"SYFPH!"
"You're nothing but a purity troll."
"If don't vote for Kerry, it is a vote for Bush."
"If you don't vote for Kerry, then you are not a true Democrat."
Those are the words of Delaware Dem four years ago.
Four years ago, I was a Deaniac, but not a fervent one. I was a Deaniac who liked Kerry and Clark and Gephardt. I did not partake in the primary wars between Dean and Clark supporters and Dean and Kerry supporters. Once Dean no longer looked like a viable candidate to me, I encouraged people to support John Edwards, the viable alternative to Kerry. And once Kerry was certain to be our nominee, I accepted it, and encouraged others to as well. And when that didn't work, that was when SYFPH was born.
When supporters of bygone candidates vented their anger at Kerry, I said some variation of the quotes above. My goal was to promote party unity, but my calls for unity were sprinkled with condescendion and a mocking sarcasm, for I could not fanthom how a Democrat could possibly consider not voting for the Democratic nominee in the general election.
Now I get it. I now personally despise Hillary Clinton, and it will take the mother of all clothspins for me to vote for her in the fall should she somehow illegitimately win our nomination.
Indeed, I personally feel responsible for the predicament that the Democratic Party finds itself in now. For God, or Fate, or cosmic kharma, decided to intervene in order to let me experience the emotions felt by many in 2004.
So if you need someone to blame for the ugly primary wars and our brutally contested primary battle between Clinton and Obama, blame me.