Question: If the reason you won't vote for a Democratic ticket headed by Senator Obama is out of a commitment to human rights, how will you feel if Senator McCain wins and continues the abysmal Republican record on all things human rights related?

Answer: Just fine, thank you very much. This question is highly speculative at this point. It presupposes that the Democratic Party will end up nominating the weaker candidate for beating Senator McCain. The nominee can and should be Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the candidate who can carry the states needed to put a responsible Democrat in the White House come January. However, the answer to the speculative question remains: just fine, thank you very much. I must be able to look myself in the mirror every day. The one person I must be able to live with is myself. There are only so many compromises I can make before I have compromised myself away. I refuse to surrender my integrity. This means that there are some things I simply will not do, some people with whom I will not associate, some organizations I cannot support. That does not mean I have to support distasteful alternatives. You will not find me voting for Senator McCain this fall. Sometimes, though, one must draw a line in the sand. I will not act punitively (vote for a Republican in whom I do not believe just to punish the D.N.C., for example). But neither will I cringe and be bullied into supporting and voting for a candidate sponsored by a Party - both of whom, candidate and Party - who have put on an amazing display of misogyny, sexism, and contempt not only for Senator Clinton, not only for the men and women who prefer her, and not only for women generally. The D.N.C., the Democratic Party and - sadly - Senator Obama have all, to date, shown contempt for human rights, contempt for voters' rights, and contempt for the values of common decency that must underlie any political organization that I am willing and able to support. If there is no honorable political party to support then it is time for a new political party. My job as citizen will be to channel my efforts toward that goal. Whether it means reclaiming the Democratic Party or creating a meaningful alternative, I am ready, willing, and able to do that. I am not willing to be a patsy for a political party that seems unable to conduct itself prudently let alone honorably.