... just to calm down his more extreme supporters. Within minutes of Edwards's announcement that he was ending his candidacy -- a model of dignity, class and grace -- I got the first e-mail from my crazy lefty neighbor up the road. Which read in its entirety: "The corporations have won." Is this any kind of fitting end-note to a campaign that succeeded, as Paul Krugman points out in his column today, has completely transformed the Democratic race, and hence the election as a whole? No matter how you feel about Edwards, this isn't the end of the world. Nor is the end of a very important fight. We still have to win the White House. We have to salvage the Supreme Court, the environment, the rule of law, the separation of church and state, and our nation's standing in the world. We've got our little internal squabbles, but we ought to be standing together between now and November, not accusing honorable fellow Democrats of being corporate shills ... and worse. Reading blog posts and user comments at places like Democratic Underground, you get the impression that Edwards supporters are total lunatics. I know this isn't the case -- I was an Edwards supporter from 2004 until some while ago when I got seduced by the excitement surrounding Barack Obama. But let's not go there. The point is, Edwards did NOT quit the race -- as the current most popular thread at DU maintains -- as a result of dark and shadowy forces threatening him and his family with Something Really Bad. He did not give his dropping-out speech "with a gun at his back." He was not "behaving oddly ... not himself ... something in his voice was just wrong..." Look, I've got nothing against paranoiacs, or crazy people in general. Some of my best friends are crazy. A crazy woman raised me. I'm sure you really HAVE had these "strange feelings" before, and they've turned out to be true. I'm sure George Bush saw something really cool in Vladimir Putin's eyes. I'm sure that those people who post in threads titled "Barak HUSSEIN Obama = ANTICRIST" really do sense demonic energy coming off of him whenever she speaks. I'm just a little tired of hearing about it right now. I'm tired of hearing that your guy -- who was a good guy, honest! -- was the ONLY decent and honest candidate in the race, the only one not totally controlled by ... I don't know, whatever vile entity is totally controlling Barack and Hillary, the Corporate Media Illuminati, I guess ... besides maybe Dennis Kucinich, and maybe a couple of other candidates or non-candidates who are safe to support because they (a) are totally unelectable, (b) poll at less than 1 percent, (c) were never in the race to start with, or (d) you've just got a feeling about them -- any or all of which PROVE that they are noble and non-corporate-shill-like and incorruptible and better than MY candidate, who is a total sell-out and a phony, and I'm a gullible fool for supporting him. So please, Mr. Edwards. Do your country one more great service. Endorse ANYBODY who is still in the race. Or just give a speech encouraging your supporters to remain involved in the process and the Democratic Party. Ask them please to stop insulting the two good and smart and honorable people still in contention. And please don't look weird or strange nor robotic or mind-controlled when you make this speech ... because those psychic people at Democratic Underground can tell! And so can the Corporate Media Illuminati, and they'll know you're sending coded signals, and they'll shoot your dog! Thanks.