That horrible, horrible woman

Think I've finally figured it out.

When Obama supporting bloggers like Aravosis say that Clinton should withdraw from the race for the good of the party, they mean she should stop reminding them that fifteen million Democrats don't think Barack Obama is as wonderful as they think he is.

All those Democratic votes for Hillary force them to consider the possibility that they're not as smart and as hip and as on to a sure thing as their vanity has been assuring them they are.

If my guy is as wonderful is I think he is, then why doesn't everybody else know it?  Why hasn't he just run away with the nomination?  Can it be that my guy isn't that wonderful?  Can it be that I'm not as smart and as hip and as on to a sure thing as I know I must be?  Can it be that I'm....gulp...wrong?

NO WAY!

It must be something else.

It must be a trick.

It must be that those fifteen million people voting for Hillary are crazy or stupid or racist or otherwise not as smart and hip and cool as I am.

Otherwise they would know what I know.

Otherwise they would see what I see.

They would know how wonderful my wonderful candidate is.

They would see how awful their awful candidate is.

They wouldn't vote for that horrible, horrible woman then.

And since if they did know what I know and did see what I see they wouldn't vote for that horrible, horrible woman, then their votes are the products of a giant con.  They are the votes of suckers and chumps.  The votes of suckers and chumps shouldn't count.  They don't count!  The votes of fifteen million suckers and chumps---fifteen million racist and stupid suckers and chumps---are NOT as important, are not as real, as the votes of sixteen million geniuses and hipsters like me.

Hillary has no real support.

The fact that she refuses to admit this means that she's either stupid or blinded by ego and ambition or just plain malicious and wants to pull the party down into the fires of Mount Doom with her!

The fact that she's still in it, still at it, must mean that she doesn't mind making suckers and chumps out of so many people I used to think were intelligent and decent and fair-minded---why some of them even used to be as smart and as cool as I am!

This proves it.  She's stupid.  She's an egomaniac.  She's insanely ambitious.  She's a con artist.

She's a horrible, horrible human being.

And aren't I smart and hip for being the only person brilliant enough to notice this and the only blogger bold enough to say so?

Hit tips to Tom Hilton and Avedon Carol.

Probably I need to say this:  There are Hillary supporters who are as vain as Aravosis.  There are plenty of Obama supporting bloggers who aren't anywheres near as obnoxious and full of themselves.  There are many smart and hip people who sincerely believe that Clinton should get out yesterday if not sooner and they have thoughtful and persuasive, although not convincing, reasons for believing it.

There is no evidence that the prolonged campaign is tearing the Party apart.

There is evidence that has been helping the party and Obama!

There is evidence that it is making bloggers on both sides crazy.

There is no evidence that the Progressive blogosophere is at all equatable with or representative of the Democratic Party.

There is evidence that none of us is as smart and as hip and on to a sure thing as we think we are.

Comments

[haelig]

Yes, yes, yes. Thank you for being a rational and reasonable voice in the middle of the increasingly insane dialogue flying around the left blogosphere. . . .

[merl]

I stopped reading that blog almost a year ago. And a few more. I have to vote for a Democrat, I don't want to read a bunch of right wing talking points about either one.

[Mithras]

Probably I need to say this: ... There are plenty of Obama supporting bloggers who aren't anywheres near as obnoxious and full of themselves.

Not nearly as obnoxious. Thanks a bunch. Yes, that needed to be said, probably in a more positive manner and at the top of the post. Also, it needs to be said that there are Obama-supporting bloggers who emphatically do not think either candidate should drop out before the last primary is held, and who agree that the race is helping, not damaging, the party. I'm one. I know lots of others.

Aravosis's post seems unhinged, to me, and lots of other posts from pro-Obama bloggers have struck me that way. Lots of posts from pro-Clinton bloggers seem crazy to me, too. Personally, I have tried my best not to engage those people and criticize their posts, because - on both sides - I think this is a case of temporary insanity. Like a troll in comments, or a toddler screaming in order to get his way, your best bet is to ignore them and hope they go away or calm down, respectively. Because while posts like Aravosis's are destructive, rising to his bait and seeking to do battle with his crazy arguments doesn't help either. There is nothing there to engage, and all it accomplishes is to reinforce the inter-party war craziness.

My advice is to stop reading people whose posts seem irrational and unreasonable. They are in the minority, and in short order, they will come to their senses (or a tiny fraction won't, but that hardly matters).

[clio]

I am constantly amazed at the hysteria of the pundit class when events do not happen as fast as they think they ought to do so.
The country will be torn apart if x question is not IMMEDIATELY resolved!

Remember the anxiety over Bush v. Gore? The only people wanting an immediate answer were the Bushies, worried with good reason that Bush would lose if votes were recounted, and the media Chicken Littles who kept screaming that the sky would fall if their candidate of choice (Bush) was not chosen. The country at large was calm and content to wait on events. Had Gore contested the Supreme Court decision, as it appears now he should have done, the country would have withstood that too.

Same thing now. Only Obama partisans are anxious about the nominating process. The voters are lapping it up. Obama appears tired and a bit bored, while Clinton is like the Energizer Bunny. The feverish anxiety to declare Obama the winner is a major reason I believe that Senator Clinton must have an excellent chance to win. Why else would they be so very desperate to shut her down?

While the media is also baying for a quick and premature decision I believe it is more that, as they have shown again and again, they cannot imagine a woman as President and are getting bored having to cover her candidacy. They also want Obama declared so they can spend more time sanctifying McCain who is their anointed for this cycle.

[Tom Hilton]

When Obama supporting bloggers like Aravosis say that Clinton should withdraw from the race for the good of the party, they mean she should stop reminding them that fifteen million Democrats don't think Barack Obama is as wonderful as they think he is.

Now hold the phone just a moment. I'm one of the folks who slammed Aravosis (thanks for the link!); I'm also an Obama-supporting blogger (although I haven't been fixated on the primaries the way a lot of people have, and the IIRTZ crew includes both Obama and Clinton supporters, and I think we've all been trying to make supporters of both candidates feel welcome at our humble blog), and I do hold the opinion that the right thing for Clinton to do right now is either suspend campaigning or stick to slamming McCain. And the disclaimer way down at the bottom of the post is appreciated, but the stereotyping right at the top is not. And the main reason it's not appreciated is that this sort of stereotyping simply feeds the extremists among both candidates' supporters--which is really, really the very last thing we need right now.

Mithras is right: there are unhinged people on both 'sides'; the best we can do ourselves is engage the reasonable folks, i.e., the folks who realize that the two sides that matter are us and the Republicans.

[Mimi Schaeffer]

Here's a blast from the past from Aravosis, full of himself, as usual with a post and link. Here’s his tirade; enjoy!

“Patrick Murphy meet my spam filter
by John Aravosis (DC) · 1/16/2006 06:44:00 PM ET · Link
Discuss this post here: Make a comment · reddit · FARK · Digg It!

“I just got spam from some Democrat running for Congress in Pennsylvania. He felt it very important that I know that he helped rebuild some house today. Well bully for him. I’m sure that among the news of Tony Blair wanting to wiretap members of Parliament and Al Gore accusing George Bush of breaking the law you’ll all be very interested in me updating you on the latest home-building efforts of some guy you’ve never heard of.

“I don’t mean to be bitchy, but I will be. I am getting so much email now that several times a week I simply miss important emails in my in-box. I got an invite to speak at a rather important conference, never saw it. Press requests, no clue. The volume of email is out of control.

“Why bring this up? Not to blame you guys who email me and send me great source material. Some of the best stuff on this blog, much of it actually, comes to me from you guys, our readers, via email. We love it, you do amazing work, and you’re what makes this blog effective.

“But when Patrick Murphy’s assistant sends me a press release telling me he helped rebuild the home of a disabled Marine, I want to rip the head off small kittens. This is the kind of crap that all of the top bloggers are getting from clueless people around the country. They add people to email lists without our permission, or just feel the need to send crap all day long.

“Well, the crap has got to stop. This isn’t just affecting me, it’s affecting every high-traffic blogger. It’s affecting journalists we’re all trying to influence. It’s affecting politicians. It’s making it so that email is no longer effective and reliable for anybody. And that’s bad. Real bad.

“Please think before you send an email. Is it really something the person you’re sending it to really needs to see, or are you just spamming a lot of people and not carefully considering each recipient’s interest?

“And for the love of God, don’t add anyone to your email list without their permission.

“And one more thing. Send me a press release on any topic and you die.

“Okay, our two minutes hate is over. And for the record, Mr. Murphy’s entire campaign is now permanently in my spam filter, no email from anyone there will ever see my in-box ever again.”

Oh boy. What a Democratic team builder. Here’s the offending link: http://www.americablog.com/2006_01_01_americablog_archive.html

[Mithras]

Anyone remember when Aravosis was a hero for exposing (so to speak) Jeff Gannon?

[Chris the cop]

Clio - how exactly do you contest a Supreme Court decision?

[greg in ak]

i don't' disagree with you even though i think she should have got out. as a liberal type i have seen so many circular firing squads among the dems that i am skittish. dems have snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory before, so while i think mcsame will lose to whoever we put up, i think overconfidence is our enemy. we can lose so i want the good guys focused not ripping away at each other.

[Chris the cop]

Although I couldn't vote for either of these two in the general election (nor for McCain,either, so I'm in a bit of a quandry), I don't see how you can win as big as Hilary did in West Virginia and (still) be expected to bow out THE NEXT DAY. Any doubt that the more leftist elements of the media want Obama to be nominated were erased when I read the AP story on her victory that said: (and I'm paraphrasing) "Hilary Clinton won WVA by better than 2 to 1 only slightly slowing Obama's all but inevitable rise to the nomination." That sort of 'reporting' should in the op/ed section and not on the front page.

[cali dem]

You nailed this one, Lance. Muchas gracias!

[Ken Houghton]

You only left one out:

There is no evidence that Obama should be the candidate of the Progressive blogosophere, whether or not it is at all equatable with or representative of the Democratic Party.

There is one Republican talking point, but there is good reason people such as Krugman and Joe Wilson have challenged Obama's prog-cred.

Aravosis will, I hope, get what he's asking for. Mithras can live with that. Tom Bozzo can live with that. I, given the alternative, will live with that (unless he picks Sibelius as his running mate, in which case the absentee ballot will be lost in the mail). You can probably live with that.

But Aravosis will be the most disappointed of all if and when Obama pushes some actual policies.