I don't understand this.

Friday morning, when I probably should have been milling around among my students making sure they were on track with the work they were doing on their projects, I was at my desk reading diary after joyful, inspiring diary on this site.  

In my defense, I knew I was going to be leaving town for a retreat right after school, wouldn't have access to computer or MSM over the weekend, and would be gone until late Sunday night, so I needed to stock up on current events to carry me through the weekend.  (Besides, my students could and did come talk with me at my desk if they needed help.)

The news was so good:  Poll numbers improving, 50-state registration drive, 20+ supers set to drip endorsements in from now till May 6 -- arguably even Obama's scheduled appearance on Fox was good, because it meant he was looking toward the GE, and pretty much viewing Clinton as his Huckabee.  But now I'm back home, and it's ugly.

While I was off in the mountains renewing my soul, apparently the world went to hell in a handbasket.

What the hell is wrong with the people in this country?  I truly, sincerely don't get how anyone who is not certifiably insane can believe that it is a reasonable use of limited media airwaves to continue adding to the literally billions of words that have been used to try to bring down a giant of a man by using guilt by association to paint him as a wild-eyed angry racist.

This morning before work, in an attempt to catch up on what I had missed, I turned on Morning Joe (with the mute button on), thinking I'd turn the sound on if it looked like there was anything I wanted to hear.  I noticed that Joe was gone and Mika was running the show, so I took a chance.

I couldn't believe what my horrified ears were feeding me.  Apparently Joe was NOT actually gone; he was just hiding inside Mika's body.  She spent almost the entire time channeling every bullshit thing he has spent the past two months spewing about Obama and Wright.

The part that really pissed me off was her response to Axelrod.  He said, in what I considered an extraordinarily rational way, that there are huge issues to be explored; why are you spending all of your time on this one stupid issue that Obama has already addressed ad nauseum?  (He didn't actually say stupid, of course, but that's clearly what he was thinking.)

Her response was to invite Obama to call in to the show after Wright's speech to "explain" his views on Wright.  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!

I am basically a nice person.  But for as long as I can remember, I have had one particularly glaring flaw.  I lose all semblance of tolerance when people behave this irrationally.  I am literally begging for your help.  Please help me keep my head from exploding, by explaining to me what the thought process is behind this nationalized idiocy that we are experiencing.  How can people not SEE the incredible opportunity that we as a nation have?  How can they continue on this one-track -- one-TINY-track -- obsession, when we are confronting disasters on every side that need our attention?  Why does the dramatic trump the real?

I don't just mean the MSM.  Although they are the most powerful and effective purveyors of the lunacy, they are far from the only ones.  A glance at any general blogsite or newspaper letters-to-the-editor forum shows the same kind of obsession with meaningless crap.  And I hardly need to point out how fixated Obama's opponents are on pounding this stuff into the ground and beating the rotting remains of a horse's carcass.

I had a brief discussion with a Hillary supporter over the weekend. The context that we were in made it inappropriate to engage in any impassioned political debate, so I just listened with interest to what she said.  It was fascinating.  She volunteered the information that she spends a lot of time yelling at the TV.  "Rise above it, Hillary! You're better than this!  We don't need to be focusing on this stuff!"  I thought it was ironic and, again, completely baffling. She sees what Clinton is doing, she hates it as much as I do -- well, OK, probably not as much as I do, but enough to share my pastime of yelling at a TV screen.  She thinks Obama would be a good President.  But yet she continues to support the candidate who is doing everything in her power to make that stuff the focus of the public's attention.

Please. Help me achieve the peace of mind that comes with understanding, the peace of mind that has been eluding me lo! these many weeks.  I don't know how much longer I can take this.