I took a day off yesterday because I knew the smuggness of the Obama supporters would just be toxic for my ability to think things through. I'm still thinking but I find myself unable to envision voting for Obama.I don't think I can reward the behavior of his race baiting,sexist,thuggish campaign and it's supporters nor can I be bullied by the media narrative.

The Brazile/Begala fight kind of crystalizes for me one of the strongest arguments for withholding my vote. Who was it who said, "a gaffe is when you accidentaly say what you believe"? I for one have been sick of being lectured by Brazile for quite some time and have stopped watching CNN as a result so I missed the interchange you have posted. Brazile accidently exposed what Obama and his supporters think they are doing, creating a new coalition of AA's, elites and the emerging upper middle class youth. The result of this new coalition,if it is successsful,will be a realignment that leaves out almost 50 percent of our country and their concerns and needs.We will have two parties who cater to the needs of the top 10 percent. This will only accelerate our decline into a very large banana republic.

In the long run AA's on the lower end of the economic scale will figure out that Obama has no plan to help them and no demonstratable interest in doing so. He is no far lefty as Republicans will try to paint him ,because of his opportunistic associations with them in Chicago. His economic advisers are far more right leaning(one has long been an advocate of privitizing Social Security for example),his big money supporters are from the banking and energy(nuclear, coal,gas)industries.He has already signaled to the powerful money interests in medicine that they have nothing to fear from him. His wealthy supporters may believe in progressive policies in theory but ask a few how many of their kids go to public school?

His side will try to win women back by pointing out the threat to Women's Rights that a McCain presidency might present in relation to the Supreme Court. I'm not really worried about that. By all indications Democrats are going to increase their majorities in both houses.If they allow an appointment to the court that would overturn roe vs wade then we will know for sure that the Democratic Party is lost to us and it is time to begin to build a new coalition.

Thanks Joan for being one of the very few fair and balanced.

I'm going to need to stop reading blogs and watching television for a while. It is time for getting back to good novels,gardening,cooking for friends and local politics. This campaign cycle has really been bad for my mental health and my belief in this country.Particulary when it comes to the youth as represented online.What a mean bunch.

I think I have made up my mind what I am going to do and I would not be surprised if other like minded women have come to the same conclusion. I cannot find it in myself to reward the behavior of the Obama campaign,it's supporters,the media and the bully blogger boyz.

I cannot support a party or candidate that took it upon themselves to take down the only successful Democrats of my lifetime. They have done it using Republican lies,sexism and racial threats (ie"you are a racist it you prefer another candidate")Party leaders out of their own cynical self-interest(they can't be reelected without the AA vote)have given no factual push back. Women and their pride in the first women candidate have been threatened,bullied,ignored,belittled, marginalized.Our candidate has been unfairly demonized in the most vulgar and vaguely and sometimes not so vaguely sexually threatening ways.I can't forgive any of it. Call me a stubborn,old, Irish, women who holds grudges but I won't reward it.

There will be a great effort to make women worry about Supreme Court nominations. I'm tempted to just say let the post feminists worry about that.They have been so happy to go along with the boys, let's just see where that will get them in the long run. I wish each would take a long hard look at themselves and ask this question, " Am I intimidated by the backlash that will come if I declare myself interested in women's rights?"

By all accounts the Democrats will enjoy increased majorities in both the House and the Senate regardless of who wins the presidency. If they are unable to block a McCain appointment who would end Roe vs Wade then we will know just how committed Democrats are to women's rights.

Thank you for your thoughtful post. I understand that there are many thoughful Obama supporters who are throughly decent people. I am really not a hater at all even though I have come close with the Bush administration. I don't hate Obama, in fact I have sympathy for him. It seems by all accounts that abandonment might be his biggest issue and I believe that it explains how he can go after a boomer woman in such a dismissive way.My problem with him is his lack of preparedness.I find his candidacy erily similar to W's,he is smart,well educated,and has tapped into a strong desire within the electorate in a superficial way. He and his handlers would have us believe that he has superior intutions because of his life story,he has built a movement of true believers, and he will be heavily dependent on non elected advisors.Hillary for all of her flaws has spent a lifetime trying to figure out how to deliver progressive policies.I don't think she is owed the presidency, I think she has earned it with a lifetime of hard work and preparation.