Fence-mending

[Recursion]

A) If I have been too harsh or impolitic on this board, or let the horned dmesg on my left shoulder win out over the haloed dmesg on my right shoulder over the past few weeks, I apologize.

B) While I still support Obama, Clinton's performance in the debate tonight impressed me and assuaged a lot of my doubts about her (and it made me want to make sure her campaign advisers never, ever work for Democrats again...).

C) The country, let alone the world, is not DU (for better and for worse). We all are trying to get a President and Congress who will work for people who are for the most part too busy and worried about the economy, the war, access to health care, having a job tomorrow, etc., to care who xeroxed what or who plagiarized whom. In a few weeks, one way or another, we will have a candidate (I really, really don't see this going much farther than that). I will support him or her, and if my endorsement is worth anything I urge you to do the same.

D) The strength of our party is our commitment to the belief that there is a better way. Whether the standard-bearer of that better way is going to be slogging through the trenches getting important but wonkish legislation passed, or inspiring people and persuading voters who have been duped by the Republican message machine that their values and ours actually do align, is a decision our party is about to make; but whatever the party decides, we're going to need plenty of both.

E) So, I'd like to extend the hand of friendship and solidarity to everyone here and hope that the collective DU nightmare we have been living through will end, and soon.

Peace,
Dmesg.

[grantcart]

1. classy

[JeffR]

2. Good post

Well said.

[KAZ]

3. Man, I wish I could write like this, K&R

[Horse with no Name]

4. Our party is fractured over this

and all the nice rhetoric ain't going to fix it anytime soon.
Nice try at mending the fences here...but I am afraid that because of the pettiness and vindictiveness, walls have been erected that fences will only surround.

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. Good post

Sunrise doesn't last all morning
A cloudburst doesn't last all day
Seems my love is up and has left you with no warning
It's not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away

Sunset doesn't last all evening
A mind can blow those clouds away
After all this, my love is up and must be leaving
It's not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away
All things must pass
None of life's strings can last
So, I must be on my way
And face another day

Now the darkness only stays the night-time
In the morning it will fade away
Daylight is good at arriving at the right time
It's not always going to be this grey

[Egnever]

6. and it made me want to make sure her campaign advisers never, ever work for Democrats again..

If she was herself throughout this campaign she WOULD have wrapped this thing up by super tuesday.

If she bows out of this thing gracefully my opinion of her will grow considerably.

[Recursion]

7. If the Senator Clinton I saw tonight had been running from the beginning...

...I might well have voted differently. I was impressed.

[Egnever]

8. It would have been a much harder choice for me to be sure

I have serious disagreements with some of her votes. Her closing tonight plagarized or not was very human.

[eridani]

12. We've seen this happen to Gore and Edwards

Losing (or being behind) seems to make politicians distance themselves from their handlers and be more like their real selves. And that is always an improvement, IMO.

[Recursion]

16. Gore was the clearest example

I remember watching him in An Inconvenient Truth and thinking that if people had just seen that Al Gore, no amount of electoral shenanigans could have stolen his win.

[Bongo Prophet]

9. Nice sentiment. After all this time of rancor drives away the good DUers, a call for peace.

As sure as anything, the ones who did the MOST damage and were the BIGGEST assholes, will get all huggy-kissy and everyone makes nice.

I have seen it before, it is coming.

The GOP relies on this human tendency as well, damaging everything, calling those who disagree unpatriotic traitors and worse - then when they are no longer in a position of power, they scream for civility.

You have, to your credit, come to your senses about two weeks early. Most likely because you think your side will win.
All I can say is, be careful with the process, many are psychologically damaged by this - and though some of us really tried in vain to warn of this damage, we were scorned.

By both sides.

Many good DUers are gone. for. good.
I find that disgusting.
Try to learn from that, and rather than succumbing to the temptation and then apologize, pull back and don't do the damage in the first place.

Adulthood.
Many here should look into it.


It will take posts like yours to do what you can to heal, but don't overlook the damage that cannot be healed, because some things can never be undone.

[Recursion]

10. Well, for what it's worth...

...tonight I lost my former certainty that Obama will be the nominee. Like I said upthread, if the Senator Clinton I saw tonight had been running the whole time, I don't know that I would have supported Obama. She can still pull this off and I lost a lot of my former worries about that possibility.

And, yes, I admit it's easy and possibly even cheap to write magnanimously when my candidate is by many metrics ahead. Still, it's what I feel, I am sincere about what I said, and I'll do as I please with my 3 posts :)

[Bongo Prophet]

15. Hey, I like your post, and you are right to use one so well.

Interesting that you lost your certainty. I have respect for both candidates, though deep disregard for Penn, Carville, etc that Senator Clinton has running this campaign.
So I can see exactly what you mean about Hillary - when she lets the good aspects of her personality show through, it is impressive. The bad side, not so much.

Regardless, the months of damage done from infiltrators, overzealous supporters and campaign lackeys, and the downward spiral of outrage - both real and feigned - have driven wedges between us that will have effects felt for years. Despite the Kumbaya dance and traditional dem make-up sex that occurs.

I did not mean to lay heavy on you, and haven't really noticed your posts as standing out so much in the course of time. There are quite a few I could name (but won't of course) that I will never be able to respect or take their opinions seriously. They drove away good people and laughed as they did so. That shows a lack of character that decent people would not want to be around.

But no, you, dmesg, are not one of those, and I commend you for letting it go at a time before it becomes all the fashion.
You can now be a healer, and not get into the nastiness.
"Go forth and sin no more" - and all that, you know? (this form a decidedly non-theistic POV)
Try to teach your fellow Obama supporters, and some might listen - just because you are "one of them"
As Clinton supporters come to the same conclusion, they will have to do the same.

DU does this, as do many factions when they get caught up in infighting, before the bigger battle.
It is a repeated ritual.

[tandem5]

11. For me there is a semi-bright side to having Obama as the nominee...

I have had such an emotional investment with the previous nominees of late - Gore because of who he is as a person, Kerry because he was experienced and because the country would suffer irreparable harm with another Bush term, but I feel absolutely nothing for Obama. I know how bad a McCain presidency would be, but I can't muster any enthusiasm for him - I suppose I'm just numb now.

So at the very least I know I wont feel the ups and downs of what's sure to be a very contentious race.

[BigBearJohn]

13. Beautiful message. Brought a tear to my eye. Thanks for your humanity.

:hug:

[ORDem]

14. K & R and big THANKS! :)

:kick:

[ClayZ]

17. Thank you! K and R

[RandomKoolzip]

18. Great post. Watch it sink like a stone.

Nobody save the sane wants peace and unity right now on DU. Grudge-bearing and nitpicking is far too much fun.

[rodeodance]

19. Peace and Thank you

[rodeodance]

20. REC

[CitizenLeft]

21. bravo!

I thought she was great tonight too, except for the "Xerox" comment - over the top. She made up for it in the last 5 mins. Had she shown that side of her for the last year, instead of listening to the likes of Mark Penn, their situations may be reversed.