Searching for unity in Leftopia

By Libby

Leftopia is making me crazy. I don't recognize this place anymore. The bickering over the Democratic nomination has created a murderous din that is going to kill us in November and spare me the bromides about how this is politics as usual and it's no nastier than it ever was. It is nastier than I have ever seen it in Leftopia and it's destructive. There's well over a dozen bloggers who I used to love that I can't read anymore. There is something very wrong when I see their posts on Memeorandum and it's mostly right wing bloggers that are linking to them -- approvingly.

If we wait until August to mend our fences, it will be too late. Am I the only one that foresees these blogs and YouTubes being traded by the Hillary-Obama partisans now, being used by the wingers against us once the nomination is settled? I see a lot of speculation about who the rightwing smear machine really wants to run against. I don't think they give a flying leap. We've given them plenty of ammo to use against either candidate and they're united in their hatred against us.

I say we, because I've been guilty of the same thing and I'll admit I mostly targeted the Clinton campaign but I've become really uncomfortable about Hillary bashing. If she wins the nod, I don't want to feel stupid for helping McCain get in because I spent too much time trashing her tactics. Those who spent more energy trashing Obama might consider the same.

It doesn't matter if the campaigns themselves use our words or not, internet archives are forever and the greater noise machine will use them against us. I can see the blog posts and viral emails and hear the radio spots now, quoting whoever and saying, "see, even their own party faithful agree." We won't win the White House by harping on the shortcomings of our own candidates.

While it's true the the vast majority of the electorate is not going to be swayed by bloggers, to some extent the candidates are adopting blogger talking points. We have an opportunity here to show them how to wage this battle for the nomination constructively. If you're excited by one or the other, that's great and pump up your man or woman to the max, but do it by telling the people why they're better than McCain, not by tearing down the other Democrat.

For myself, I don't care who wins the damn nomination. I only care that a Democrat gives the next State of the Union address. I've made a personal pledge to spend the time between now and the convention bashing McCain and the GOP agenda. I'm not going to say another negative word about either Democratic candidate. I hope my fellow Leftopians will join me.

Update By Cernig
Skippy says he's said pretty much the same and Dan Collins' prodigious intellect provides the requisite incentive.