I never thought I’d need a rules page for a blog.  People friggin’ amaze me:  linky.

I’m sure by now everyone has noticed the increasing amount of Clinton supporters saying they won’t support Barack Obama in the general election. By comparison, Obama supporters have been considerably more pragmatic in stating that they would vote for Clinton if she gets the nomination, even before the contest was over.

The punditry has dedicated a moderate amount of attention to this but both hosts and guests alike have written it off as a byproduct of passion that comes with close contests such as these. They’ve also been dismissive of the backlash by claiming that only the most die hard supporters are stoking the fires, but they too will come around by the fall.

I disagree. I think the problem is simpler than it looks, and some people are beyond reach for simple reasons.

Here we have people like Geraldine Ferraro being given air time as she actively campaigns against the Democratic Party. She says it’s because Barack Obama is a sexist. Mind you, she hasn’t been able to cite a single example of sexism on behalf of him or his campaign, even though we could cite several examples of overt racism on her behalf. She’s played the victim in both instances.

Then there’s the “Not so fast” crowd from the WomenCount PAC promising to “stand united in [their] unwavering support for Hillary Clinton,” claiming that “Hillary’s voice is OUR voice, and she’s speaking for all of us.”

Time out: who do you mean by “us?” She’s not speaking for me, that’s for damn sure, so who? “We know that when women vote, Democrats win. Now it is the responsibility of our party to hear our voices and count all of our votes. We want Hillary to stay in this race until every vote is cast, every vote is counted, and we know that our voices are heard.”

I can’t be the only one who sees a problem here. On one hand her supporters are saying that the reason her campaign failed is because of sexism on behalf of the media and the Obama campaign. On the other, they’re identifying themselves as women voting on gender lines. You can’t have it both ways–sexism is a two-way street. Using sexism to fight sexism is self-defeating. The claims of sexism completely fall apart as a result–this is opportunism.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Clinton supporters–men and women alike–saying that they will vote McCain or not at all has a ringing familiarity to it. When this switching-sides garbage started, the Clinton camp reminded me of children throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the grocery store after being told “no.” But this has escalated beyond irrationality and soared into the stratosphere of selfishness.

Now whenever I see a child throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the grocery store, I’m going to think of Clinton supporters.

It’s about time for the children to get out of the pool. They’re getting way more attention than they deserve. Even after running the most ruthless, dirty, race-baiting, fear-mongering, lie-filled campaign I’ve ever heard of outside a general election, Clinton still lost despite the name recognition and crushing domination in all the polls from day one.

It is unavoidable that certain elements of her base supporters will call themselves disenfranchised, but I’ve got a better name for it: sore losers. The real problem is vanity.