A diarrhea-of-the-mouth post.

Posted at July 19, 2008 1:57 AM in response to Obama's a Liberal Extremist? Is it August Already?

Yes, I know you mean it ain't just FISA. I'm right there with you in trying to sort out how I feel about all of it too, tankard, and I think you are doing a much better job than I am in defining your personal absolutes, defining your terms. I feel adrift at the moment; I'm just watching and waiting, taking it all in, assessing. For the first time in my life I'm an undecided voter going into the general election.

But Obama was not my choice to begin with, so imagine how I feel now that he's making himself an extremely unattractive Democrat. Talk about moving goal posts! It's not about a leftover loyalty to Hillary, it's about the hard right turn I feared Obama would take all along if he were the nominee. I've always considered him too conservative, by my definition of "conservative." So now my gut is telling me I don't want to reward his post-primary positions by voting for him. My gut tells me I shouldn't reward his positioning because that's what got us into this terrible place of compromise in the first place. My brain is telling me I have to fully weigh the consequences of voting 3rd party or sitting out.

It sucks!

If Obama picks an ultraconservative VP or becomes spineless about torture, the deal is off for me.

Posted at July 18, 2008 11:13 PM in response to Pragmatic compromise versus disreputable compromise

tankard, I wish you had defined "pragmatic," which to me is a much-abused word.

Obama's "compromise" on FISA is not "pragmatic" by any definition. There is nothing "pragmatic" about instituting imbalance between the 3 branches of government, there is nothing "pragmatic" about passing laws that violate the Bill of Rights, there is nothing "pragmatic" about dismissing the will of the majority of the people, there is nothing "pragmatic" about losing sure-thing votes in favor of maybe/maybe-not votes. On a practical level, all of these actions will create profound problems that someone someday will have to fix (not to mention there is no guarantee Obama will be the next president).

What is pragmatic, however, is when politicians pander to corporate interests like the telecoms. We have already seen that the members of congress who changed their FISA vote from N to Y received a financial boost from the telecoms. Now that's pragmatic!

Posted at July 18, 2008 4:33 PM in response to Pragmatic compromise versus disreputable compromise

stillidealistic: FYI, my nickname was spawned by my outrage over the Bush administration's handling of Katrina. Since little progress has been made for displaced Katrina victims 3 years on, I keep the name in their honor and as a reminder to myself.

Posted at July 18, 2008 10:44 AM in response to Let's Get Obama Elected, First!

Ha! The bee has spoken. I always heed the bee's wisdom. ;-)

Posted at July 18, 2008 10:31 AM in response to Let's Get Obama Elected, First!

What is it about "hillbilly" don't you understand, demosaur?

Posted at July 18, 2008 10:24 AM in response to Let's Get Obama Elected, First!

ohmygod. Get a grip. The government spies on all of us, remember? No one's going to get remotely close to assassinating anyone. When was the last presidential assassination in this country?

Posted at July 18, 2008 9:50 AM in response to Pick Hillary - Manage Bill

And apparently he's pretty forgettable.

Posted at July 17, 2008 10:12 PM in response to Pick Hillary - Manage Bill

First, picking Hillary alienates most of us who support Obama.

So what are you gonna do? Not vote for him?

Get real.

Posted at July 17, 2008 10:03 PM in response to Pick Hillary - Manage Bill

Wow. Those Common Ground excerpts are timeless. Thanks for the link to the full text.

And thanks for the post. Beautiful, evocative, powerful words.

Posted at July 17, 2008 9:30 PM in response to How I Choose to Remember Jesse Jackson