Can I hang out here a little today?

I was in the JRE Forum, and I saw so much anger about JRE's endorsement. I tried my best to prepare them last week with this message:

But what I do suggest is rethinking: do we want another 4 years of McSame or McBush? I think we should try to pull ourselves together as much as possible, as John will continue to ask us to do. We don't have to endorse anyone. But we have to fight these goons as much as possible via downtickets as well as the WH nominee, if for any reason, the SCOTUS, in which I think the Dem nominee will appoint someone at worst a "moderate" and at best, a true champion of our personal, commercial, and civil rights.

Thus, here's what I think we can do:

.....

3) Quit our bitching about Obama here. He's likely to be the nominee unless Clinton can pull a rabbit out of her hat, and if she can, we can support her too, but work on a strategy to bring the camps together. Obama is not my candidate, but we have to push him too, is the way I look at it. We may or may not be successful, but our votes matter and he does have to earn them. It's OK to make him work for all of us, but do it constructively.

4) Support downticket progressives with volunteer time and/or change (most of us don't but we try where we can help): this could be our One Corps initiative this year. Rocky has been working hard for Charlie Brown, and I like Ed Fallon a lot. I'm about to support Kevin Miskell in Ia-04 since he is a JRE Democrat (my IL district has no JRE Dems but a handful). Your states probably have some JRE Dems who are worthy of your attention and time.

5) My comment at the Daily Kos on a related subject, which I hope ties my message together:
(http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2008/5/12/62317/8323/1...)

There are many Edwards supporters who have been disenfranchised in the process too. Just yesterday, someone posted a diary about Edwards saying we needed unity in the party, and quite a few Obama supporters continued to trash Edwards for not endorsing anyone.

This election is about our issues, not about the candidates themselves. We need progress to begin ASAP.

I like this diary in general because I agree that we need to come together but also feel good about what Democratic candidates accomplished: we helped our candidates outraise the GOP, got more voters to the polls, and we did it with passion.

And I understand how Obama supporters are angry with Clinton, but if the issue is about hope and change, then get with the program, and quit the insults to the rest of us. Let's get it on to the WH and help downticket candidates so that we will move our country with a mountain of strength. God knows after Shrub and an abysmal Congress, we are all needed to make it happen. Our country is in shambles, but generally, we can be optimistic, and we can fix it.

I do think Hillary should go the distance for now, but I think it will be difficult for her to win. And perhaps the rude, ugly comments we have seen from Obama supporters will lessen.

This group means a lot to me, even though I don't get over here enough since I am one of the bloggers at EENR and my own blog, Benny's World, but I think we, hand in hand with JRE and EE, can start the healing process. I have faith we can do it, and I also believe that JRE will do as Al Gore has done for Global Warming: do to alleviate poverty as much as possible. But we need to elect the most progressive candidates to make it happen.

So, I'm good with unity. I knew it was coming; it's a relief to me.

And John and John can work together if they wish to help elect a Dem to the WH.

You are always welcome here.

I think it is so very hard for some folks accept that the primaries are beginning to draw to a close and that candidates and people they worked very hard to promote are endorsing others. Losing, in any form, hurts. We know that in this group very well. There is little but time that can help to heal the wounds and divisions that this primary season has engendered.

All our old friends who were temporarily separated from us because of the primaries are welcome back. We missed them, we missed their input into discussions here and we welcome back the passion that brought people here in the first place.

My sympathies on what you are going through. Again, time is needed to give people perspective. Some are well traveled down the road to healing. Others are just starting out. Passion, belief, commitment and honesty are at the base of what drives all of us to advocate for our candidates. In time, that will be remembered as will the causes and issues that impel us to still act on behalf of our beliefs.

Welcome, pull up a chair, have a cup of soothing tea.

I remember when you came here in January 2007 to offer some very sincere comments when Kerry opted not to run. When Edwards pulled out, it wouldn't have worked to follow suit as in addition to the level of hurt and disappointment, there was intense anger at Kerry lingering from the endorsement. (I posted a link to Kennedy's committee that EE testified before last week in the Edwards group and some people responded nicely - so maybe things are getting less angry. I knew peopel like you would like the link and GD threads spool off quickly. )

I think it is great that Edwards, like Richardson and Dodd, have joined Obama's efforts. We will need all the surrogates possible out there speaking - not necessarily in sync - we are after all Democrats, not Republicans - but recognizing that from the beginning we all have way more in common than we have in differences.

I think that your perception that HRC is being treated unfairly - rather than to say more even handedly that both sides are often off the top in criticisms comes from two factors:

1)There are far more Obama people here than Clinton people. Therefore if n % of each are acting badly, there are more Obama people doing so.

2) (Here you may disagree with me ) HRC, WJC and their surrogates have been FAR more likely to say things about Obama that are either untrue or unfair than Obama and the Obama surrogates have done. I think the point to make to Obama people here is that they might look at how the top surrogates for Obama limit their criticism. They will call statements out as "lies" when they are, but they do not say the person saying them is a "pathological liar" The difference is major - one attacks the specific action or comment; the other attacks the person. I have often heard Kerry do the former and (for fellow Democrats and even most Republicans) never do the latter.

This difference affects the boards. When an outrageous Clinton ally statement is posted, Obama people post in anger in response to it. Though I know it is better to respond with facts, not insults - the latter has its self gratification. As there are fewer outrageous Obama ally comments - they have less opportunities for spontaneous anger.

The good news is that if this is part of it - things less heal when it stops. It will take people like Edwards reaching his people to assure them that some of what was said in the race was political. (In 2004, Dean fueled a lot of the Kerry hatred with many dishonest attacks in February as his campaign failed - yet he was a good surrogate in the GE. What was lucky then was that his campaign was so hopeless then most people never heard what he was saying. In 2008, HRC is so close that the damage may be more - but she can fix things.

But nice to see you and it's good that JRE is with Obama, it might end things faster.

but has always had Kerry's back, too. Honestly, I am confused why people turn on someone simply for endorsing a different candidate. I don't get it. I still like lots of Hillary's endorsers, and just consider it an "agree to disagree" moment and leave it at that. I am also confused by what you are describing in the JRE forum -- I saw that most Edwards supporters moved to Obama once JRE dropped out. Both on the blogs and at the polls. I guess the people who are disappointed are more likely to speak up.

and not endorse, which is what the anger is partly about. Edwards supporters were treated very shabbily, just as you guys were treated badly about mistakes Kerry's campaign made in 2004. I never blamed Senator Kerry or Theresa Heinz; he got bad advice, but nonetheless, I remember it was a painful moment for you all when Kerry was all set to run, then an important financial backer went to Clinton. Kerry decided to continue serving his country, and I think he's done a pretty darned good job.

I'm not yet in the Obama camp but Ezra Klein put it beautifully about last night's endorsement:

It should have been an inspiring moment. John Edwards, finally on a stage with Barack Obama, throwing his support behind a clean end to the Democratic contest. He was gracious and admiring towards Senator Clinton, as he should have been, and effusive towards Obama. Too often, endorsements, particularly those that come late in the game, are awkward, grudging affairs. But Edwards evinced no such hesitancy. Rather than haltingly trying to fit himself into Obama’s narrative, Edwards did the opposite: He set Obama up as the completion of his narrative.

Talk of the Two Americas always begged the question of how we could build one. It was never a question Edwards had a very good answer for. But nor did I think he ever really needed one. Surely step one was the simple recognition of the country's bifurcation. A candidate willing to admit our condition was better than one who sought to deny it. But last night, Edwards offered a fairly novel reply. Before you can knock down walls, he suggested, you need first unify those who live on either side of the barrier. Obama, Edwards said, could do that.

You can read the rest here:

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=05&year=2008&base_name=edwards_obama_and_the_cynic

Thanks for allowing me to pull up a chair for awhile.

There were neutral people who didn't know what to think, and preferred he not endorse anyone. There were supporters of other candidates who were pretty mad about it. Some have left for good, while I think a lot of others will come back. Of course, I was already an Obama supporter by then, and was thrilled by his endorsement, so in that sense, I don't know what it would feel like for him to go in a direction I disagreed with. To me, there were many signs that Kerry would endorse Obama, but I think people missed that.

Anyway, we are headed to G.E. mode (gee, Bush kind of did that for us today -- isn't he a uniter!), and in a few months, we will have healed a lot.

That a positive thread is going on now at JRE Forum. Still some pissed off people, but here's what I wrote:

I didn't see it until this afternoon. I stayed out of the way last night when I saw so much bitterness. And I understand the bitterness.

But I cannot blame Barack totally for what happened. Yeah, I wish he had picked 2016, but the timing was too good for him, knowing the election was wide open and seeing how our country is slowly being bled to death by the worst President and his ilk ever.

Now Barack's supporters--not all are bad. A lot of them treated us badly and they continue to be terrible to Clinton. The pundits think John was talking to the superdelegates. I'm certain that's true, but I also think he was talking to his supporters and to Clinton's as well. I was crying during that electric speech, because I understood why he returned to the theme of One America. But rather than try to explain my feelings, I am going to refer to a writer for the American Prospect and blogger I met on the campaign's kickoff in Des Moines: Ezra Klein.

It should have been an inspiring moment. John Edwards, finally on a stage with Barack Obama, throwing his support behind a clean end to the Democratic contest. He was gracious and admiring towards Senator Clinton, as he should have been, and effusive towards Obama. Too often, endorsements, particularly those that come late in the game, are awkward, grudging affairs. But Edwards evinced no such hesitancy. Rather than haltingly trying to fit himself into Obama’s narrative, Edwards did the opposite: He set Obama up as the completion of his narrative.

Talk of the Two Americas always begged the question of how we could build one. It was never a question Edwards had a very good answer for. But nor did I think he ever really needed one. Surely step one was the simple recognition of the country's bifurcation. A candidate willing to admit our condition was better than one who sought to deny it. But last night, Edwards offered a fairly novel reply. Before you can knock down walls, he suggested, you need first unify those who live on either side of the barrier. Obama, Edwards said, could do that.

Me? I'm not in Obama's camp (at this time), but I am in the unity camp. I'll still be voting for JRE as a write-in, but only because I have that luxury. But if I lived in a swing state, I'd probably pull the lever for Obama.

As I live in IL, I put my JRE sign out in the yard again.



Do not turn away from these great struggles before us. Do not give up on the causes that we have fought for. Do not walk away from what's possible, because it's time for all of us, all of us together, to make the two Americas one. --John R. Edwards, January 20, 2008, New Orleans, LA

And this is what John Kerry would do. Teresa Heinz's video last Saturday was a model example.

:grouphug:

It's going to be ok. :hi:

I've appreciated the folks here too. :hi:

I have been more disappointed by the Edwards than many, but to attack him for endorsing the obvious nominee of the party, well, they're just lashing out is all. Ignore it. It'll pass.

We need a unity campers support group! Just kidding...

I seemed to have found one here...:hi:

BTW, have you seen my KerryCat? If you haven't, I'll post one of her here.

?

Elmora was born and initially raised in MA. She was a stray, but my first spouse loved her deeply. And he and I are still good friends. Not her best picture as she looks less than awake, but anyone can tell who knows her she also has the "kick as** as Kerry did today on CNN.

She had many more who thought the world of her because she was not only attractive, but smart. Elmo

Rox63 has a few funny moments of her, if she chooses to share.

Hi Benny05 and Elmo. :hi:

Elmo is the only cat I know who's had birthday parties with humans from several different households attending. Elmo had a going away party before Benny moved from MA to TX. I was honored to spend a year living in the same house with both benny05 and Elmo.

Benny - We should tawk soon. Big changes coming up in my life shortly.

Rox

they are Obama haters.

the same happened in this forum when Kerry endorsed Obama including some of them being the same ones who are now bashing Edwards in his forum.