Don’t tell me how to hold my nose

Sweeties, this one’s for you: I know all about holding my nose to vote — I’ve done it for over 35 years but, I’ve done it for the last time.

And that last time? Let me tell you about it. Ah, yes, it was John Kerry. (fadeout)

I remember about this time of year in 2004 talking to a co-worker about John Kerry. He was a Viet Nam era veteran and was concerned about some things he’d heard about Kerry. Specifically my colleague was unhappy about Kerry’s anti-war activities in the early 1970s. My friend was especially displeased with the symbolism of Kerry tossing his metals over the White House fence.

Good party-regular that I am was I had the responding-talking-point handy and made my dutiful reply. Now? I can’t for the life of me remember what it was and he was not impressed at all. I’ll tell you something — I should have known at that moment that the whole thing was hopeless. And that was before the Jane Fonda-at-the-rally photograph — and MONTHS before the Swiftboat Veterans got their say.

I spent months trying to explain the lies away or explain Kerry’s antiwar history (and God knows I was sympathetic enough to THAT) But why did Kerry have to make it so hard? Why did everything he say sound like he was deliberately trying to obscure what he meant?

Hypergraphia: Not just for weirdos anymore

So, it looks like my mania to communicate comes from deep in my limbic system. (Why am I *not* surprised?) Fortunately, it is healthy and though I will have considerably less sex while blogging incessantly than the average person, I will not die from writing too much.

I can not tell you how relieved I am but I will attempt to convey this emotion in the following five posts.

Has anyone seen my amygdala lately? It was here just a minute ago…

So much for reaching out to us ASAP

After working hard all morning accepting the support that Clinton gave him, after all of the heavy lifting he did last week by accepting the gifts that the RBC gave him, Barry went golfing:

The Obama camp just issued the following statement on Hillary Clinton’s endorsement.

“Obviously, I am thrilled and honored to have Senator Clinton’s support. But more than that, I honor her today for the valiant and historic campaign she has run. She shattered barriers on behalf of my daughters and women everywhere, who now know that there are no limits to their dreams. And she inspired millions with her strength, courage and unyielding commitment to the cause of working Americans. Our party and our country are stronger because of the work she has done throughout her life, and I’m a better candidate for having had the privilege of competing with her in this campaign. No one knows better than Senator Clinton how desperately America and the American people need change, and I know she will continue to be in the forefront of that battle this fall and for years to come,” said U.S. Senator Barack Obama.

The Obama camp won’t say whether or not the presumptive Democratic nominee watched Clinton’s speech or not, but the candidate was seen leaving his house earlier today with golf clubs.

Way to go, Barry. May you bogey every hole.

Why is the party divided?

Teresa is asking for us to share our thoughts about this with each other. There is one thing I have noticed about Conflucians and that is we are rigorous thinkers. We have seen what went on and in our heads, we have sorted through the available data, discarded the shiny distractions and can zero in on the causes of the divide.

So, what is at the heart of this? Is it the DNC’s desire for a statement on Diversity coupled with Barry’s ability to rake in the bucks? And if Diversity, why NOT Hillary? Is there resentment and revenge towards Bill Clinton due to the Monica distraction? Are the Kennedy’s and Kerry’s blaming him for being a victim of vicious Republican tactics? Is it Rovian in nature? Were we infiltrated and set upon each other? Did David Axelrod apply Rovian tactics against his own party? Was it the media, the Villagers, the disgusting MSNBC frat boys and will they ever be appeased?

Put your best guess in the comments

Well, Senator Obama, the ball is in your court now

Did you get the message, Barry? We have principles, issues, causes. We are not yielding one inch. You may have gotten to nomination with the help of your frat boys and your Villagers and your libertarians and your theoretical-liberals-as-long-as-we-don’t-have-to-live-in-the-same-neighborhood-*sniff* fauxgressives and ignorant young college students who don’t remember the nineties. But you aren’t going to win it unless you get down on your knees and convince *US* that you are willing to adopt her causes as your own.

She just told you that you will have to work hard for a change. She just told you to be inclusive. She just told you to accept responsibility.

Can you do it? The beginnings do not look auspicious. You are starting off in the hole and will need to dig your way out of it. It is going to be a long hard climb. You have a lot of apologies to make, fences to mend, voters to respect. You might want to go to Kentucky, Barry. Roll up your sleeves and see how the other half lives. You know, the poor white people who are struggling and have faced intimidation at the hands of wealthy and connected exploiters of natural resources and the lives of those who are dependent on them for jobs. You need to prostrate yourself before those worthy people and ask them to forgive you.

No time like the present, Barry. Better learn to hustle. You only have five months and time’s a-wastin’. We will be watching you. We will not let up our demands. And if you can’t close the deal with *US* by then, then you have no one to blame but yourself for losing the White House. Hillary Clinton kept her promise to us and you. It’s all on YOUR shoulders now. Now, better stop acting like an arrogant, entitled, disrespectful anointed one and start acting like a dedicated public servant.

We are PUMA’s, hear us roar.

The Lady Speaks: Live Blog

Chins up, PUMAs. If she can bear it, so can we.
This is a live blog.
See it on CSPAN. The commentary on CSPAN is coming from voters, not pundits.

Dear Claire, save your breath

After all, you didn’t use it when it would actually, you know, count. From the NYTimes this am we have Clinton Bloc Becomes the Prize for Election Day:

The Obama campaign will fight back, after waiting a respectful beat or two. In conversations with Mr. Obama and his aides, “I’ve tried to make sure that everyone understood that these women have a right to feel frustrated and angry,” said Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, an important ally who is one of his leading emissaries to women. “To try to make that less than real is a huge mistake.”

As he declared himself the nominee on Tuesday, Mr. Obama cut a particularly woman-friendly figure on stage, dedicating his speech to his grandmother and affectionately bumping fists with his wife, Michelle.

Indeed, descriptions of those women, along with his mother and daughters, will be regular features of Mr. Obama’s speeches, Ms. Sebelius said. Women will ultimately choose Mr. Obama not because of symbolic overtures, she added, but because of his stances on health care, the economy and education, areas where his positions closely resemble Mrs. Clinton’s.

The key, Ms. McCaskill said, is approaching Mrs. Clinton’s supporters with utmost humility. And, Ms. Backus added, that is not always the strongest suit of the young people who are some of Mr. Obama’s most enthusiastic supporters.

“Not nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh,” Ms. McCaskill said, making a taunting sound. “We need them very, very badly, and we shouldn’t be able to be afraid to say that we need them.”

What is the Obama campaign saying here, Claire? It’s going to gives us a few days to get over it before it launches a new offensive at us? That we’re just another enemy that needs to be subdued? Do you think we don’t have the sweeties psychological warfare all figured out?

Jeez, Claire, where were you before now? I guess it was Ok to let all of the intimidation and caucus manipulation and voter suppression and misogyny go on while your guy was winning. You have allied yourself with a man whose enablers sat on Hillary Clinton’s delegates in Florida and Michigan. You are with the man who cut the voters’ voices in half in those two states and stole four of her delegates. The RBC gave him HER delegates using the most ridiculous rationale imaginable. We saw it. The whole country was watching this travesty that was played out like the antics of a high school student council handing the election over to the popular BMOC.

This isn’t high school, Claire. This is the most powerful nation in the world. The time to speak out, to get your forces under control, to listen to us was before it all went down. That was when it was important to behave responsibly, to act ethically with all voters in mind, to not piss off your biggest voting bloc.

You and the other Obama superdelegates have zero credibility with us. ZERO. We won’t listen to you. We can’t be “reasoned” with. We aren’t stupid people who need to now be soothed. We’re adults. You had your chance to make your case to us and you blew it. You and your media can have a summer long lovefest for all I care. I’m not listening to you. I have more important things to do that make sure your hollow prop of a candidate gets enough votes to push him over the finish line in November.

It’s my vote. You are not entitled to it and I am not giving it up to anyone I can not respect. And I don’t have to listen to you.

PUMAs, I’ve mentioned this before but it bears repeating: Turn off the media. Watch only CSPAN. Be careful what you read. If it feels like guilt, it’s probably David Axelrod upping the Haka. We have to stick together and not let anyone or anything get under our skin. Remember, this is the guy who wouldn’t campaign in Kentucky because he thought the Applacahian vote wasn’t worth his time of day. This is the guy who took delegates away from his opponent in order to “win”. This is the guy whose enablers have been screaming for Clinton to quit since Iowa. And most of all, this is the guy who LOST CA, NJ, NY, MA, PA, OH, TX, FL and MI. He LOST them. No other Democratic nominee has ever been allowed to fail so spectacularly. We do not reward failure. We do not reward sexism. We do not reward cheating. We do not reward disrespect.
Turn off the media. Turn off Claire McCaskill. Turn off Barack Obama.

Saturday: Cockeyed Optimists

Conflucians, no one deserves to be president more than Hillary Clinton. She has *earned* it. We have seen our former first lady and NY senator evolve into a force of nature this primary season. Every time it looked like she was done for, she found some inner strength to keep her going. In the face of the most soul withering criticism, she stood up straighter, smiled more genuinely, spoke more eloquently, bore it more gracefully.

She has demonstrated to all of us that old adage, “What does not kill you makes you stronger”

Now, she is one of the most powerful people on the earth. She has 18 million of us who voted for her behind her and untold millions who were saving it up for November. We don’t know what she is going to do right now but it is likely that she will bow out and throw her support to a man who can not hold a candle to her. If the rumors are true, the decision to get rid of her is based on the most craven of all reasons- money.

We need to figure out a way of correcting the situation. Hillary may bow out but we do not have to accept the fate that the Dean Democrats have assigned to us. We will find a way to be represented and restore the party to its original mission. The last thing any of us should do is resign ourselves to some predetermined outcome. The next five months are going to be hard for us but if we stick together and use our energy and creativity, we will get through it. Like Hillary, we will become a force of nature.