To all of TPM:

Well, it happened:  I finally am fed up.  This comment from Miguelitoh2o was the last straw.

It's obvious to me that it will be impossible for me to get around this idea that I am someone else.  When renaye started posting to my blog, I didn't know what to do.  If I responded people would think I was generating some heat.  If I didn't, people would assume I'm ignoring her to "ignore myself".   I chose not to respond.  I figured less crap on a blog is better.  (Yes, Old Grouch, that comment is aimed at you...)

Migeluetoh2o claims to have done "forensic typography" to determine that I am renaye.  quinn told me that the pig was the "best and the brightest".   Well, the pig is hardly either and he got this one very wrong.  But now I saw that between the TheraP cadre and the pig, I'm never going to be heard on suspicions, etc.  Why bother?  I figured I'd have heat with some of my views, but never over who I am.

TPM is obviously a nice closed society and the majority want to keep it that way.  (Different rules apply to different posters.)  It's obvious that many are older, retireed people from the type of comments I've seen regarding technology.  Cranky older retireed people who now, after years of laissez faire politics have finally woken up to the idea that they are about to be screwed.  Guess what?  Using the Democratic Party to turn the ship around at this point is too late.  It's like the Titanic trying to avoid an iceburg... by the time you see it, it's over.

You'll figure this out soon enough.  But by then you will be missing the rise of the new party.  Just as the Repulicans came out of the Whigs, the Democrats are about to give birth to a new party.

So remain insulated.  There is a cancer here:  anyone that comes on with different ideas will be labeled a troll.  Because the ruling class here isn't about discussing politics.  It's about finding something to do during the day and making friends.  And finding a group where you  can feel "smart" because everyone agrees with everyone else.  (Yes, I've heard that not all of you disagree... but the differences that you talk about are small indeed.  There are a few people on the outside, it's clear who they are, but they are in the minority.  And the rest try to squelch them at every turn.)

Most of you aren't any more open minded than Republicans.  Talking a game is one thing, acting on the talk is another.

I know that most of you will feel because I'm leaving, I must be renaye.  That's exactly the small thinking that gives you the stupid idea that if I don't buy into the Democrats, I must be Republican.  Next time you wonder about why the poor don't pied piper along with you middle class folks under the Democrat banner, it's because of this:  you have more to lose than me.  You need my vote to keep your middle class lifestyle.  I'm poor, I have no where to go but up. That's why I can be for real change and you can't.  So, why don't you pied piper along with me for Socialism, next time.

You Democrats vote out of fear.  Why don't you vote out of principle?  I've heard alot about Clinton and his third way.  Guess what?  You are ALL "third way".  You've triangulated yourself to becoming the GOP lite.  You have no point of view.  And that's why you have a hard time getting elected.  If you were savvy you would know that this is not a resurgence of the Democratic Party... it's a repudiation of the Republican Party.  And that means just as soon as the Republican Party regroups (and they are good at that), you will continue to drift to nowhere.  And you deserve to drift to nowhere.  Because the country is bankrupt.  The best we can do is wipe the slate clean.  And no one with any money at all wants that to happen.  That's why the poor are the Socialists and you are not.  You want to preserve your capital.  But the corporations really own the capital.  So you are stuck with government by the corporation.

You will deserve what you get for government.  You deserve what you get here at TPM.  Talk among yourselves while the Titanic sinks.

Some last thoughts:

Marquis, CVill Dem, TheraP, Barefoot and the rest of the ruling class:  enjoy your closed society.  You aren't about new ideas, you certainly aren't about kindness to people.  You may cut checks for charity, but there is a lot of "needs testing" when one shows up here, isn't there?  Well, it's Josh Marshall's board, not  yours.   You like to think you are kind, gentle souls?  Hardly.  But then again, Hitler was a vegetarian and little kids loved him.  It's what you do to strangers who have different views that counts.  If you look at our exchanges, all of you made things very personal very quickly.  Yes, I responded in kind.  But I started off by talking issues, not personalites.  You couldn't do that.  My favorite case was the way I was pilloried on Barefoots blog...and then the "kind" lady who ran the blog wouldn't stick to principle over friendship... she lectured me, not the Old Grouch.

quinn, oleeb, Jason, artappraiser and the other kindly souls who seem to really want to talk politics:  I thank you for whatever fun I had at TPM.  oleeb, I'm hoping you continue to espouse Zinn (and despite what I've read here, everyone should all go back to Chomsky too... after all, they are good friends!)  Thanks to mjeffn and Hillarym99 for following me.  I know that was brave to do in this climate.   Good luck in your discussions.  I wish you the best in dealing with the ruling cadre here.

Stillidealistic:  I'm really, really sorry about the loss of your child.  That's something that really does change one.  As I said, there is nothing I can teach you... but hopefully now that you know about Zinn and Chomsky, you can get to them. oleeb can help you there.

renaye:  congratulations.  You really put a cancer on this board.  Your influence is now spread to not only disrupting blogs, but disrupting the community at large.  I hope you are happy.  Enjoy your laugh.  Karma is a bitch.

And to Miguelitoh2o:  you aren't as smart as you think.  In fact you are rather dumb.  Anyone who reads my posts and renaye's and determines we are the same deserves the type of board they get.

Have at it people.   I'm interested in breaking the ruling class' grip on America, not the ruling class' grip on the TPM boards.  For what it's worth, from where I sit, the two aren't that different: they are in it for themselves.  The big difference is that the ruling class here is ruling... an Internet board.