"This is Personal"

[last1standing]

Yes, John Edwards said it first and Hillary Clinton used it as well, but I'm not talking about them. I want to talk about Clinton's and Obama's supporters here at DU who have taken their partisanship to new and vulgar depths.

Honestly, if you're screaming about a candidate using the word "sweetie" you've sunk down into a bad place. Conversely, if you defend calling Hillary "a big fucking whore" you're right there as well. It's just opposite sides of the same coin. And it means you've let this become personal.

When you take on a politician's feelings as your own you are entering into an unhealthy state. When some idiot calls your candidate names it does not mean they are insulting you, it means they do not like your candidate for real or imagined reasons. And when you develop the need to personally insult a candidate who's political agenda is almost identical to those of your own candidate, you are entering into that same unhealthy state.

And when you slip down into that hole where you begin to think that personal attacks against anyone who doesn't support your candidate is the only way to support him/her, then you've reached the edge of insanity. You have lost your own sense of self in favor of some politician you don't even truly know.

All of this not only borders on schizophrenia but of idol worship. You may need help with this problem. Seriously.

Sure we all have our preferences, but this primary fight is between two able candidates, not us. We're just bystanders, each with our tiny say in the form of a vote and a semi-anonymous voice on a discussion board.

Maybe this primary season is personal for our candidates, but it really isn't to us unless we let it be. We have two people running who will try to do the best they can to win the general election and lead the country to a better day.

Maybe it's time for you to try making your own better day instead of immersing yourself in someone else's emotions.

[cliffordu]

1. Yep. K&R

[Bensthename]

2. True, it's all DU's fault for making us too emotional.. Haha

[last1standing]

3. Wow! You really missed what I said, didn't you?

Maybe you should reread it and see if you can get what I'm saying. If not I'll try to restate it differently for you.

[JayFredMuggs]

4. Schizhrenics engage in Idol Worship?

I wonder if they are aware that they do that!

This is an anonymous message board, and lots of people say irrational emotional, over-the-top things, partly due to frustration, disillusionment, anger.

Lots of people also relate the facts of the campaign, talk about who said what where, and what it means to the voters.

Please, we are not all crazy, on either side, but frustrated, disillusioned, angry. Don't hold human emotion on the same plain as a very serious illness, unless, of course, the shoe fits.

[last1standing]

6. I'm not talking about every DUer, just the few that have personalized the campaigns.

If you look at the definition for schizophrenia, a few of the more rabid posters do likely fit into that category. So yes, the shoe fits.

And we are all frustrated, disillusioned and angry after eight years of bush*, but that's no excuse for turning DU into a remake of Lord of the Flies.

[rug]

5. It's like drunks rooting for a football team.

[last1standing]

7. That's an excellent analogy.

n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. Even more like drunken Scottish soccer hooligans.

[stillcool]

8. this campaign has gotten too personal..

for me, but Politics in general is too personal for me. It is because I care too much about so many people suffering a world of hurt, because of our Government's policies. There are individuals that have never looked outside of their little world, and find nothing wrong with war, poverty, the alarming rates of children being placed in foster care, burgeoning prisons, homelessness, and all the other 'symptoms' of the disease that is our politics. It is why I came here in the first place. It's all personal.

[last1standing]

9. The issues should be personal, the candidates shouldn't.

I'm definitely in your court when talking about the issues. I'm saying that these two candidates are both seeking much the same solutions to them, but some here have taken an unhealthy obsession with the candidates themselves and are losing their own sense of self.

Of course the issues are personal, that's why most of us are here.

[stillcool]

10. The funny thing

.. is that I had no problem with any of the Democratic candidates when this Primary Season kicked off. The content and voracity of the attacks would be upsetting to me, regardless of the person they were intended to harm. It is too reminiscent of painful experiences that have shaped my life. Words last lifetimes.

[last1standing]

14. And that is my point in a nutshell.

Too many people are taking this campaign to heart. This isn't about us, it's about the candidates. We can support them but we shouldn't emulate them and we shouldn't obsess on the idea that we are somehow a part of them.

Let's have a good, hard fought campaign and then come together for the G.E. That's what this is all about.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

11. OP: Well stated

I really don't care if Obama called someone sweetie or if Hillary was not able to document the Ohio Health Care story regarding the lady who died from a supposed lack of it. We all know our candidates are human and may use terms at times that not everyone likes. We also know the health care in this country is HORRID and I really don't care if she wasn't able to document that story - as we ALL know of someone who has suffered tremendously because of a lack of health care.

What I do care about is keeping the real issues in front of people so MAYBE something can be done to make things better in this failing government. Issues like Iraq, Iran, the impending depression, the health care crisis, the access to education for our youth, and the increasing divide between the ultra rich and the rest of us!

As a Democratic organization here in this forum, we need to keep that focus on the issues that matter and quit clinging to tidbits of inflammatory items which do not solve the first problem! I may not support the same candidate others support, but at least I won't attack the other for non-issue items!

[kwenu]

12. Heck, therapists are seriously gonna clean up when Hillary loses the nomination.

[maddiejoan]

15. But not as well as if she wins it.

just sayin'

[last1standing]

16. I'll definitely agree with you on that point.

If Clinton pulls out a win at this point brains all over the world will explode.

But if she can somehow manage to pull that off she'll deserve the nomination.