...is killing my ears.

Foolish rhetoric, nothing more.

I'm confused by your argument. On the one hand, you argue that the right to vote is one of the essential tenets of society yet as soon as someone decides who to vote for -- and it's someone you oppose -- you consider them politically irrelevant?

I think anyone can vote for whomever they want. The vote of someone who disagrees with you is just as important and 'politically relevant' as your own, not less.

...not what you'd like me to have written.

Vote for someone else... FINE. Don't vote... also fine. Just don't spend your time telling me and others that you won't vote for candidate X and therefore the rest of us in YOUR party should do... well... anything.

I'm starting to ignore you.  You have 1 vote.  Don't presume to tell me what to do with mine.

wrong.  If enough people are not persuaded to vote for your candidate and instead choose to sit this election out their decision will most definitely be relevant. Their decision will have an impact on the election.

Your failure to understand that says more about you than it does about them.

Interesting - I hadn't thought about it from this angle. I think, though, that these threads are all about relevance - we won't see them once a nominee is decided.

I'll agree with the sentiment of the diary as the give and take in politics requires reasonable debate and compromise. Heck, I'll go so far as to admit it is 'possible' I would vote McCain. That situation is highly improbable - I couldn't begin to tell you what sequence of events would cause me to do it, but I'm still gonna keep my ears and mind open right up to November.

There is no such thing as a perfect candidate, just like there is no such thing as a perfect person. My first choice this year didn't make it very far. And in 2004 I wasn't excited jazzed up to vote for Kerry, and if a better option had come along I would have taken it and I'd like to think I listened and was as informed and pragmatic a voter as I could be.

P.S. Yes, I'm a Barack voter, but I'm on the record as voting for Hillary if she is the nominee.

Find me the first person - the first voter - who's shifted their position and you have a point.

All Lieber is saying that this threat has virtually no effect... it draws no new votes, it changes nothing.

At best - it draws in people like me who don't mind engaging in mindless internet discussions.

No one - no delegate, no superdelegate, no voter - is changing his or her mind because a few elements are holding their breath because 'Candidate X' is unacceptable.

Wish I had written this diary.

if I could rec, I'd rec. It's sad that this is going WAY over the heads of the people who come here looking for what they EXPECT to see, not what's actually there. Tells you a lot of why they are the way they are, doesn't it?

He's saying if you won't vote for a democrat, we have no reason to pander to you. You've taken your vote out of play, so no one is going to bend over backwards for you. He's saying the EXACT OPPOSITE of "let's force you to vote for our guy", he's saying if you won't vote, there's no reason for us to try.

I mean, this isn't rocket science. This is a DUH moment.

But why vote for Candidate X when you can vote for his secret brother, Speed Candidate?

Go, Speed Candidate, go!

For irreverant irrelavancy.

And, making a salient point.

Lieber,

I'll say it again: "If you don't like what I have to say may I suggest you close your eyes whenever you come across anything I write, rather than trying to demand I not write it. After all that is such a Right Wing tactic telling someone not to voice their opinion because it isn't "Lock Step" with yours!"

Just because a person says they cannot or will not vote for one candidate does not give you the right to dismiss them from this site. This site is about more than just electing Obama President, it is about electing progressive Democrats to all levels of government. So just because someone does not support Obama does not mean they have no interest in supporting the effort to elect other Democrats to office. So perhaps if your "only" concern is Obama you should look for a site to spew your disgust towards anyone who does not fall in line with your group think.

Your title pretty much says it all.  

My vote may be irrelevant to you but it won't be to John McCain.

This is where the Democrats pay the price for treating long time loyal members like dirt and young people who just registered as golden.  And everyone does pay a price eventually for their actions.

I'm prepared for four years of McCain rather than remain a member of an Organization that condones the demeaning of myself and other members.  

In 1980 I didn't leave the Republican Party.  The Republican Party left me.

In 2008 I didn't leave the Democratic party.  The Democratic Party left me.

The weather will be cooler in November.

Our soldiers will still be dying in Iraq.
Kids hungry.
Families losing homes.
Jobs moved out of the country.
The earth will continue to warm.

Every vote counts.

Right Lieber?

The silence is deafening.