In response to Trapper's Diary Last night)

And This BAN Superdelegates Diary

I offer this idea for a national Primary system, below the fold

(expanded from a comment I made last night, because I love hearing myself talk)

Teenage riot in a public station
Gonna fight and tear it up in a hypernation for you

-Sonic Youth

This site is angrier than I've ever seen it. I've lived through "Armando Sucks", through the judicial confirmations, through Brown/Hackett and the Pie Wars. And I don't think it's ever been this bad. This is understandable. Between the war in Iraq, FISA, Abu Ghraib, rising income inequality, wiretapping, a SCOTUS lilting toward the right and 700,000 other issues, there's a lot to be pissed about. And, although I'm not all that mad at Democrats myself, I recognize that there's a lot to be pissed about there as well. The MoveOn vote was unnecessary, no matter how dumb the ad was, attempts to overcome Republican blockading have been ineffective, and FISA passed with plenty of Dem support. So I understand the sentiment. But you've got a choice.

Either find new ways to express it, or find new avenues to enact change.

I am not going to mention names. You know who you are. But if you are gullible enough to swoon over the Minutemen, the Neo-Nazis, and their "professionalism," then you are being an enabler. You are being an enabler for the worst kind of hate groups there are in this country. And if you don't believe me when I say that the Minutemen and Neo-nazis are allied, you are arguing with the facts, not me.

To those who may have taken offense, let me apologize, and that includes Steven D.  In a lot of ways, he and I were saying the same thing.  I actually appreciate his passion.

But let me try to explain what I think stirred something in me to write what I did, and explain what I think is a phenomenon here that, to me anyway, is somewhat alarming.

So that leads to the purpose of this diary.   I will, below the fold, explain what I hope will happen.   For this to work, people will each have to follow the examples I will (as a good teacher) model for them.  They will also probably have to recommend the diary to keep it visible for others to participate.  In requesting recommends, it is because I believe this is at least as valuable as our recent roll-calls of participants.

If anyone thinks on a Saturday night that this diary is worthy of recommends or comments, I will be appreciative. I do akcnowledge feeling good when others value what I offer this community.   But the choice of how to react is not mine, but belongs to you, the readers.

I have a question from you all. Is Daily Kos a country club, or are we a force for change? Kos has made his position clear.

This is a Democratic blog, a partisan blog. One that recognizes that Democrats run from left to right on the ideological spectrum, and yet we're all still in this fight together.

My favorite traitor or the turning of the tide.

The original poll is available here: DailyKos Poll 01/17/06

Now the skip ....

I have mostly good news.

I want to speak to you of loneliness, and sorrow, and the bitter anger from being trapped in an uncontrollable nightmare.

I want to teach you of the joy that comes of despair, and the special kind of hope that can only come when all hope has died.

Mostly, I want to blame Hunter, MsOC, and, God help me, John Kerry for making me do this.

Find out what the hell I'm talking about below the fold.

Consider this a "meta-diary", or at least a piece of self-reflection by "Meta-Mahanoy".

With that little caveat out of the way, let me get right to it...

Breaking News: Scoles drops out; Sestak to run

Wed Feb 01, 2006 at 04:08:12 PM PDT

This is my district (PA-07). Paul Scoles was being challenged for the right to run against Curt Weldon by a young Fighting Dem--former Republican--Bryan Lentz. Paul is now dropping out and endorsing Vice Admiral (ret.) Joe Sestak who has just thrown his hat into the ring.

I'm not sure what to make of this yet. I just got it in my inbox.

Not to pick on Maria specifically--her post was just the latest such instance I've come across, the proverbial straw--but I'm not sure what to make of it either.  Plea below the fold...

And actually, this sorta thing happens fairly frequently here at dKos.

When front-page or rec-list figures are taken to task for their comments, when alotta folks step-up and clarify issues...well, to me, this seems like dKos is "working" in a fairly effective fashion. At least for dialog and awareness.

...I suppose I could have posted this in one of those threads or the response-threads, but I'd like to acknowledge it in a broader sense, ya know?...

Well at least it's a chance for a black person or another woman on the bench.

OH SHIT - THIS JUST IN - I heard Rhenquist isn't looking so good either!!!  

Now what the fuck are we going to do now?  

I just hope we don't fucking lose this battle and then spend the whole fucking night posting useless fucking diaries on KOS blaming one another for another classic minority party clusterfuck.

But I am sure that's not going to happen.  

We lost, and we got knocked down.

It's time to get up off the mat.