Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

Let me just start by saying that I have absolutely no stake whatsoever in the District 52 State House race. It's on the complete opposite end of town from where I live and I'm represented by a VERY entrenched Republican. I wish that I could be voting for either Mike Stewart or Eric Stansell, but I cannot.

All that being said, I have one request. Can we PLEASE put an end to this argument over who gets to call themselves a "real" Democrat? It's helping no one.

It started with Matt Pulle and Jeff Woods of the Nashville Scene thinking that someone died and made them in charge of the Democratic Party, getting to determine from on high who is and who is not a real Democrat (a topic that they have tried, and failed miserably, to break away from). The insinuation was that because Mike Stewart had represented Republican interests as a lawyer, he could not be a true Democrat (a point I take great umbrage at, and after all, unless you're a senior partner in a law firm you don't get to pick the cases you take on).

But now, the Stewart campaign is hitting back with an equally ridiculous talking point--that Eric Stansell can't be a true Democrat because he voted for Bush the Elder in 1992.

To that I answer--so fucking what?

A lot of people do stupid stuff when they're 19 (not that I would necessarily know from experience), but they change and mature. I personally know plenty of people, members of my own family included, who voted for a Republican once or twice in the 1990s but have since become fully committed Democrats. Whether Stansell voted for Bush out of a "youthful rebellion" or because he really preferred Bush is irrelevant.

To the Stewart campaign, I would say that sinking to the Scene's level on this matter only proves them right. They want Mike Stewart to act like a condescending jerk, it fits right into their little characterization.