Echoes of 1968?

As many of you know, Ken and I grew up together in Brooklyn. Schumer went to our high school, James Madison and Norm Coleman was co-secretary of our class at PS 197 with me. But Ken and I had a third musketeer as well, Dan, who I first got to know because he was the sergeant of the corner where I was a crossing guard. Today Dan is a successful producer and director. He's never written for DWT but was moved, perhaps after seeing reports like this one, to action last night:

As some waver in their support of Obama and consider throwing their vote to McCain as a sort of "protest" of Hillary's not winning or not being considered for the VP nom, consider this...history has a tendency to repeat itself. How many of you waverers out there remember 1968, when similarly outraged purists stayed home and didn't vote for Hubert Humphrey essentially because he was Johnson's Vice President?  Well, those waverers out to make a point helped elect Richard Nixon!  They might as well have voted for him!  And let's not forget all the dedicated Naderites who, on principle, denied Gore Florida. (That really paid off, didn't it?)
 
Remember, this is about a lot more than gender politics. How many folks will a President McCain appoint to the Supreme Court...for life.  How many more years will we be in Iraq?  There is a millimeter of distance between Hilary's views and Obama's. I would have gladly voted for either one becasuse of what they represent, not who they are. We are too tied to personality cults here as opposed to policy. If this were a parliamentary democracy along the lines of the British model (which it never will be) the temdency would be to vote for party, not personality (or gender). I'm as worried about those who will sit this one out as I am about those who, as a protest, will actually vote for McCain. My plea is simple.   Don't do it.  Please.

-Dan Chaykin