The rending of garments! The gnashing of teeth! Are you really worried about the tone of our race?

[Bucky]

I don't mind this prolonged fight and all the arguments and cheap theatrics that go with it. I ain't scared of democracy. I think the longer we run in the spring, the stronger we run in the fall.

I keep a few things in mind. First, the Democrats always come together at the convention. Always. Kerry, Dean, & Clark supporters were calling their opposing candidates closet Republicans four years ago. Yet at the 2004 Convention we made a strong, unified showing.

Second, DU is not even close to being representative of the nation's voters... among other reasons, it's worth noting that the nation's voters are adults. In an election, each person gets one voice. In an online discussion thread, people matter most by being the squeaky wheel. So while we get a vigorous discussion in a real democracy, online discussions quickly degenerate into hysterics and goofiness.

Don't be discouraged about the fall election just because some asshat in here starts a thread off with "Obama is a poopy head."
A purely hypothetical example, I assure you!

But most importantly, what's happening in the country is that Democrats are turning out in droves. Our party is turned on. Our people are turned on. As each vibrantly contested primary date arrives in all these previously superfluous state, the quiet majority of Democratic sympathisers---progressives who, unlike us, are not obsessive-compulsive about political expressions---get a chance to come out and say this country can do better.

We have two strong evangelists spreading highly complementary visions of how our country can do better than the mess Bush made and better than the way McCain wants to intensify that mess. It's for the better that they get as many people engaged now and thinking about the future now. Regardless of who we nominate, by November all of those engaged progressives will stand with us.

Because this will be a close election, I love the fact that we're starting to solidify poeple around Democratic ideas and values. We are a stronger party for all this bickering. Democracy is, at its heart, a system based on arguments. I have faith in democracy and I have faith in the value of even heated arguments.

[Bucky]

1. hay, I thought about this one!

[reality based]

2. Some of us are old enough to have witnessed the self destruction of the Democrats

in 1968 and 1972 that elected and reelected Nixon as well as the unfortunate Kennedy revolt against Carter in 1980 (which I joined) that helped lead to the election of Reagan. The Nader gambit in 2000 is another example of disastrous split in progressive ranks. We need to be very careful not to allow the present contest to create hard feelings that the other side (or sides) can exploit.