I've been badly neglecting real-life responsibilities and have to hang up my blogging quill for the time-being.

Odds are, something will catch my eye, get my goat, or shiver me timbers to the point where I just have to post something on occasion. But I'm going to try to stay off the stuff for a little while, anyway, as best I can.

I will be reading y'all, though, so I'll know if you stop shouting, pouting, and crying — things that any sane person ought to be doing right now.

I leave you with these thoughts:

• Last week was a big week for Democrats: the Clintons kicked ass, and somehow (PUMA power perhaps?) the message finally got to Obama that he needs to sound like a Democrat now and again. Was it enough to get one on the Obamawagon? A harbinger that he might start running a campaign that's likable enough to hold your nose for it? Too little, too late? As for me, I'm taking the middle ground. Like Dr. Frasier Crane, I'm listening.
• Though some will deny it, McCain's running-mate selection is undeniably a reflection of PUMA power. Anti-choice or not, his choice of Sarah Palin must have been at least partly inspired by how badly Obama screwed the pooch in his VP selection. Is there anyone in the Obama campaign who is chagrined at the GOP being more responsive to the Democratic base than the Democratic Party is? Probably not. So, I'm listening, but not yet charmed.
• Which reminds me. If you are on the Obamawagon, stop assuming those who aren't are stupid. We know Hillary lost. We know that McCain/Palin is a million miles from a progressive ticket. We also know that Obama is a terribly flawed candidate who is made dangerously worse when we shield him from criticism. Hubris + "most powerful job in the world" kills people.
• Please fight the good fight to repeal Obamawin's Law. It sucks out loud that lefties are now in the STFU business, re: problems that are wholly unsolved and lessons that are wholly unlearned.
• Please keep critiquing shitty oppo and unfair media, no matter who does it and who ostensibly benefits. It sucks out loud that lefties are now in the business of leveraging bigotry (McOld) and substituting contentless pseudo-gotcha (House-Countgate, exploiting the $5M/year joke) for hitting hard against the shitty Republican Party and the shitty John McCain. And it does PUMAs and other Obama-skeptics no good to fulfill the kitchen-sink grasping-at-anything prophecy (Vacation-gate, exploiting the 57-states joke).
• Post-partisanship still sux, and Obama's big speech suddenly went limp once he started flogging that never-caught-a-rabbit-or-an-elephant lame-o meme. Every time he plays that card, the Overton Window lurches to the right and another progressive agenda dies.
• Think and share, if you dare, the craziest idea in the world. Maybe people are starting to listen....

A few more parting thoughts in my second comment here.

Amitiés,
VL