You don't think I know "<em>crazy</em>"? I know "<em>crazy</em>" my friend! When you have a father like mine who's main passion in life, besides fixing automobiles and the three decades he honorably spent in the Navy - was to engage in the most viscous 18 year campaign full of "<em>You Ain't ever going to be shit!</em>" diatribes and other garden variety self-esteem killing tactics. When you have a grandmother who desensitized her own children to violence so much, that when my uncle waxes poetic about getting hit on the side of his head with a vase he does so with a glassy eyed affection usually reserved for Prom recollections - not only that, how many people can say that their grandmother was once incarcerated for stabbing a guy? The Kennedy's have politics, my family has dysfunction - and despite the lunacy that I've already exposed you to, my family still considers me to be the undisputed belt holder of the "<em>crazy</em>" title, and believe me that's saying a lot. Based on an extensive history of questionable behavior ranging from me punching one of those black "<em>hustle-man</em>" preachers in the throat for telling his congregation to vote for Bush solely on the issue of abortion, pulling a pharmacist over his counter and throwing him one hell of a beating after he made some sexually suggestive comments to my mother, and that time I rolled a handicapped man into traffic simply because he refused to admit that Rakim was the greatest rapper of all time - if being crazy was a contact sport akin to boxing, lets just say that I'm on  a clear path of retiring undefeated. Forget about the physical stuff for a minute, I'm a sexaholic germaphobe for Christ sakes - even the most innocent sexual encounters where the necessary protection is used, more times than not I find myself having months of extensive blood work done - me clutching rosary beads, praying to the almighty that I didn't just have sex with the human embodiment of the outbreak monkey. Relationship wise, I'm a man with criminally low amounts of self esteem who goes after women far above my respective pay grade - the ever flowing motif of those unions not recognized by the church or my mother, consist of me regularly telling the woman in question: "<em>Jesus woman, you could do so much better!</em>" Like I said before, I know "<em>crazy</em>".

That's why I can't seem to wrap my head around the commonly regurgitated meme over the past months that Obama supporters are all "<em>crazy</em>", characterizing us as "<em>cult-like</em>' - proverbial <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones">Jim Jones</a> kool-aid drinkers, political <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koresh">branch davidians</a>, waiting for some spaceship to snatch us all up as we wear our <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven's_Gate_(cult)">black and white Nike's</a> while attending an Obama speech. Like I told an overzealous Hillary supporter over the weekend, "<strong>For god's sake, Stop trying to 'David Koresh' me!</strong>" This tactic used by Hillary Clinton supporters bewildered with the fact that their candidate can't seem to produce the same sort of enthusiasm and excitement, or members of the media who are too lazy to do their fucking jobs in finding out why people support Obama so passionately - is the equivalent of a kid who tries out for his High School hoops team, fails miserably, then suddenly declares that "<em>Basketball is Stupid!</em>". It seems to be the exact same sort of disingenuous petulance here, minus the acne and nocturnal emissions. Sure, the fainting is a bit much, but then again, I wouldn't think less of a fellow fan if he/she decided to paint themselves Navy Blue and Orange while attending a Chicago Bears game - at the end of the day, regardless how we express our respective passion, we both want to see our team win. But a cult? I see people's exuberance for the junior senator from Illinois as something completely different..

As we find ourselves at the tail end of an administration that gleefully urinates on the constitution and uses Habeus Corpus as simple toiletry, attempting to make torture and illegally tapping your phone acceptable practices. A president who's scandals outweigh his achievements, a Iraq war that should have never been waged - costing us too many lives and too many permanently wounded heroes, the outing of a C.I.A agent solely because her husband was one of the war's first vocal opponents, No Child Left Behind, Katrina, Black sites, Halliburton, Blackwater, Abu Graibe, etc. It seems like a 20 years ago now, but it wasn't too long when intellectually dishonest people were calling fried potatoes "<em>freedom fries</em>", steamrolling Dixie Chicks CD's, calling you un-american for opposing this misguided war - I even remember a website dedicated to outing anti-war actors, asking people to boycott their movies from that point forward just because they gave a simple opinion. Because of all that obscene fuckery, all of us rational people were just left exhausted man, but before the political landscape drew us into a politically inactive coma - here comes a guy who seems to be the antithesis of everything that has gone horribly wrong over the past 7 years. Whenever I see Obama supporters cheering, chanting, famous musicians dedicating songs to the man - they are the furthest thing I would characterize as "<em>cult-like</em>", they have just found the presidential candidate who enables them to publicly exercise the demons of an utterly incompetent president that has wreaked habits on our collective souls. Acting as political exhibitionists as they shower off the proverbial stink that is George W. Bush amongst thousands of fellow Obama supporters.

Matter of fact, I'd respectfully contend that you'd see more instability in your garden variety Hillary Clinton supporter. I mean, miraculously wanting the Florida and Michigan delegates to count after your candidate primarily agreed that they would be inconsequential is a bit nutty. Isn't it? What level of madness causes a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/opinion/11krugman.html?_r=3&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">well respected economist and author</a> to carelessly gamble with his credibility in the name of Hillary shilldom? How demented do you have to be, knowing that the delegate math is damn near insurmountable - to rely on the super-delegates to come to the rescue in the final hours, thus severely fracturing the Democratic party? I'm not saying that Rosanne Bar has ever been a shining example of mental health, but what possess a person, who was once a household name - to let her rabid support of Hillary <a href="http://www.roseanneworld.com/blog/">turn her blog</a> into a prime example of what slipping into madness feels like? How unbalanced do you have to be to suggest that Obama simply saying that Hillary was "<em>feeling down</em>" was a f<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karen-stabiner/the-change-candidate-need_b_87104.html">rontal assault to femisim</a>? Only a complete whacho would even hint that its somehow Obama's responsibility to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathleen-reardon/silence-is-assent-what-_b_86827.html">apologize for the media's sexism</a>. I have to really question if padded rooms and glass licking is in your near future, if you applaud Hillary using the fear card to scare up votes - your sanity must also be questioned if you co-sign Mrs. Clinton's habit of suggesting that John McCain would be a better president than Barack Obama.

For more hysterically extreme verbal examples of someone smearing their own fecal matter against the wall - one must not go any further than the blogs of Taylor Marsh and Larry Johnson. Marsh, a woman who I characterize as the Yolanda Saldívar of Hillary Clinton supporters - spends most of her time pushing Rezko non-stories, feigning outrage over Michele Obama's supposed <a href="http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=27044">lack of patriotism</a>, proping up that nonsensical Sean Wilentz "<a href="http://taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=27107">Obama is playing the Race Card" article</a> that my people over at halfricanrevolution mercilessly <a href="http://halfricanrevolution.blogspot.com/2008/02/im-all-out-of-violins.html">took out to the woodshed</a> for its proper discipline - and other classless smears that would make the Swiftboat vets collectively want to take a shower after reading her site. Forget about the fact that she once <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/taylor-marsh/obama-electric-in-las-ve_b_50390.html">sang Obama's praises</a>, but after dedicating all of her energy to smearing the guy and trying to prove how unfit for office Obama is - in <a href="http://taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=27161">this post</a> she almost sounded giddy when contemplating the possibility of him being Clinton's vice president. Seriously Taylor, Fuck you.  Johnson's blog is of a similar vein, clumsy character assasinations that read more like a gossip column than the words coming from a guy who actually served in the C.IA. - this guy's low point, and there are many, is when he became the only person on the face of the earth who <a href="http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/01/13/why-not-johnson-for-president/#comments">applauded Robert Johnson's</a>(<em>BET</em>) ill-advised remarks about Obama.
A funny sidenote about both Taylor Marsh and Larry Johnson's blogs, I've noticed that when they provide music clips - more times than not the <a href="http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=27076">artist</a> <a href="http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2007/12/29/johnny-guitar-watson/">is</a> <a href="http://taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=27236">African</a> <a href="http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/01/19/bigger-than-life-chicago-blues-great-otis-rush/">American</a>. (<em>You can't make this shit up</em>) I don't know, It just makes me think that deep down they are fully aware of the steaming piles of excrement they've become with their gleeful embrace of the "<em>smear merchant</em>", and this is just their way of making everything right with the world. Nice try.

I don't know, call me crazy - but I think that Obama supporters are the sane ones here.