Instead of addressing the concerns about the nominating process (does anybody out there really understand it?), goobers like Matthews and Olbermann thought that maybe insulting Hillary supporters as bitter, menopausal old broads might shame them into supporting the Messiah. Howard Dean must have growled with glee at that idea! I bet the media never dreamed that her supporters might just decide that they would take that insult and run with it....have some fun with it....and toss it back in their faces. Oh, no, that wasn't supposed to happen.

When those women wouldn't be sweet little ladies and shut up and do as they were told, they brought out that tired old canard about how Roe v. Wade would be tossed outta the window if they didn't suck it up and vote the way they were ordered to. (After all, abortion is the only thing women care about, right? We don't care about equal pay for equal work, or any children's issues, as long as you give us the right to have an abortion up to the day before we are going to give birth, it's all fine and dandy if you call us "sweetie" and are condescending in the extreme.) News flash....the media has been harping on this since the 80's. We pretty much still have the same decision and same rights in effect, and that's after Reagan, two Bush administrations, and a Congress that was temporarily in Republican control. Most people just aren't buying that story any more.

There are plenty of Hillary voters and holdouts, apparently, regardless of what you wrote here, Ms. Lithwick. Why else would the Democrats have caved on letting Hillary have her roll call, and made elaborate plans to "silence" any of her supporters who might dare to cause a scene?

What's next, an article about how all these bitter old hags are racist, and jealous of Michelle Obama because she's younger and prettier, too?

Please, I liked the media better when they at least made an attempt to report the facts. It's bad enough that the National Enquirer is doing the investigating the rest of the media has forgotten or refused to do. (Hey, maybe if you went back to reporting instead of propaganda, circulation figures for local papers might go up! Wouldn't that be sweet!)

You rule.

w00t!

How do you construe an article about PAC groups pushing to disrupt the convention into covering all Hillary supporters. The article was about these groups and their behavior.

Condescending? Besides the off-handed sweetie remark, when has Obama been out-of-the-political-norm condescending to Clinton? He congratulated her on every one of her victories (she failed to congratulate him several times); he praised her courage and the significance of her campaign; he constantly said that she was more than qualified to be a good president. She's been a real peach to Obama? She said McCain was more qualified, and all he had was a speech. She mocked his supporters as delusional; calling his ideas "pie in the sky." That's a little condescending to 18 million voters, no?

Talk about one-way streets.

Did you hear John McCain say last week that he would replace Supreme Court Justices as they retired, starting with the Ruth Bader Ginsburg - "his least favorite" - with ones who would overturn Roe? That eggs within our bodies have human rights from the moment of conception? That's not a tired canard; that was his statement of intent and belief. Millions will vote for him because they agree with him.

American women clearly have fought hard for the right to support anyone they want but, at the end of the day, "if we do not all hang together, we will all hang seperately." There are two viable choices in this election and every vote that does not go toward the Democratic nominee is one that helps the Republican get elected. It's that simple.

"There are plenty of Hillary voters and holdouts..."

Where are they? I've never met one. I have quite a few friends and acquaintances who supported Hillary in the primaries. Many of them are angry at the media's treatment of Hillary, and several of them are not wild about Obama. Every single one of them is planning to vote for him, though, and many are working for him. I have never once, in real life, run across anybody who supported Hillary in the primary and is planning to vote for McCain. They seem only to exist on the internet.

And that's not surprising, if you think about it. The notion that McCain is a good second choice to Hillary is a little hard to hold in mind without massive cognitive dissonance. It's a bit like saying "I'd like to be a physicist, and I got into Princeton -- but I'm really mad that I didn't get into MIT, so I think I'll go to Junior College instead."

Try as I might, I have a difficult time believing that these folks aren't Republican trolls.

They may be trolls, (I don't think so) but I'm not. I was thinking of who would be the most experienced person to lead the free world, and it just never was Obama. The 'secret ballot' is where democrats will likely vote for McCain in large numbers. That's why you see them on the internet, it's so annonomous. (that, I we're really tired of being jumped on for not buyinig the 'miracle of Obama' bs) I believe the Iowa Caucus, where you publicly supported your candidate, went for Obama because of the 'cool factor', ie, in public, standing up for/with the young hip black guy because you are so 'with it'. In a secret ballot, he would have (I think) lost Iowa. But, now that I've remembered I can 'write in' HRC's name for president, I will not have to vote for McCain. I just forgot, and like many other HRC supporters, ...I was in the 'either or' mindset. McCain OR Obama---pick one. Not any more...HEY! HRC supporters!!---tell every HRC supporter to write in HRC's name and vote with a clear concious.

The most experienced person to lead the free world was never Hillary. However Obama is certainly more able, intelligent and cool headed than McCain.

Ok, since you haven't met any of these people, they don't exist. I must have been hallucinating when I saw that there are Hillary delegates still planning on voting for Hillary at the convention, or when I think that quite possibly some of the nearly 18 million who voted for her wouldn't choose Obama under any circumstances, no matter how insulting the media gets.

Of course, since I don't agree with you 100%, I'm a Republican troll. Since I have severe misgivings about voting for Obama, I must be voting for McCain.

I guess the idea that people you call friends might say one thing to you in August and do something different in November just doesn't occur to you. Or that maybe somebody might just leave the top of the ticket blank isn't a possibility in your world (I live in a state where even if I write in Hillary's name it will be counted as a vote for Obama, since they are in the same political party).

Hey, if Obama can vote "present" in the Senate, I can do the same thing in the voting booth. I think I will.

Advn2rgirl, I'm from Arizona. I know perfectly well what McCain is like, and yep, I heard his statement. It's not any different than what he said all the time there. I never voted for him for Senator when I lived there, and if you want to think that all of a sudden I'm going to change my mind and vote for him now for President....well.....ok, go indulge yourself in that little fantasy.

It still doesn't take away the constant "crying wolf" about abortion over the past three decades. I'm tired of the feeling that they believe I only think with my uterus and not with my head. My basic right to an abortion hasn't changed since I was old enough to care about it back in the 80's. Roe v Wade may get overturned someday, but that does not automatically mean that abortion will go back to being illegal overnight.

KoryO, I usually have no problem imagining, and even understanding, people who believe even the most ludicrous things. However, the notion that anybody who had the good sense to support Hillary Clinton would now contemplate helping John McCain become president (either actively or passively) -- thereby extending the horrendously failed policies of the Republican party, further eroding the Constitution, and making America look like a nation of clowns -- is just too batshit crazy to hold in mind for long.

Generally, I'm all for sticking it to the Democrats. I've voted in seven presidential elections, and three of those votes have gone to third party candidates. This isn't the time, though. I happen to think Obama will make a decent President, although I don't think he's a mythical hero come to save us all. I would, however, gladly vote for my cat before I'd let the GOP continue to drag us down our current destructive path.

Come to think of it, my cat might do a pretty good job...