First this nugget:  Dick Cheney thinks the Gas Tax Holiday proposed by his party's presumptive nominee is a bad idea.  Of course, it's absolutely true--but in the past, being wrong has in no way deterred Republicans from getting in line behind something.  The mere fact that now, as the general election matchup is all but crystallized, Dick Cheney would come out so publicly against the man GWB vanquished in 2000 could be a very good sign that McCain will have a lot of back-watching to do with respect to his own party, let alone the national electorate.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/03 /cheney-knocks-mccains-gas_n_104825.html

Of course, that's not all--no less a neocon than Bill Kristol said today, at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, "There are actually no disputes of that nature...with the exception of Iraq this time. Obama's not for cutting the defense budget; Obama's not for pulling troops back from our forward positions around the world, with the exception of Iraq. Obama and McCain don't actually differ, at least on paper, even on Iran, where they're arguing about whether they would talk to [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad or not -- and I think that's an important dispute. Still, at the end of the day, Obama doesn't say he would rule out the use of force. McCain certainly is committed as he said this morning to trying to increase economic pressure on Iran, which Obama has also talked about."  This is a staggering admission on the part of Mr. Kristol, who will no doubt scramble in future columns to disassociate himself from his own quote, but he's essentially neutered John McCain's biggest angle of attack for the last week, vis a vis engagement with Iran.  Ah, I'm not too sure that's going to go over very well with the base, to put it mildly.  Actually, that may be the message Kristol is trying to send, that engagement with Iran is a losing proposition for Sen. McCain (in light of his own position) and should be abandoned in favor of something else.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/02 /bill-kristol-at-aipac-oba_n_104799.html

On a totally different subject, we have a very serious problem here at MyDD.  The blog I've come to for years now is being overrun by McTrolls.  I know that Todd has posted, in blunt language, about the partisan nature of this--OUR--blog, and stipulated in no uncertain terms that advocating for John McCain will not be tolerated here.  I certainly hope he keeps his word, and fully expect to see a crackdown on a lot of the heated rhetoric I've seen in the last few days.  Certain, highly visible posters on this site--who I won't name but who we all know--have posted elsewhere glowingly about the attributes of Mr. McCain with respect to the general election and have tagged their entries "Democrats for McCain," (to list just one example).

I, for one, have absolutely no problem with even the most ardent Hillary Clinton supporters.  These are men and women I've worked with for years, canvassing, call-banking, sign-waving, and I welcome their differing viewpoints and have, on more than one occasion, engaged in very healthy and helpful conversation about the roles of race and gender in this nomination season.  The truth is, like our candidates, we are 95% (or more) agreed on all the major issues.  I've yet to meet, in my day to day life, a single Hillary Clinton supporter who has said they would vote for John McCain rather than Barack Obama (and, by the way, the same was true  in reverse).  I believe the vast majority of Hillary supporters fall into this group.

But not all.  There is a sub-sect of Hillary supporters who might be better described as "Obama haters."  This group of folks, in their opposition to Senator Obama, has co-opted the Hillary message and used it not just to further the virtue of their candidate but to sully the character of her opponent.  Even now, with the campaign's end in sight, they are pushing the worse kinds of innuendo about "Whitey" videos, engaging in vigorous character assassination, putatively to further the campaign of Hillary Clinton--but actually to drive a wedge between Democratic voters so they can defeat Barack Obama in the fall.  The list is long of folks here at MyDD who have stated they will vote for McCain rather than Obama in November--an admission that itself raises doubts about their motivations all along.  After all, MyDD is a deeply partisan blog, according to the stories that hit the front page.

I'm not suggesting there is a loyalty oath necessarily, nor that dissension in the ranks is not allowed; what I am saying is that, in my admittedly few years of political activism (1988 active in the process, paying attention since 1976) I haven't seen a massive insurgent campaign against our own nominee--and in any case, certainly not from the nominee who got the majority of "registered Democrat" voter votes.  If anything, you would expect the opposite to be true, that the outsider who failed to rustle up enough support for the nomination might, disillusioned with the process, decide to launch a third-party campaign, effectively derailing any and all future prospects with a party they felt would never hear their voice in the first place.

That most assuredly is NOT Hillary Clinton.

It is my hope that her supporters--true Democrats, in every sense of the word--will understand and appreciate the epic campaign we've seen waged in 2008.  I sincerely believe each candidate brought out the best--and, at times, the worst--in each other and our party is undoubtedly stronger as a consequence.  We have more registered Democrats than any time in our history, both in raw numbers and as a percentage of registered voters.  It would be a tragic mistake to squander so much good will, to turn on each other and undermine the very goal that both candidates have so vigorously contested these last six months, which is to put a Democratic President in the White House.

I, for one, stand ready to do everything in my power to see that happen.

I believe the vast majority of ardent Hillary Clinton supporters will as well--

--and that, in the coming weeks here at MyDD, we'll see true colors presented in some other cases, fraudulent McTrolls exposed, and that we have the strength and fortitude to reject and denounce those forces that seek to divide us, distract us, demoralize us, or in any other unanticipated way separate us from that goal.

From our goal.

From Hillary's goal.

From Barack's goal.

PS - I haven't forgotten Gore in 2000.  Pray any who consider not voting, or voting for Nader in 2008, or voting for McCain remember as well.