Letters to the Editor
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Dear Carol
As a Clinton supporter, I've heard the vilest, the most egregious and the most incredible vitriol spew fourth about her from the lips of the Barack Obamtons; they must have come straight from the anal orifice of Karl Rove!
Now you know why I will not support Barack Obama...should he somehow weasel his way into the nomination...and, will do whatever I can to ensure he loses. That way, we will have a clean slate from which to select our next Democratic candidate in 2012. A President John McCain will be fully-senile by then, anyway.
Oh...that "33%+/- of Clinton supporters who will not support Obama should he win"? That figure is going to be much higher by election time, and, the Obama Nation will have only themselves to blame. Let's see Obama win with only blacks, guilt-ridden whites, a paltry few Latinos and those 20-something slackers who probably won't even show up to vote; it can't be done.
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Comedy = Bad - Broadcasting = Cowards
I must have missed the repeal of the First Amendment, when did it take place? Bush is soooo sneaky.
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"As ad hominem insult has become normative political speech..."
Well, as the kids say, YEAH! And you're just noticing?
And we can't blame all of it on Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage. Is there anybody else here old enough to remember this charming bit of political speech?
"Hey hey LBJ,
How many kids did you kill today?"
After helping tear down a Democratic president and his chosen successor, the same protestors went on to have a field day with Richard Nixon, hoisting banners on which the "x" in his last name was depicted as a swastika. (Ironically, in today's Repuiblican party Richard Nixon would be considered a soft liberal leftie).
Conservatives had equal fun with depicting JFK kneeling before the Pope and whipping up hatred in the desegregation battles. In New Orleans in 1960 a gang of white women, known as The Cheerleaders, would wait outside pubic schools to scream obscenities at small black children coming out of school.
I'd say things really went off the rails when Poppy Bush lost to Bill Clinton in 1992 - they never accepted that their candidate had been seen as completely out of touch with the poeple, and instead frantically grabbed for conspiracy theories about why Bush had lost. Bumper stickers proclaimed "57% of us did not vote for Clinton" -- which is the same percentage, by the way, who didn't vote for Richard Nixon in 1968.
I don't know how we'll ever get back to where people can cooly say over a meal at a diner "Well, yeah, but I've got a different take on that...."
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neil
I know the theory from the Obama side. If Hillary would just get out, then Obama can deliver a few silver-tongue speeches in the general campaign and it's all over but the shouting.
It's a false theory.
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Jeez
you crawl out of the woodwork, don't you haters. Both of you, into the corners! Just get over your eighth-grade selves. You've still got a general election to win, you dopes.
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Why is being mean bad?
Really? Why is it bad to hurt someones fealings if they deserve it?
Should we not call G.W.Bush a fool (a much worse insult than whore in my opinion) for his foolishness?
And if a politician acts as prostitute might serving his or her benefactors before her ideals, is this phrase so damning as to not merit being called out.
Does G.W.Bush simply have a differnce of opinion on what is truth, or is he a lier?
Coarseness when it is called for is appropriate, even if it hurts someones feelings, or not everyone agrees with the assesment.
If you are a believer in the purity of Senator Clinton's political soul, then you are free to defend her and say she is no one's servant. You are likewise free to call Senator Obama those words that itch on the back of your tounge each time you see him, since that is what you appearantly think of him.
If the emotion is honest, and the criticism correct, why should courseness be something we fear.
Shouldn't those who hurt others through their actions and inactions be made to feel the shame that they have called down upon their own heads?
Just a thought.
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Wolves
winning a majority of votes and delegates in elections is not "weaseling" into anything. If anything it is Clinton who is bent on weaseling into the nomination.
As for judging the candidate by its worst supporters, I think its a bad idea.
I'm glad to hear you are willing to sacrifice a few thousand more brave American soldiers' lives (due to McCain's planned unending occupation) in order to have your "clean slate" in a few years.
You are a real peach.
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Two Words
Richard Mellon Scaife.
Actually three...
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Carol, while I respect your position:
I respectfully disagree with your classification of Obama supporters as "mean spirited". Yes, certainly some supporters are coarse and mean and say stupid, hurtful things. But that's unrepresentative of the group as a whole.
As evidenced by any letters section of any salon article published about either candidate in the last two months, there's plenty of vitriol coming from supporters of both candidates. There's no excuse for calling Clinton a whore. That's mean and foolish. But to say that Clinton supporters don't say "mean" things about Obama (or his supporters) is willful ignorance of a pretty heated debate.
There's a few too many glass houses on Salon these days, and way too many rocks flying around.
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if someone called Michelle Obama a whore
They would be called sexist and racist and it would be flouted as a sign of just how ignorant and bigoted and anti-progressive they were. But someone calling HRC a whore is just an expression of justified frustration at the woman who dares to presume she might have a chance of winning when she's got as much chance of winning as the other candidate.
All this comes from the side that is so in love with the sheer audacity of hope.
I am sick of Obama's supporters. I'm beyond caring about Obama himself. Here on Salon, Obama's supporters are so full of vitriol towards Hillary that it's alarming. It seems they don't even care about Obama, as long as he's not Hillary Clinton. Frankly, I am getting to the point where I don't think I'm going to bother voting if Obama gets the nomination. I've seen the kind of people who vote for Republicans and I have no desire to be among their ranks. Now I've seen the kind of people who would vote Democratic, and my desire to be among their ranks is shrinking rapidly. Congratulations, Obama supporters on Salon. That's what you've done... reminded the rest of us that Democrats can be just as vicious and stupid as Republicans.