Reply #61: Well Raven...

[knaveree]

my guess--and I emphasize it's only a guess--is that there's a little bit of everything going on here.

Full disclosure: I'm a Kerry supporter.

However: my sense is that some people have great confidence in their own political acumen, partly because they're smart and partly because such confidence is a barrier against the fear of four more years of the Bush jihad. So they back one candidate and all others become the devil.

Also, I believe that at least a few of the posters around here really are Rove operatives. This was always the Nixonian modus operandi, and we're still dealing with his legacy. These folks can post on pro-Dean threads as Kerry boosters and stir up bile. They can post on pro-Kerry threads as Dean boosters and stir up bile. Keep the Dems fighting each other and they can't really fight the GOP. It's just smart politics, in the small sense of that word.

In the end, I think many of us Dems are so anguished and angry about the Bush junta that we search for outlets for all that rage, and since the GOP is unavailable to us, and most of the major media ignore us, we lash out at each other. It's too bad, but it's understandable.

It's also an opportunity to practice tolerance and understanding. Everytime I read a post that bashes Kerry, I try to temper my rancor with a measure of understanding that the poster is either so filled with righteous anger at the GOP that I should applaud them, or else figure they're agents provocateurs from the GOP trying to keep us fractured.

And then I give money to the Kerry campaign.

If you're a Dean supporter, or a Kucinich supporter, or Edwards or Clark, I would encourage the same response: bash my candidate, and produce more funds for him/her. Fight hate with love, fight negatives with positives. It's how we'll win, whoever we nominate...

Bruce