Taking The Pledge

Joe Conason and Gene Lyons are long-time veterans in the battle with the VRWC. We all owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.

Which is why I am upset to see some people going after the both of them for their apparent support of Wesley Clark over Howard Dean. (Joe has not pushed Clark as visibly as Gene, but it's not hard to see where his sympathies lie if you read his columns on the matter). I pit of despair grows in my heart each time I see people rip into these two fine gentlemen. They don't deserve. And, what's more, it 

I categorically refuse to get upset at Joe or Gene for their apparent support of Clark over Dean. I refuse to scoff at their reasons for doing so. They have done far to much for the cause to immediately dismiss them as fools for their concerns about Dean.

Let's be clear about something: while I would much prefer a President Dean over a President Clark, the electoral math does indicate that Clark will have an easier time beating Bush than Dean. We would be as foolish to dismiss this concern as those who dismiss the Dean phenomena as a movement of immature amateurs.

We must not lose sight of the fact that the most important task before us is to remove Bush from power. A person does not have to be a fool or star-struck to decide that the risks of a Dean candidacy outweigh the benefits of a Dean presidency.

Having Dean as President would be a great thing.

Having Clark as President would be a good thing.

Having Bush as President is and would be a disastrous thing.

We must not let our partisanship cause us to lose sight of this basic truth. I'm willing to do my part. As such, I am going to stop being so quick to forward negative stuff about Clark until I'm sure it pans out. Up till now I've been far to willing to regurgitate Clark smears simply because his candidacy threatens my guy.

To this I pledge. No more will I be:

• A tool of those who want to disrupt the Anybody-But-Bush movement.
• A partisan who would rather bring down the other guy's candidate then find reason to elevate my own.
• A dupe who will automatically assume that anything negative about the other guy's candidate is more likely to be true than the negative things said about my guy.
• A fool who loses sight of the ultimate goal: the removal of George W. Bush.

I do solemnly swear to uphold this pledge to the best of my ability. I encourage others to do the same.

Update: I've reworked the pledge into a more general form, saved it off into a separate file and put a link to it on the top of my blog.

Take the pledge and pass it on.