I was distressed this weekend reading Kos's story re: Obama, and the hot and heavy discussion and diaries that resulted.
Although what Obama said, as reported by Kos was disappointing (though there's some controversy over context and whether AP's paraphrasing was correct), what was most disappointing was the nasty battle that ensued between supporters of Obama and supporters of Edwards (there didn't seem to be much in the way of Hillary supporters in the fray).
I will admit up front that I like them both. In fact, I even like Hillary (though I'm far from wild about her). I'm not usually a fence-sitter, but the truth is:
The 3 leading candidates for the Democratic nomination are all damn good!
Any one of them would be so much better than the best Republican, that I can not understand why we should be attacking each other at all. We're not hamsters, we don't have to eat our young.
I think it's healthy for us to discuss our criticisms of various candidates and the reasons why we prefer one over the other. But many of the comments and phrases in the diaries went well beyond reasoned criticism into the personal "you're an idiot" type of thing and viciously worded attacks on the other candidate.
We should remember the press labeling Gore as a liar, a lie that was spread and is still used against him today, even though he is one of the more honest people in politics (Rove's attacking the opponent's strength, I would guess).
The same thing is happening to Obama, but instead of calling him a liar, the smear is that he is without substance. Here's a man with a great deal of intelligence, substance, and a reasoned approach to politics, yet the "without substance" attacks are being repeated and spread. I wonder if some of the people bandying that phrase about have read or listened to any of his speeches -- he has been as specific and clear about his beliefs and plans as anyone in this race.
Attacks on John Edwards himself have been fewer, probably because he is trailing Clinton & Obama in money and the polls. And the attacks on John & Elizabeth Edwards for continuing their campaign despite her cancer have, thank God, backfired and bred more admiration than criticism. (I certainly admire them even more and showed it by sending $!). But we should expect that if Edwards' campaign begins to forge ahead, we'll be hearing all sorts of unfounded criticisms of his character and his judgment.
It's not even worth getting into the plethora of attacks on Hillary Clinton since she is a dart board for both the left and the right. I'm not saying that some of the criticism is not justified (there are a number of things I don't like about her), but we should remember that she was correct when she coined the phrase "vast right-wing conspiracy."
We should think carefully before attacking our competitors (NOT opponents) in this nomination battle. Anything we grab and use against a potential Democratic nominee can be grabbed and used by the Republicans if that person is our nominee. And our goal in 2008 should be to get one of our very fine candidates elected President (and to keep control of Congress).