THE BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

Mark Karlin, Editor and Publisher

May 28, 2008

Yes, we've lost perhaps 20% of our readership because we have been highly critical of the Clinton campaign strategy and statements. Many of the readers who left us were there at the beginning in 2000 and were part of an online community forged out of the theft of the election from Al Gore.

It was not easy reading all the angry e-mails aimed at our strong disapproval of various aspects of the Clinton primary campaign since Iowa, including the testosterone-driven overkill of "Bill's boys" who dominate Senator Clinton's upper echelons.

And, yes, we lost contributors -- and that financially has hurt our ability to pay bills and expand. But we are progressives -- long time opponents of DLC Centrism and Triangulation -- and we may be economically pinched, but we still have our integrity.

That doesn't, however, make us any the less sorry to see so many longtime friends part company with BuzzFlash, but we would be dishonest with ourselves and our progressive mission if we had traveled a route other than the one that we have taken.

Which brings us to an e-mail we received the other day from a long-time reader who lives abroad (yes, we have many international BuzzFlashians). It was heartfelt and level-headed. It wanted to know how we could say that we would support Clinton if she were the nominee, when we found so much fault with the Senator's campaign and many of her statements.

The answer is simple: none of us has the luxury of perfect choices.

The next president will choose Supreme Court nominees who will support choice or overturn Roe V. Wade. The next president will try to move toward universal health coverage or away from it. The next president will seek diplomatic solutions to potential conflicts abroad or start preemptive wars. The next president will move toward alternative energy technologies or continue our dependence on fossil fuels.

These are just a few of the choices that we will face.

Senator Hillary Clinton is not our first choice in the Democratic primaries -- that is readily apparent to our readers. Our first choice is no longer in the race. That happens in politics. It happens in jobs. It often happens in love.

Yes, we expect Barack Obama to be the nominee, and he is my personal preference considering the conduct of the Clinton campaign, as we have judged it.

But we aren't going to endure four more years of deterioration of our nation and world at the hands of greedy, bumbling, incompetent, selfish, mendacious Republicans.

We don't hold a grudge. Like Hillary Clinton, we hang in there. We aren't going to allow choice or voting rights or international initiatives to suffer for four more years.

So we are not among those Obama or Clinton supporters who swear that they will vote for McCain if their candidate doesn't get the nomination.

Uh, why don't you just hand me a gun and I'll shoot myself in the face?

Because that is what any self-described progressive is doing if they vote for McCain.

Yes, we can be highly critical of a candidate, but also understand the relative differences between that candidate and John McCain when it comes to the bigger picture for America's future.

No, unless the DNC Rules Committee overturns its own rules and gives Clinton the full monty, she will probably withdraw next week.

But if she does manage to pull off an electoral miracle, we would back her.

Because that is the choice we would be given.

And John McCain is not an option.

THE BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

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