Wow. What a day... after! Barack Obama is looking very strong after 55% in the South Carolina primary and with endorsements from both Ted and Caroline Kennedy, we could be looking at not just America's first black President, but a wholly inspiring President with a real chance to unite instead of divide. That's called "Kicking Ass and Taking Names."
So I'm going to wade into the meta-wars and say something that needs saying...
My father was a career military man and staunch Republican, my mother prided herself on canceling him out. She was president of our local League of Women Voters, I joined the NAACP Youth Council at 16. I remember vividly the day Martin was killed, and Robert too. The double-gage hits in 1968 seemed positively designed to destroy whatever hope I might have salvaged in the years since JFK was cut down. I was not introduced to politics as a polite parlor conversation pastime. It was life or death, and I wasn't inclined to be afraid of what I was inheriting.
I'm stubborn. Biggest flaw, some say, others say it's my greatest strength. The more they fight against what's right, the more I'll fight for it. So I'm going to tell you something true I've learned in the course of some spectacularly gnarly dog-fights (hey, some of us actually DO have bullet scars!). I hope it will be taken in the spirit of my offering.
I do not believe that ~4 out of 5 "I'm switching my vote!" diaries are actually written by people who ever supported the candidate they say they're switching from. This is such an ancient prop-agit tactic I'm amazed anybody still buys it in the 21st century. Don't they have classes in critical thinking (media/peer resistance) in grade school these days? This is sad, people.
Those "Edwards should quit" and "I'm switching" diaries are throw-aways probably (or at least suspiciously) written by naifs or entry-level ops. Check 'em out - the purpose is to start fights, not persuade others. Some of 'em might even be dirty tricksters planted here just to sow dissension. This is Daily Kos. It's the biggest political blog on the planet, and what happens here does matter. Everybody's campaign ops know that, Republican and Democratic.
Through all the candidate hit diaries and TR bullshit, it's the Edwards supporters who have consistently maintained a civil, positive and uplifting demeanor. Just as John Edwards has done on the campaign trail and in all of the debates where they've let him speak. There's a reason for that. He's carrying MY policy banner as a progressive and as an American, and he's doing it for many others too. We understand the game, know the stakes. Come November I'll vote Dem as I always do, I don't care what the attached name is. This is a primary, and here it does matter.
I knew how I was going to vote the moment John Edwards declared. I'm a lower-middle class, hard working, Appalachian left-behind woman with no health insurance and not a lot of hope we can get the grandson we've raised into college. Or keep him out of war. Or expect to live long enough to get SS. Or have any SS when we get there. Clinton doesn't speak for me on any of those issues. Neither does Obama. Edwards is the one who carries the working stiff's banner, and his is the name I'll check in the primary - for that reason. He can take that to the convention, and get those planks into the platform the final nominee will have to champion whether s/he likes it or not. Politics isn't about electing a dictator, it's a collective machine promoting collective policies. Hammering out what those are is the true purpose of primaries, everything else is just a beauty pagent.
Before George Bush corrupted our political system beyond recognition, it was known that presidents don't have all that much power - their parties do. Presidents sell the goods and take the blame when things go wrong, but they do not personally make the laws or dictate the policies. The parties do. The aberration of the current administration is something this country will be apologizing for for decades to come. But there's a mess here at home we've got to attend to before anybody's going to take those apologies seriously.
We Democrats have an open door to much-needed change and repair, and will gladly take it. I am not electing anyone's oversized ego. I'm voting party control and policies, and John Edwards can go to Denver with delegates I help elect to make sure the right policies get onto the stage. My state will go Republican come November anyway, so the only voice I do get is in the primary. I am sure not inclined to sell that or give it away for free to some insulting operative who just wants to manipulate my emotions. My vote is my own to use as I see fit. John Edwards is fit for the job I want done, and that's where my vote is going.
Y'all can learn to live with that. Please, please, please! Stop your useless whining. Learn what the game is [hint: it ain't selling Cocoa Puffs to 5-year olds], take a little history lesson on how it's played. The cheap advertising here lately ("I'm switching, and you should too if you want to be cool!") is P.T. Barnum level garbage.