Write-in Votes for Hillary?

More on Hillary loyalists (which term is a bit misleading, because a loyalist would honor his or her leader's requests and back his or her leader's candidate, but that seems beside the point to a small handful of Dems). From the NYT:

Lynn Hackney and Kim Hoover might perfectly illustrate the emotions of those whom Ms. Palin counts as “not finished yet.” They had gathered 20 equally passionate Hillary supporters at their home in Washington on Tuesday to watch Mrs. Clinton’s speech. “The Kleenex was flowing,” said Ms. Hackney, who declared the speech “brilliant.”

Thursday, when 38 million Americans watched Mr. Obama’s speech, they watched a movie, “The Squid and the Whale.”

No matter what Mrs. Clinton urged, they cannot support Mr. Obama.

“To go against Hillary is not easy for us,” Ms. Hackney said. “We don’t take that lightly. We just don’t think he has a message. We don’t think he’s good for women.”

"We just don't think he has a message"?! Is she kidding? Has she listened to a word he's said? I think no. Or else she would understand that Obama's message is that common purpose unites us, common concerns connect us, common decency passed from citizen to citizen ("I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper") results in uncommon community achievment, and that with those common threads between us America becomes a richer, stronger, healthier nation. And, oh yeah, George Bush's Washington isn't working for America.

And I suspect she didn't really listen with open ears to Clinton's speech, either, because Clinton once again made the case for Obama--and even to those who could not hear praise for Obama, Clinton most certainly made the case against McCain. If these voters think they're doing Hillary a favor by writing her name in on the ballot this fall, then they are extremely disillusioned. Hillary Clinton stands to be a much more effective senator under a President Obama than President McCain. Her opportunities to do good work in the world--in any capacity--increase under a President Obama and dramatically decrease under a President McCain. Her chance at effectively improving health care access for all Americans is, to be sure, only even possible under a President Obama, and not even remotely likely under a President McCain.

And those 18 million cracks? Do Hillary's most hardened supporters think that Hillary Clinton and Democratic women nationwide worked this hard so that a woman could slip through the glass ceiling only to overturn Roe v. Wade, amend the Constitution to restrict the freedoms of American citizens, promote creationism in public schools, de-list polar bears from the Endangered Species Act, ignore modern realities regarding the need for gun control, drill her way to cozy relations with big oil at the cost of energy independence, and (based on the look of things in her "Troopergate" investigation) abuse her power for personal gain?

“It’s not about being bitter for Hillary,” [Ms. Hackney] said. Still, “I think the Democratic Party took women for granted in the primary, they didn’t step on sexism when they should have, and I can’t support them.”

Her phone, she said, began “burning up” when Mr. McCain announced Ms. Palin as his choice. “The fact that he went out on a limb to pick a woman, I’m very impressed by that.” She says she is not sure she can vote for a Republican, and will most likely stick to her plan to write in Mrs. Clinton. But, she said, “It’s opened my eyes to at least pay attention.”

Ms. Hackney and Ms. Hoover: A write-in for Hillary is a vote for McCain, plain and simple. Ask yourselves this: Do you really believe you'll be better served by an anti-choice, anti-equity, anti-progress, anti-peace, pro-establishment Republican of the most bitter, most entrenched, and most cynical stripe?