Tired of the lunatic silly-season behavior, Democrats, liberals, and moderates? Tired of a plain statement of fact becoming a “gate.” As Mayhill Flower says:

….Senator Obama– and also Senators Clinton and McCain– must see us and talk about us in such a way that sets the bar high. A leader will hold us to that standard. “Californians and Pennsylvanians,” our next president must say, “find your best selves in one another.”

Yes, but right now there’s only one campaign even trying to do that, and you can help it here. Your money and/or your dulcet tones on the phone (it’s not hard!) are badly needed to stop this thing in the Keystone, Hoosier, and Tar Heel states so we can start the real conversation for peace and true prosperity. The best solution to bitterness is action.

UPDATE: So, when I did my morning check of DailyKos and saw Hunter’s rant, I was very confused. Then a quick Google and I saw this. Apparently, and I’m not kidding, Chris Matthews saw Obama’s turning down coffee and asking for orange juice as a sign that he was somehow unable to conduct himself in a diner and therefore, of course, perhaps not Joe SixPack enough to be President.

It’s obvious from watching his show that Chris gets plenty of caffeine, but he has got a problem with vitamin C? Is citrus now frou-frouy girlyman nutrition like…I’m not sure I should even mention it…arugula? Of does he think it’s rude to turn down coffee even if you don’t feel like drinking any? What, “real men never turn down coffee”??? Is this a reason to therefore vote for John McCain (we know Chris doesn’t much care for Hillary) because, while he might start a war in Iran, he’ll never turn down coffee, though he also might totally lose control of his anger over a perceived error by the waitress and use a very unpleasant noun to describe her? Frankly, I don’t even understand what universe this comes from.

I don’t think this, er, story is going to get any traction but it is an example of why some of these pundits really do need to rethink they’re place in the universe. Chris Matthews can actually be intelligent and fun to watch at times, when he’s not being, as in this case, what can only politely be described as an assclown. However, as he Jon Stewart pointed out in discussing his new book awhile back (about treating your whole life as a political campaign) on The Daily Show, his mentalit boils down to a “recipe for sadness.”

If there were any justice, this would be a Joseph Welch moment: At long last, Mr. Matthews, have you no brain?

Another Update: The whole inane “bitter” mess summarized and diagnosed by Pennsylvania native, UC Economics prof. and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, who I didn’t even know had a blog. So simple, yet so elusive to most in power. And one of his commenters mentions an apposite quote by H.L. Mencken:

The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

There are moments when it seems you’re not allowed on television if you don’t fit this definition. I seriously hope Reich posts this essay elsewhere. Screaming it from the rooftops also works for me.

H/t MissLaura.