In the 70's the owner of Carvel Ice Cream shops in NY, Tom Carvel, produced a series of very local TV commercials for his stores. These ads featured wobbly static shots of their ice cream cakes (a Carvel specialty) on a red background, and the voice over of Tom Carvel himself, introducing each product -- most notably, the ice cream cake known as Cookiepuss.

Of course, this product became the butt of an early Beastie Boys number which featured a crank call to the local Carvel store, a drunk Beastie Boy insisting on talking to "Cookiepuss."

And so, like Tom Carvel of old, Jim Carville hawks his product, a candidate that is not so much human as a caricature of a human wrought in sickly-sweet cookies and frozen cold ice cream -- and one that will literally make you sick if you actually swallow it:

Cookiepuss.

So who was it on that red phone at 3AM? The Beastie Boys, drunk, demanding:

I wanna talk to Cookiepuss!!!

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It takes class not to stoop to personal attacks, especially if they are not based in any fact. He could have easily gotten mad at Carville. But Richardson just laughed it off and let it go. VP candidate anyone?

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The Clinton campaign should get rid of Carville. There is no way this man can help them win over voters. I saw him on a talk show this weekend with an Obama spokesperson. Obama's surrogate was entirely calm and dignified. James was ugly, bitter, belligerant and sullen.

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Many of us in the Democratic camp tolerated a lot of bullshit from Bill Clinton because he was "one of ours". We were dismayed when the party nominated "Slick Willy" back in 1992, in spite of the presence of more presidentially talented candidates such as former California Governor Jerry Brown. But we voted for him because he was the alternative to George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot. And we defended him through his personal failings (Monica) and his policy blunders (NAFTA, media deregulation, managed health care, Welfare II), because the economy was strong and the alternatives offered by the Republicans were intolerably worse.

But enough is really enough. The Clintons need to fold up their tent and go home and they need to do it soon. Mediocre performance in contrast to abhorent alternatives does not qualify you for lifelong devotion from the public or your party. Thanks for your service, now please, bow out gracefully and let the party and the country move on.

Knowing that they are as intractable as the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., I realize that they probably won't do that. They will probably continue to insist that they are and should be adored by a fawning public and a "loyal" party. So, I hope the voters in the great state of Pennsylvania hand them their ass, despite all their dirtiest efforts to derail the Obama campaign. And I hope that they manage to muster some measure of dignity and "party loyalty" themselves after that, and support the candidate that Democrats across America, as well as new voters, have shown that they are already behind.

Bill, Hillary... please leave and let us remember the good things about you and your service. Continuing with a bitter and futile campaign is building resentment and can damage the party and, more importantly, the country.

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