From Chapter 18 of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again. Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now.
If you’re not familiar with the book, you probably need to read the rest of the chapter to get the context. But it’s amazing how there seems to be an appropriate Douglas Adams quote to fit any occasion. At least, that’s what Demetrius and I think. (Happy Valentine’s Day, Sweetie!)
But last night’s news of Paul Hackett yielding to party pressure to drop out of the race felt all to familiar to many of us.
This is utterly recognizable and all too familiar to those of us who supported Howard Dean–it’s the 2003-4 primary season all over again. And just when I would like to be celebrating what Howard Dean has accomplished in his first year as Chair, and maybe doing a fun post for Valentine’s Day, party insiders go and make me feel like this again. Once again, I feel like we’re being told, “That’s cute all the stuff you’re doing. You’ve got such spunk. But you don’t count–we make the calls. Now, fall in line, and start writing checks.”
Equally predictable is the scolding some fellow bloggers immediately offer when we balk at that “fall in line” part.
There is nothing official on the Hackett blog yet, but if you scroll to “Recent Entries”, there are some similar sentiments to what was expressed above in the community blogs.
At least the post Low Turnout Reported at BuckeyeSenate gave me a chuckle.
But, just as fair warning, any fellow Democrats who start today, while this injury is still raw, A) extolling Brown’s virtues, B) saying it’s a good thing that we can “unite” now, or, worst of all, C) chastising us and asking incredulously “Don’t you know what’s at stake here?”, can bite me. And I suspect I’m far from being the only person who feels that way.
