I said I wouldn’t write more about the primary, but clearly I’ve been violating the spirit of that rule. Might as well be up front about this.

What Hillary Clinton is now doing is wrong. Her candidacy is not a vehicle for equality or civil rights and Florida and Michigan are not Zimbabwe. I am not a sexist, at least not because I want Hillary Clinton to give up.

To those that complain about the rampant sexism in the coverage, don’t even get me started on the rampant racism. Your candidate ran on the “White like you” platform in Appalachia and didn’t have the good character to at least openly acknowledge that race was a factor. I watched the news organizations contort themselves into pretzels to avoid acknowledging that race was THE factor in Appalachia. “Hard-working” and “blue collar” became the words of the day.

It seems like we’re forgetting that both candidates are from disenfranchised groups, so this sort of pissing match about who’s been trodden upon more is ridiculous and divisive.

Folks don’t want to talk about it, but Clinton had high negatives from before the primary, before Obama grew into a phenomenon, and back when I was still supporting the white guy from my state. She had high negatives because of crap that Republicans threw at her in the 90s, not from Obama supporters like me today. This isn’t about sexism or racism but about a candidate who lost a primary. The -isms were factors, certainly, but they cut against both candidates. Or maybe the die-hard Clinton supporters missed this:

Nah, it’s only about sexism. I mean, racism is dead, right?

Yup, it’s only about the sexism.

Seriously, how do these die-hard Clinton supporters respect themselves saying these things?

So, let me be clear: I didn’t want Clinton as the nominee before the primary season even got underway. I have always seen her votes in the Senate as positioning for an eventual Presidential run and that became tiring. Never once has she tried to use her name or her influence to move the needle of public opinion, she only took what the polls said and let that guide her vote. The latter may lead to pragmatic and competent policy but it’s not leadership. It also has nothing to do with her gender.

The Calvinball tactics are depressing and this attempt to wrap her candidacy in the honor of truly significant generational struggles is both stupid and offensive.

I’ve lost nearly all the respect I’ve had for Hillary Clinton during the final months of this primary. She is, quite frankly, only interested in herself and her ambition. She and John McCain: They’ll do anything, contort any reality, and flip flop on any issue in order to win the Presidency.

Finally, I have sympathy for the women who are truly saddened by Hillary Clinton’s loss in this campaign. The sexism has been visible and open from major media figures (Chris Matthews, I’m looking at you). I’m not a woman, but I am a minority and I understand what can get invested when you see “one of your own” reaching for a peak that no one has reached before. I also recognize how unfair it seems when bias and prejudice seem to hobble your candidate. I really do get it. It still doesn’t excuse what she’s doing.

OK, rant done. Sorry. I leave you with this bit of campaign fluff:

Still makes me laugh every time. And seriously, how long did that take to make???

Update: I edited slightly to remove some ambiguous second person writing on advice of my English teacher. I had a certain other set of bloggers in mind when I was writing this, people who I’ve respected and whose policy judgment I truly trusted. So, the “you” was meant to be them, folks like BTD and Jeralyn at TalkLeft, the fine folks (mostly commenters) over at Shakesville, and some other pro-Clinton blogs. I’m tired of being insulted when I’m trying to just get their perspective.