Drinking Kool-Aid

There's a popular saying in politics that people who sign on behind a political canidate and fervently support that candidate no matter what "drink the kool-aid" in support of them. The reference is of course to the followers of Jim Jones, a self-styled "messiah" from San Francisco who took hundreds of his followers to Africa where they isolated themselves in a village. His followers supported him so much that when he "foresaw" that "evil" forces were coming to threaten his "paradise" he was able to convince nearly everyone present to drink from vats of Kool-Aid containing lethal doses of poison. Nearly all did so, without physical coercion. The results was a mass suicide of nearly 2000 people. So the reference to "drinking the kool-aid" is one of unconditional and unquestionable support.

When I joined the Kerry campaign in the spring of '04 I doubtfully could have been called a kool-aid drinker. By the end, I might have sipped.

Younger Generation of progressives needs to stop worrying about being able to drink kool-aid for a candidate and start realizing that they're never going to find a perfect candidate who they like everything about. It's not supposed to be that way. Think about it, have you ever met an individual whom you got to know well with whom you've completely agreed with on every issue?
For that matter, have you ever even liked everything about someone you know well? Politicians go threw such a process of scrutinizing during the course of a campaign that we learn nearly everything about them, including their faults and positions we don't agree on.

Progressives need to be able to put politicians on a spectrum and say. This is the guy I agree with most, and then go out and support the hell out him. There is nothing better that we can do for our country and the world than to help elect smart honest politicians. Nothing. Democrats are infamous about being issue specific, but how can you ever get positive treatment of your issues if we don't have people in office to listen to us. Kool-aid anyone?