Please do me a favor and reread through some of your posts with an objective eye. If you are honest with yourself, looking at your words, might it be even remotely possible that others, reading your words, might see the very same blind, unquestioning, fanatical devotion to a candidate that you so consistently project onto supporters of Obama? That it is YOU that have reduced all opinions down to one, and only one, legitimate stance? (The latter is at KateTex especially.) How would you answer me if I asked you, "I wonder, once Clinton is elected, how soon it will be before all other opinions are outlawed?"

Look, I know how you all feel. My preferred candidate dropped out of the race long ago. I think the country would be the better for adopting more of his policies, but it was not to be. Neither Hillary or Obama are progressive enough for me. It amazes me that they are labeled as liberals, when really they are only liberals in comparison to the alternative. Or are you under the impression that Hillary is a liberal? Are you kidding me?

So here is where I stand right now:

Obama is my preferred choice. I honestly think he's run the better campaign, so that makes him preferred, but actually he is still my second or third choice. Oh well, I don't get my first choice. That's the way it goes.

Hillary is my second choice, which actually makes her my third or fourth choice. Sorry I don't have your inherent sense of her flawless perfection. I know it should just be obvious to me, but it's not. She might be higher in my estimation, by the way, if every question I've ever asked about her wasn't answered with accusations of sexism and Obama worship. That's just FYI. A little tip for you. If I ask a question about Hillary, what I don't want to hear back is a bunch of crap about Obama.

If I don't get Obama, I will vote for Hillary.

McCain is simply not an option at all. Not even if, as Hillary so famously pointed out, he does, like her, bring a "lifetime of experience" to the presidency. He is not an option. He is not even on the planet of options.

You obviously want Hillary. Who is your second choice? An argument that is consistently offered is that we must nominate Hillary because she is the only one who can beat McCain in November. I say there is only one way that can happen, and that is if democrats defect or abstain in November. Look at the primaries. Add the Hillary votes to Obama's or vice versa, and In almost all cases I don't see how McCain has a chance in hell. Not if you bring that same passion that you have now for Hillary to the noble cause of defending America from a third Bush term.

Some on these threads have accused you of wanting to see the third Bush term precisely because you see it as paving the way to a Hillary sweep four years from now, but I can't believe you are so cynical as that. First, the country cannot survive another four years on the present course; and second, that idea would mean that all your values really are devoted solely to the idea that a woman should be president, no matter the cost. That you really can see no other issue than that Hillary is being denied what is rightfully hers.

But it is also true that time and again on these threads, so many Hillary supporters keep threatening to take their vote to McCain if they don't get their way. If that applies to you, how do you justify your position? My thinking is like this:

With Obama, I will at least sort of be heading in the direction I'd like. I'm not wildly excited, but I'll take what I can get.

With Hillary, I will at least sort of be heading in the direction I'd like. I'm not wildly excited, but I'll take what I can get. BTW, to be honest, I didn't get a whole lot of what I wanted out of Bill Clinton's presidency, either. I'm expecting pretty much about the same from Hillary.

But With McCain, I know I will be definitely be heading in the completely opposite direction that I'd like. He does not match up to my vision in any particular.

How, then, can so many Hillary supporters say that it's either Hillary or the scorched earth policy that is McCain? What are your values? It's possible, of course, that you really do see McCain as your next best option for seeing your vision for the country realized, but if that is true, then you are politically far right of where I want to be. And if that is true of your candidate, too, that you see her as being closer to McCain than Obama, that is valuable information for me. If that is the case, I can only reply that I don't really care about Hillary's so called "experience." It is simply not a factor if she will only use it to lead in a direction that I don't want to go. If her experience was all that valuable, she would know enough by now to realize that it is a bad direction.

I only raise these questions in the interest of taking the endless snipe/countersnipe "conversation" we all keep having on these boards to another level. Thanks for your time, if you even read this.

I'm glad to hear from the Hillary camp has won in all the "states that matter." My state, Oregon, hasn't held its primary yet, and we are also on the list of states that don't matter.

Since my vote doesn't matter anyway, I'm voting for Obama. But don't worry, Hillary camp, it won't mean anything, so why should you care?