Democrats gloating over the Obama loss. Democrats chortling with glee about the imagined demise of a candidate who about half their party regards as an inspirational leader. Democrats happy with the (likely temporary) misfortune of a man who almost all Democrats were in love with at the last convention. Democrats are pleased to see an uppity black man take a beating.

Democrats, your party is sick. You are self-hating, self-defeating, politically suicidal naifs who suffer from a bizarre form of political bipolarism. On the one hand, you want inspirational and liberal leadership; on the other hand, you want dishonest but 'experienced' candidates. You would sell out your ideals for the deceptive pragmatism of 'who can best win in November.'

Come November, you will likely prove that your party is ineffectual, nothing more than a shadow of the Republican Party, without a place in American politics since your leaders are either too cowed to provide stalwart opposition, or because you suicidally debase them when they dare to be different. Your candidate, vilified by a good third of your party, will stumble to a narrow electoral loss while winning by a thin electoral margin.

Again: it doesn't matter who it is. Even if Obama manages to somehow circumvent the Clinton Machine (which half your party denies even exists) and win the nomination, weakened by this vicious party split, he will be forced by that very same coalition to veer rightward on some matters (like the war). Republicans will blast him with the usual dirt, and it will stick like glue - not because it's true, but because so many Clinton supporters (and the candidate herself) have already applied a good base-coat. You're doomed, your party is doomed, and probably the whole damn country is doomed (but I can't say we won't get what we deserve).

I gotta say one thing, though: it's entertaining! I had no idea the Democrats could come up with a more creative way to lose the Presidency than they did in 2000 and 2008. Boy, am I surprised!!!

So I would like to extend a special THANKS to all those rabid party animals who have roared at the gates and torn up the street with their blogs, comments, and other empty actions: you have provided this 20-year-plus Republican with a great show, one which his own tired and corrupt party is either incapable of mounting - or simply too smart to release for public consumption.

HUZZAH!

And quite sorry to see Alex Koppelman return.

Sorry to see Salon plunge downhill.

Sorry to see America do the same.

Oh well. Quod est inferius est sicut quod est superius, I guess.

since when did a belief's total divorce from reality stop Republicans from fervently believing it anywhere else?

What - there are no Democrats who are Christians?

Stupidity and ignorance are confined to neither political party.

The deep racism and cynicism of Joan Walsh has never been more evident than in this piece.

I'm glad I've never paid for this rag. It would sicken me to think any of my money went to funding her hateful, bigoted crap.

God save America from people of privilege.

Nineteen-year old trained military personnel are not "children." No one above the age of eighteen is a "child." I'm way above that age and insulted by your designation.

You've got baby on the brain, Havrilesky. A decline in intellect is common after pregnancy, they say. I'm sure you know this, but: not everyone younger than you is a child, eh?

And what age did you expect them to be? Are you so ignorant and naive of the armed services that you think everyone is 25 and up?

Man, sometimes it's damn appalling what Americans don't know about their own goddam country.

So many racists in this thread. So little time to rebut them.

Some white people just can't stand the idea of a black man being in a higher, better position than them. Some white people just hate uppity negroes.

Keep it up!

Stories such as this demonstrate the incompetence of the Bush Administration. Historically, the key problem for Palestinian leadership among Palestinian factions has been preventing civil war. The rivalry, the jockeying for position among groups like Hamas, is constant. We don't hear much about it in the US: we only hear about the one Bad Guy. We'll only be exposed to internecine rivalries when the Bad Guy We Know is challenged by a Bad Rival.

Prior to Bush Administration involvement, Hamas was set to tear itself apart, stressed by both internal disagreements and outside competition. Trying to provoke a "civil war" in this atmosphere ought to have been as difficult as promoting one in, say, Iraq. Leave it to the Bush Administration, who have demonstrated no competence in any area of government, to do what imperial powers have been trying to do for centuries in the Middle East: inspire age-old historic rivalries to join forces and unite. To quote the great philosopher B. Bunny, "What a bunch of maroons."