The blue dogs and go-along Democrats during the Bush years are still with us, now abetted by our empty suit president. There is no way I'll ever apply the lesser of evils test to any election again. I'm putting my trust and financial support in real progressives--however few there are running. For the rest--including Obama--good riddance, whatever the alternative.

In early 1930s Germany, granted it was a parliamentary system with proportional representation and all that. But letting the "worser" side get in is not equivalent. Incompetence, or, rather, allowing blue dogs to sway things, may be sucky. But voting for a third choice is completely counter-productive.

Things will be far worse if another 8 years like 2000-2008 ever ever occurs again. They never pass unemployment extensions. They never do anything but large tax breaks for the rich and nothing else. Yes, Democrats are spineless, but it has been Republicans who for 25, 30 years have consistently pushed teh agenda so the middle has moved rightward. It is they who are far far worse than anything we see now. Yes, Obama allows a lot to get worse, and this is crap...But if I can vote for Shumer and this time for that syophant Gildebrand, well, Obama is despised by those I despise, so, sorry, he still gets my vote. I doubt I will campaign in hilly streets in Pennsylvania. I wouldn't be able to justify a lot of Obama stuff that when I campaigned last time I said would change, when asked.

You fall for the black or white theory of politics. There are far more nuances in a mature look at things.

How 'bout seeing STARS; since the rest of US have just about reached our nadir, the STARS look the same from our position in space! Vote NEITHER, in the meantime; and NADER in 2012!! Take NO incumbents!!!

I think the vote fraud machine will try to rig the midterms for the Republicans, and their media is paving the way. If the election is close, the Republicans will gain control of the House, but if it is not close they will not be able to pull off the heist. The real time to vote is for the most progressive candidate in the Democratic primary. That is when our votes can make the most real impact. A few more Conyers, Graysons and Kucinichs could make a big difference in the House.

I really want the Green Party to step up and grab a lot of the progressive vote in blue dog districts like mine, but I haven't seen much action from the Greens around here for this election. Democrats may not run a progressive candidate against our blue dog in the primary, and without a strong Green contender I'll have to hold my nose and vote for him in November in order to not make bad matters worse.

Mark Warner VA , vote for his exit

The other side only acts and sounds loonier, when it comes to policy they're all the same. One big corporate lovefest. FISA, earmarks, torture, NAFTA, bailouts, Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, immigration reform, abuse of power, DADT, DOMA, and health care. Let's stop pretending health care isn't a farce, forcing people to buy insurance from crooks is not progressive, and neither is the elimination of all private as well as public insurance coverage for abortion. I'm done. I want off of this merry-go-round.

I hate to make this analogy, but I'm curious of the anti-Democrat progressives out there - would you vote for the Democrats if they were running against the Nazi party? Yes Democrats are disgustingly too pro-corporate, but unlike the Republicans they at least attempt to consider liberal ideas. This does actually mean something, much in the same way that the rhetoric about liberty and justice that this country was based on meant something even though it has always been somewhat of a lie. A country, person or party which has a set of decent stated values, no matter how corrupted, can be shown where those values are corrupt and pushed in a better direction. A country, person or party country with no values or the wrong values will be incorrigible. The Democrats have failed many times at making progress, and have sometimes even set us back, but the Republicans have actively pushed for regression. There is a difference.

Republicans would like to make this a referendum on what they call "big government", but which really is the social contract. If they succeed it will not only strike a blow to the Democrats, it will strike a blow to the the very fabric of liberal philosophy in this country. The stakes couldn't be higher. So yes, we must grit our teeth and bear the thought of voting for the lesser evil once again, because the other evil is much worse. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. And voting third party or not voting at all is the same as doing nothing.

As much as I am dissappointed in the democrats, I'm voting for them because they keep the Republicans at bay.

The two sides are not simply the same on policy. As Mr. Pitt notes:

"'Both parties are the same! In too many instances, the sentiment is all too accurate. Quite often, however, that complaint is a shortcut around actual thinking, and this situation makes that self-evident."

Just look at actual votes in Congress. Look how the Republicans have opposed health care reform, opposed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, opposed financial reform, opposed the extension of unemployment benefits, opposed . . . well, everything decent!

Sometimes "progressives" sound paralyzed and utterly unprepared to face the forces arrayed against them. Sometimes they seem as simplistic in their "thinking" as their Ayn Rand-inspired enemies on the other side. "Capitalism is all evil!" "Capitalism is all good!" Both are mindless slogans.

With health care reform, let's not lose sight of the fact that it was Joe Lieberman who killed the public option, not Obama. Obama can't make it happen without the votes, and they weren't there. Let's also not lose sight of the fact that the bill, though flawed, does make tremendous improvements in terms of the number of Americans covered and in terms of curbing insurance abuses. It's not just a "gift" to the insurance industry, even if the industry was, of course, involved in crafting it. That's the way the system works--lobbyists and all. Don't expect a miracle. Get real.

Progressives have to work within the Democratic Party to pull it and the rest of the country further to the Left. There's no other realistic option out there in this system. You can throw away your votes on a third party that hasn't a snowball's chance in hell--but all that does in the end is help the Elephant.

Another braindead comment, Ivy. Nothing wrong with voting?! Stop being an ostrich, and pull your head out of the sand. The elections are all stolen now, particularly every single one since 2000, including the midterm (s)elections. But even if they weren't, every single candidate you vote for who continues, or would continue, the completely illegal, mass-murderous wars, the fraudulent "War (OF!) Terrorism", the dismantling and eradication of our Bill of Rights through such unconstitutional "laws" as the "U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act", and the destroying of the U.S. republic and its sovereignty, etc., makes you complicit in all of it and more.

Why can't people not understand and/or recognize complicity, and realize that if they are to be true citizens of the U.S. and the world, they can't be complicit in ANY of this evil whatsoever? By some "magical", "phantasmagorical" thinking, they convince themselves that somehow they're supposedly not complicit by voting for those who commit evil, and that somehow they are allegedly absolved of all complicity because they supposedly did the right thing by voting, even if they vote for the lesser of two or more evils who is, and/or are, still evil. Dear God, most people are insane! Please don't be complicit in ANY of the madness, people!

No, Anonymous on 7/15 at 20:38, your "out" is too easy, too lazy and too useless. If Obama had not been elected in 2008, there would have been no alternative to the already brain-dead John McCain. Think about how much worse Palin is than even Quail, hm? If we don't maintain a Democratic presidency in 2012, we will revert to someone like McCain that the GOP thinks they can handle (where were you 2001 to 2009?). We will start a third war with Iran; we will all start having to show our "papers" - especially if we registered Democrat - and the drilling and blowouts will continue until nothing at all lives in any ocean anywhere on the planet. Is that really what you want? Your Good Guy won't win this time. Once the Electoral College is abolished he (or she) will have a chance. Not before.