Glenn -

Couldn't agree with you more, blah blah blah

I wonder that you didn't call out Klein for this part of his comments:

I am more interested in expanding the party than in purging it. I have very little sympathy with those who are more interested in whacking moderates than in making sure that moderate districts are represented by Democrats rather than Republicans. And I wouldn’t want to take the risk—or spend a scintilla of energy or $1 of funds—whacking a respected senior member of the House Democratic Caucus, even if he were less thoughtful and honorable than Cooper. But then, I’m more moderate than you are...and proudly so.

The fact that Klein has an agenda like this is more than a little troubling. Would he write a report critical of Democrats if he thought strategically it interferes with this agenda? Would he objectively report on "liberal" democratic activity (or conservative Republican initiatives, even) if he thought it would shine an unfavorable light on his "moderate" allies?

I think Klein has voiced the more troubling contradiction, and inadvertently exposed how full of shit the thinking of the Democratic party regulars really is here. He is interested in "expanding the party..." but seems to think that the way to do that is to sacrifice principles (honor and intellectual rigor)in the service of the mealy mouthed, contrite, and ineffectual status quo party leaders already incapable of enacting anything remotely related to a strong democratic platform. This is the same mentality that is currently driving the Republican obstructionism - that it is somehow more important to defeat the Democratic agenda - at all costs - than to pursue the best legislation on National health Care reform possible.

Bill Moyers recently talked about how the Democrats haven't made the moral case for universal health care, and how he would rather see them lose fighting for something good than win by accepting less than appropriate terms in the service of some lukewarm ineffectual bipartisan compromise. And how Truman's loss in his attempt to reform Health Care in the 40's became Johnson's victory when Medicare was enacted in the 60's.

Making the perfect the enemy of the good is certainly bad practice. Making the good the enemy of the possible borders on evil.

The title of this strip is "This Modern World," but this strip is about some medieval crap - before they even knew how to spell "Fund." Yeesh.

I got clean after 15 years of drug and alcohol abuse 4/15/01.

I have never been married.

I do have a lot of long term - lifelong - friends, many of whom participated in the intervention that got me into treatment, ultimately saving my life.

During/after the intervention, while we were sitting around the airport waiting for the flight that would take me to treatment, we were in the airport lounge, because that was the only place in the building I could smoke (yes, you could still smoke in airports then). One of my friends asked what kind of beer they had on tap.

I mention this to indicate to you, LW, that people with the best of intentions will have no idea what it means to support you in your recovery - that is what other alcoholics, meetings, prayer, and the steps are for.

I will also say that you sound just like me: self-centered and overly focused on my own "accomplishments." I had grown up accustomed to lavish praise and sought out positive re-inforcement at every turn - whether warranted or not. People who were too willing to give it to me were not really paying attention to where I was at. In AA, I was quickly encouraged by a really good support system to gravitate towards people who told me the truth, not people who made me feel better. Seeking "feeling good" at the expense of truth was, in fact, a large part of how I became a drug addict/alcoholic.

The numbers (x meetings in y days) are just numbers. Time takes time. And basically, I spent my first nine months or so getting pissed off at everyone around me because no one really understood me - but really I was just pissed off because I couldn't drink and drug.

Should you seek out a sponsor with whom you could have a better rapport? IMHO, no. Not because this particular person is always right, but because it is incredibly dangerous, at the earlier stages of recovery, for the alcoholic to think that they are.