An alarming level of discord.

[Zynx]

For months I have been hearing that all the bickering among the supporters of candidates is just fine and we will all be one big happy family at the end of the primary season. With several recent events, the William Pitt incident probably the most severe of them, I am beginning to doubt this very much. Such levels of personal hatred of supporters and candidates can not be healthy and will result in deep divisions among us that could be very damaging to our overall prospects.

To a large extent, it seems that personal feelings about candidates' supporters is rubbing off onto people's opinions about the candidates themselves. I've heard many people say as much as "I like the candidate a lot more than their supporters" or "Their supporters make me dislike the candidate". For me personally, I know this to be the case. For example, I almost found myself saying that I would not vote for John Kerry if he were nominated just because of the actions of some of his supporters. Luckily I came to my senses and realized this was idiotic. However, it behavior of other candidates supporters has led me, and I'm sure others who support all of the other candidates, to viciously attack the candidate and their supporters on an even personal level. This continues to feed on itself without any end in sight.

This growing divide among the supporters of the candidates has never been worse than it is now and I have seen many saying they will not vote for Candidate X if they are nominated. I also see a shrinking number of people responding to ABB threads. This is simply unacceptable. The supposed "vetting process" has turned into outright civil war here and a division in the party is possible that has not been seen since 1972 or 1980. It is for this reason that we need to break the cycle of extreme hatred among supporters of candidates as soon as possible before a permanent rift emerges. I am open to suggestions about how to stop this. I have an idea of everyone agreeing to post nothing but positive stories and analysis for two straight days begining today, after all it is Christmas time, to reduce this tension for atleast sometime.

If you think I am overreacting to this level of discord, please tell me why I am, but I firmly believe that we are seeing what amounts to near true hatred. The kind of rhetoric we are seeing now is usually what is only reserved for Republicans.