Aw, Bruce. You can borrow my flying unity pony anytime.

John:

Thank you, but respectfully, maybe it was my bad in the way I wrote the post. I need no welcome to Senator Obama's tent. I have always intended to vote for him, or at least since I knew Hillary wasn't going to win. That's not my point; that's not my point at all. I'm sorry if I wasn' clear.

Bruce

How awesome was that video tribute to Teddy? They did such a great job with it. I heard Ken Burns produced it.

I can't bring myself to even care anymore.

I have always found you willing to listen to opposing views without rancor and it inspired me to change my own tone more than once. The Teddy I have for my icon isn't the only one I admire. Great post.

remind the hilllary supporters that if McCain wins, it will be the end of safe, legal abortions in USA.
thousands of women will suffer at the hands of back-street abortionists, many will die.

think Supreme Court!

Nice, Bruce. I'm glad you got what you needed last night! Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

--Laura

Nicely written post, Bruce. ;-)

Teddy didn't make me cry, but it was good to see him standing strong in spite of his illness.

Jesse Jr. is a fraud (and a shockingly bad speaker to boot). I watched him thinking how I can't wait for the day he goes down in flames. It won't be soon enough. He fosters evil thoughts in me, not at all what a true Dem should do, as far as I'm concerned. He's nothing but the idle spawn of old-school liberalism.

Anyhoo, I want to acknowledge this in particular:

To me, it has been torture to have felt "othered" over the past couple of months in the political party I have always been loyal to.

I'd detected this about you long ago and always admired you because you are old-school all the way. We are strangely few on this supposedly progressive site. You are not "other" to me.

Peace.

Great post...thanks for sharing your feelings. Sincere posts like this will do far more to unify the party than rants.

Bruce - excellent post. It was nice watching the convention coverage to put things in persepctive last night - particularly the Teddy Kennedy speech. Good reminder that we are all part of the same Democratic family. I'm looking forward to the tribute to Stephanie Tubbs-Jones on Thursday too. She was such a fighter for progressive causes and will be sorely missed in the Congress.

Bruce, please forgive me a discordant note of cynical irony in response to your warm (and welcome) post, but you surely recall the last divisive Democratic convention: 1980 Carter vs. Kennedy. Kennedy and others learned something from that election, and DNC 2008 is not DNC 1980, but I think it's worth noting that Teddy was not always a "grown up" in the sense that you use it here.

Crotch on.

Glad that you put in the work. Nice read.

There are certainly simmering resentments among the rank and file, amplified in the self-reinforcing blogosphere, and much overhyped, as usual, by the talking heads needing to fill airspace with controversy, but real nonetheless. Hopefully, the leaders on both sides will take the cue and do their part to put those tensions to rest. Unity is a two way street.

In that regard, I must say that I am puzzled by the Obama camp's seeming reluctance to embrace Bill Clinton's legacy. With the economy emerging as the most significant issue in the election, why have we not heard anything about the eight year run of relative peace and prosperity we enjoyed pre-Bush? The Republicans managed to turn a deeply flawed Reagan, whose Presidency ended in scandal and who (thankfully) betrayed many of the Conservative principles he championed, into a bona fide American hero. (Needless to say, many of us who lived through that period are sickened by the thought). Republican candidates for the past 20 years have fallen over themselves trying to assume his mantle. Most Americans still believe Clinton, despite his personal failings, to have been an outstanding executive. Yet a substantial portion of Democrats still seeks to portray him as a stumbling (yet shrewdly calculating), out-of-touch racist. Our three most recent candidates have done their best to run away from Bill. In doing so, they give up one of the best contrasts we can draw with the Republicans. They took over a country that most felt was basically on the right track. Look where they took us. Sure, the change theme worked great in the primary with an electorate fed up with a Party that had repeatedly caved in to the Bush administration and was looking for a different direction. But as the campaign has shown thus far, Obama's biggest potential liability is people's unfamiliarity with the candidate and discomfort (fair or unfair) with where he wants to take the country. The selection of Biden was a great move because it signified the endorsement of an old hand and a demographic that Obama will need if he is to win in November. Establishing a connection to the most successful Democratic administration in most of our lifetimes would seem a no brainer.

Since Obama is the candidate, I concentrate on him. On the other side, however, the Clintons must realize that preserving and expanding on their legacy depends in no small measure on Obama being elected. Hillary's "concession" speech began to make the case, but we have yet to hear similar sentiments from Bill. I have little doubt they will express their support for Obama forcefully and begin to draw the contrast with McCain we are so desperately looking for.

In short, if everyone sticks to the Armchair Guerilla script, I will guaranty victory in November.

Now I've gone and messed up your neat little thread with a lengthy and meandering rant, the reason for which I can scarcely recall.

bslev -- I don't think we've crossed paths (er, swords?) in the past but I've always been intrigued by your posts. And very, very pleased to read this one. His appearance was a major jolt of 'perspective' for a lot of us and, as you say, reminder that there are very important things that we ALL agree on. Glad you heard the message and hope we all did a bit.

(Off topic -- I'm trusting Obama to come out, at the right time, with a thundering campaign on health care ...... that's a "wake up" issue, that unifies all the factions (Obama, Clinton, Edwards even) and is a stark, stark contrast to McCain, whose feeble attempt is almost worse than saying "trust me, I'll take care of it.")

I want a HUG!

The Rev Jackson said wants to cut Obama's nuts off and you're wanting him to apologize to Clinton for snide remarks...

"Stand in line" seems to be the appropriate phrase to use here.

The point Teddy drives home with me is that you can change, you can move forward, you can pass on that torch without giving an inch on core LIBERAL values.

If I could vote for Teddy's values today, I'd be a happy Democrat.

bslev- love your avatar. One Of my favorites is "Grapes..."

Yep, Teddy was on the money and curiously, although he never alluded to it in his speech, a bi-partisan legislator when needed. And it WILL be needed...