Any Dems or progressive independents who sit out this election

[highplainsdem]

or vote for a third-party candidate because their candidate isn't at the top of the ticket, or because a candidate they dislike is on the ticket as VP, are in effect helping McCain win.

I first saw this kind of political suicide by some Dems and progressive independents in 1968, when some Gene McCarthy supporters were too self-righteous to vote for Humphrey over Nixon. So we got Nixon.

We saw it again in 2000 and 2004. The purists would sit it out, or vote for someone with no chance at all of winning, all the while predicting that in another four years the situation would be so bad that candidates they felt were pure or principled enough would win in a landslide.

After all, the "I'll hold my breath (vote) if you don't give me exactly the candidate I want" strategy has worked so brilliantly in the past, right?

This is a more important election than any of the others. And a lot more is riding on this than your self-righteousness, or your taking offense at what you see as the other candidate's supporters' self-righteousness.

Take a look at the Environment forum, as well as this one, if you don't believe me.

We don't have 4 years, let alone 8 years, for Dems or progressive independents whose vote might deny McCain the election to go sulk in a corner if their candidate isn't at the top of the ticket or (silliest of all) if their favorite is at the top of the ticket but the other candidate is there as VP.

The country and the planet can't take another 4-8 years of handing the Republicans yet another victory.

And please don't tell me it'll be okay if you won't vote for the Democratic presidential nominee, if a candidate you don't like is the nominee, but you will support Congressional and state and local candidates.

If you really think that will help much, there are a few things you need to think about:

Signing statements.

Executive orders.

The Supreme Court.

And oh, yes, the great success the Dems in the current Congress have had in slowing Bush/Cheney down.

I don't care who your favorite Democratic candidate is. If you sit this election out and McCain wins, you will have helped elect him, and you will owe an apology to everyone hurt by McCain's election.

Which, with the typical GOP lack of concern for the planet, will be hundreds of millions of people.