About Democratic Underground, John Kerry, and the General Election [View All]

[Skinner]

The last few months have been an extremely difficult time for all of us on Democratic Underground. I certainly did not expect the level of animosity on this message board to reach the level that it did against the various Democratic candidates or against each other. I regret that I was not more skillful in shepherding this place through this tough time. If we were to do it again, there are certainly things I would do differently, but I am not particularly optimistic that the result would be much different. It was a presidential primary, and fighting, anger, cruelty, and hurt feelings are inevitable. It is said that time heals all wounds. I hope that a little time will bring healing on Democratic Underground, and we'll be able to once again come together, reminded of the values that we all share.

Barring some unforeseen Act of God, it looks like John Kerry is going to be the Democratic nominee. I think that he will be a capable standard-bearer for our party in this election. He is a war hero, and he seems to have the "gravitas" and integrity to be a formidable candidate in the General Election. While his votes have not all been perfect, he has a solidly progressive record that will provide a stark contrast to the failed policies of the Bush Administration. John Kerry was not my top choice for the nomination, but I trust the wisdom of the primary voters who put him on top, and I am proud to give him my support. I am confident that he has what it takes to defeat Bush in the fall.

Now that we have a nominee, many people have been wondering what it means for Democratic Underground. The short answer is: We don't really know yet. Since last spring, we have had a rule on the books indicating that we would support the nominee, no matter who it was. There has been a lot of talk about the possibility of a "purge" of people who don't "get in line," but we have no intention of doing such a thing, nor would we want to. Thoughtful criticism of the nominee will be permitted, but we don't wish for DU to be a place where opponents of the Democratic nominee can post partisan attacks. Democratic Underground was created to be a safe haven where our members could get away from the drumbeat of constant attacks against us, our values, and our candidates. Now that we have a nominee, we do not want DU to become indistinguishable from Free Republic when it comes to bashing him, and we will do what we feel is appropriate to keep that from happening. We aren't going to make any immediate changes. Currently, we just want to wait a bit to see what sort of natural equilibrium develops on the message board before we institute any changes. One of the first changes will be to get rid of the GD: 2004 Primary forum as it currently exists. We are discussing what, if anything, will take its place.

We understand that there are many people on this message board who are feeling very upset about the primaries, and we understand that it may take a while for people to get used to the idea that we have a nominee. We are going to do our best to be sensitive to your situation, and to give you time to adjust. I hope that former partisans from all sides of the candidate debates will understand that we have little to gain, politically or emotionally, from continuing the slash-and-burn infighting of the last few months. A little human kindness from everyone will help heal the wounds we have. We are currently giving you a fair amount of leeway, but we will not allow the divisive behavior to go on indefinitely. There will come a time when we have to put the fighting behind us.

Thank you to all of you for sticking with Democratic Underground through this difficult time. I am looking forward to an exciting year where we can all work together to re-defeat the illegitimate, unelected moron!

Skinner
DU Admin