Excuse me? McCain was chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee for how many years? And what exactly did he do during that time to hold the oil companies accountable for unseemly profits — or, more helpfully, come up with a package of incentives to encourage new exploration, recovery of residual reserves from depleted wells or develop alternative energy? Did he do anything to nurture the U.S. strategic reserve? Did he do anything to encourage production of energy-efficient appliances? Did he do anything except go along with the Bush-Cheney line that we should give the oil companies anything/everything they want — and hope for the (trickle-down) best? Puhleeze.

McCain is bravely talking about taking the November fight to the Democrats in California. Uhhhhh, Earth to Keating Man! Gas is ALREADY nearly $4 gallon in San Francisco. Explain that, why don'tcha!

This whole Cunningham kerfuffle is a Karl-Rove-inspired ploy to get the country talking about Senator Obama's middle name. It's as fake as it can be — from Cunningham's original remarks, to McCain's "repudiation" of same, to Cunningham's he-doth-protest-too-much complaint of being thrown under the bus, to his alleged "endorsement" of Senator Clinton.

And, obviously — unfortunately — it's worked. But I appreciate Juan Cole's pushback just the same.

I mean, really, what are my choices?

I can watch Murdoch's goons on Faux (yeah, right) — the unctuous Wolf Blitzer and the misanthropic Lou Dobbs on CNN (sorry, I don't get my news from a guy with an American flag pin in his lapel) — or the 13-year-old boys on MSNBC.

Thank God for the Internet and for that faithful old standby, the newspaper.

You got that right, Hell's Liberal: Obviously now, all five of Annie and Mittie's little boys are free of patriotic (campaign) commitments and thus can march right down to the local recruiting station and sign up for that military duty that they all somehow managed to avoid — and which their dad said he very much regretted missing out on.

I, for one, volunteer to send a care package of playing cards, video games, Boston Red Sox souvenirs, candy, sunscreen, scrap metal (for improvised body armor, since the Bush Administration doesn't see fit to adequately equip our troops), and other essentials to the first one of the Mittboys who ends up serving in Iraq.

I was in Ottawa yesterday and took a tour of the Houses of Parliament. The young man who was our tour guide quickly figured out that my husband and I were American and began peppering us with questions about the Presidential election. He couldn't have cared less about the Republicans — all he wanted to talk about was the Democratic race. He was clearly impressed with both Clinton and Obama and thought the election was incredibly exciting. For the first time in many years in Canada, I was a little bit thrilled to be American again.

So I have a plea: Can we please just stop sniping at one another? The Democratic Party has two extraordinary people running to be its nominee. No matter who gets it, the party is going to make history. Compare that to the clowns on the other side and I'd say we have a lot to be thankful for in these two candidates. In November, let's make one of them President.

Oprah became a traitor back in 2000 — when she invited George W. Bush onto her show and gave him a platform to pretend that he was an acceptable choice for President. I'll never forgive her for her contribution to the subsequent destruction of the Constitution.

Not the election — but, rather obviously, the war for the respect (or even the tolerance) of the press. First you slam her for being an automaton, and now you slam her for being a human being. It all makes me sick.

Years ago, President and Mrs. Clinton came to an event in Miami, and I went to see them. When Hillary got to my place on the rope line and we shook hands, I told her the most meaningful thing I could think of: "Thank you for your public service." I said it because the Republicans — and the media — had been gunning for the Clintons since Day One, and I wanted her to know I appreciated all the crap that they put up with in order to serve the country. Her eyes welled with tears and she thanked me profusely. No, she did not cry.

So — since none of this is new news, can we all stop being so immature about it and move on?

Hillary is not going to fire Bill. Barack is not going to take any further responsibility for his campaign's talking points memos than he already has. It's two-to-two and we're on to Florida on Tuesday (yes, yes, I know about the delegates, but people will still express a preference) — and then Super Duper Tuesday on Feb. 5.

In short, lots of ground to cover yet.

The bottom line is that the Democratic Party is offering the country three incredibly talented Presidential candidates — versus that pack of clowns that's running on the Republican side. In addition to that happy fact, we have a woman and an African-American, each of whom, for the first time in all of American history, actually have a chance of becoming President. That — coupled with the fact that one of those candidates is married to a former President — means that we're breaking a lot of new ground here.

There is no precedent for any of this and I think we should all just shut off our TVs and research the issues and vote according to what's best for our poor, Bushified country. It's been a long seven years. We have a lot of damage to repair and the whole world is watching us.

And P.S., I've already voted in the Florida Democratic primary, and I'm not telling!