It's solpsistically true that it's the media describing Hillary supporters as self-destructively bitter. But the tapestry of the story is broader than unsupported assertions--the media trots out polling in which something like half of the Hillary supporters say that they'll either vote for McCain or sit this one out.

Now that I think about, it's likely that the polls rely on self-identification as a Hillary supporter, and two concerns come to mind. One is a deliberate attempt by Republicans to inject division into the Democratic ranks; that is, it could be that Republicans are falsely claiming to be Hillary supporters. Before you dismiss that as sheer paranoia, remember that Republican demagogues like Limbaugh urged Republicans in states with open primaries to cross over and vote maliciously in Democratic races. There's precedent for that kind of dirty trick.

Another possibility is that the self-identification is honest, but the opinion isn't--they're just trying to spite Obama by denying him the reassurance of knowing that their bloc will support him. Ever been hung out to dry and left to twist slowly in the wind by a woman scorned? It's like that.

At the end of the day, I'd like to believe your incredulous second post, and disbelieve that anybody could be so perversely partisan as to throw an election to the opposition just out of selfish pique. But letdown by letdown, I'm slowly realizing that my pollyanish optimism must be tempered by a realistically cynical view of human nature. In point of fact, some people are that blindly selfish. The question in this instance is whether sufficient numbers of Hillary supporters are that selfish as to destroy any chance of getting out from under the malicious governance of Republicans.

If they feel betrayed, an even greater betrayal is not the answer.