Ready, Reset, Go! (2006-2008)

Heh, Indeed.
It's not like I hadn't been saying this myself. But no one listens to me.

Bloggers pride themselves in somehow "not drinking the kool-aid". But for the past few months too many of them have acted like the worst members of the media pack.

(emphases mine)

Yup. Sorry but true.

Deny it, as I'm sure people will, but it will still be true.

Hopefully, now that the real campaign begins, such folk will be drowned out but people who actually know the difference between right and wrong. People who will join the Obama campaign because it's the right thing to do, not because they want to be part of the cool club, beating up on everyone else.

More from the same firedoglake post:

That loathing has become so ingrained after months of attacks on the fundamental character of both candidates... that at all of these blogs one can regularly hear the commenters, and ... even front paged posts saying they would never vote for the other candidate. In the early months you'd hear it more from the Obama side, but of late, as it's become clear that Obama was the strong favorite to win, it came more and more from Clinton's supporters.
...

And yet, I'm here to tell you that on most major issues, there isn't a huge amount of sunlight between Clinton and Obama. ... the actual voting records of Obama and Clinton, their actions, which are supposed to speak louder than their words, indicate that they are centrist Democrats, not progressives.
...

Now none of this is to deny culpability exists in other places. Both the campaigns have pushed storylines they would have better left alone. The media has certainly been happy to spill endless ink on accusations of racism and misogyny and to assume the worst of both candidates.

But we were supposed to be better.
...
Part of the blame will belong to us. And honestly, to me, all of this has felt mostly like high-school pack politics. Too many bloggers, just like the media we despise, wanted to be part of the pack.
...

And the blogosphere, created in part to say "just put down the kool-aid" has become what it sought to end, just another part of the echo chamber, endlessly screaming horrible accusations and unable to see either the other side or the damage it was doing to the cause it claimed to believe in.

Congrats people, you're part of the cool pack! Well done.

(Of course, the "you" is plural and the identities are for you - possibly a different set of "you"s - to decide. Probably no one reading this, but I often scream at the sky, too.)

I suppose (based on mild political preferences) I could have joined in with all your disgraceful antics.

But then I wouldn't be able to sleep at night, knowing that I gave in to being a monster as opposed to a man.

So now you're all added to the group of people (along with the GOP, the uber-right blogosphere, and much of the media) that can not be trusted.

And the rest of us will just have to find new sources and people to trust.


Or maybe it just proves we no one can trust anyone.


So... is anyone willing to pull out some apologies to anyone else? It would lift my heart greatly to see people doing this. But I'm not expecting it.

And as the rest of us start gearing up for the actual fight that matters, the one where the invective is well-deserved, will you be all spent and bored?

Or are y'all just happy with the shithole you've left?


And if you're reading this and saying - in spite of everything I've written on the subject - I'm some shill for either candidate? Well, then you are definitely the "you" to which I refer.