Markos Moulitsas struck out today against "rabid Clinton supporters who think everyone is a sellout because of inadequate Hlllary worship" in response to a light volley after he endorsed the ludicrous notion that Hillary Clinton is no longer a Democrat. Over at TalkLeft, Big Tent Democrat took it as a dig against "Jerome Armstrong, Tom Watson and me," and added:
If refraining from saying Hillary Clinton is not a Democrat constitutes Hillary worship for Daily Kos, I think he confirms my point - the destruction of the Clinton Wing of the Party, Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Legacy is what his web site is about now. Drumming Clinton supporters out of the Democratic Party is what his web site is about. If that is what Barack Obama's campaign will be about in November, he will lose. The Creative Class Wing of the Democratic Party is not enough.
There's a strange desire for political purity in all of this that baffles me, as if Obama's candidacy somehow represents more than a talented politician's reach for high office. I know that the "change" candidate sells post-conflict politics even while bashing his opponents with the usual slaps and bluster, but I didn't quite fathom how deeply ingrained this myth of purging the enemy has become.
When a practical campaigner like Markos - who backed Democrats like Casey and Tester, both far to the right of Hillary Clinton - seems to favor the cleansing that would rid the party of the most successful Democratic President of his lifetime and the first serious female candidate for the presidency, what's left but a narrow stripe of third party bunting, a mere decorative touch with no hope of winning a governing majority?
