally: I’d like to state once and for all that I do not give a shit who wins this godforsaken primary. Yes, I voted for Obama because I thought he was marginally better on foreign policy, despite his weaknesses on domestic policy. Neither candidate is perfect, both are vastly better than McCain. Too many Obama and Clinton supporters need to step back, take a deep breath and realize that this election is far more important than their individual candidates. I’ve seen entirely too much stupid bullshit over the past few months, such as Kos summarily excommunicating Hillary from the Democratic Party or this nonsense about how opposing Hillary’s gas tax plan means that you “don’t acknowledge that there are poor people in America.” Stop the stupid bullshit, people. It’s not doing any of us any good, because we all have far more in common than Hillary and Obama have differences. People shouldn’t be kicked out of the damn Democratic Party because they didn’t vote for your damn candidate.
That’s from the folks at Sadly No!, who have been debating Lambert et al at Corrente. And finally we have this:
Whichever Democrat you prefer, just cut the shit.
This is one place where I don’t mind saying “a pox on both your houses.”
Adherents of both remaining Democratic candidates are playing this card, and however wounded you feel by what the other campaign is doing (or is perceived as doing), there is a lot more than a dime’s worth of difference between our Democratic options and John “Bush’s Third Term” McCain.
Make the case for your candidate and/or against the one you like less. But if you want the next four-to-eight years to be even a little better than what we’ve just had, stop all this “I’m too good to vote for the second-best Democratic option.”
Pretty please, with “for fuck’s sake” on top.
That’s actually from VastLeft, at CorrenteWire. Calmer heads prevail, thankfully.



May 8th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I dunno Steve. I get the feeling that the grown-ups in the Democratic Party signed up on the Edwards bandwagon, knowing he simply combined the best of the fighting spirit we see in Hillary and the vision of Obama while leading both on the wonkie issues we like. (I actually didn’t get off his bandwagon since the last election.)
There was an ongoing battle at KOS for supremacy where the Edwards folks dominated and the Obama kids were unhinged. Hillary fans were never welcome there and laid low. That was a year ago. Now the infection has spread to Greater Blogtopia (y!sctp) and the grown-ups are out of the picture.
While there are exceptions to every rule, by and large the Obama supporters are more rude and far too eager to take offense at any perceived insult. The Hillary folks can play the victimization game too, but are a bit tougher, more stubborn, more desperate to get their talking points out at the expense of personal integrity, coming across as purposely closed minded instead of just naive or ill informed like the Obama folks.
Taylor Marsh is especially amusing saying she can’t talk up the Democratic nominee after spending months bashing him and passing along every wingnut slur against him. Jerylin and Armando (Big Tent Democrat) are one-note songs as well. But all of them, including your friends at Corrente truly believe they have retained some objectivity in this. They aren’t.
I knew Edwards supporters who had lost all perspective as well, and sadly had to relegate them to my spam folder on my email. When you cross the line from analyst to advocate it’s impossible to remain objective. It’s hard enough to stay objective when it’s your job or even if you don’t have a dog in the hunt.
Reason and rationality will eventually prevail. There will come a time when I’ll be able to return to KOS and not think of it as a 527 for Obama, and read Taylor, Corrente and Talk Left without someone trying to sell me snake oil. Soon, I hope.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
On a less serious note, that photoshop guarantees that someday we’ll look back on this and laugh.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Maybe I misunderstand the person or your interpretation, but I read the DemUnderground quote (”if she gets the nomination…”) as saying the person *would* vote for her, holding his/her nose.
And that’s about where I am: even McCain is better than Bush, even Hillary is better than McCain… and even Obama is better than Hillary. I.e., I think there are grounds for concern with him (90000 new troops, impeachment only for grave breaches), but I prefer him because Hillary’s no better on most of those things. I’ll vote for either Dem over McCain, whether I prefer Obama or not. And I’ll be ready to criticize Obama if he slacks off, particularly on Iraq.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
[…] At 9:38:18 pm Pacific time, someone from Brooklyn NY visited this site. They were on a Mac OSX system, and came via this The Caucus post, to read Steve Audio’s post, via an Earthlink IP address. That reader was our 2 millionth visitor after 4 years and 4 months of continuous blogging. If they contact me with that IP address, I’ll send them a free book. Thank you, all of you, for sticking with us so long, as the AS team has changed through the years. […]