Because Joe Lieberman is more important and more moderate than Ron Reagan.

I suppose, a bigger question might be why should I care what Ron Reagan says about the Republican Party? I don't care what Katrina van den Heuvel or Amy Goodman think about the Republican Party. Does the left care about what Michael Reagan thinks about the Democrat Party? I expect not.

Well, then, EMERGE already!

Take a stand on some issues! Say what you are for, and what you are against! Do something! Don't just be a professional "respected figure." Powell is as boring as David Gergen. I don't know why anybody should listen to either one of them.

There is a reason why I am a Republican who has respect for John McCain, but not for Powell: McCain makes decisions. He takes sides. He votes, and ultimately says 'yes' or 'no', which is sort of what you have to do, if you are in Congress or the White House. I don't always agree with McCain, but he is a much bigger and better man than Powell. If you are at the State Department, like Powell was, I guess that all you have to do is negotiate, wait for further developments, go to receptions, and make announcements in a serious tone of voice and a stern look on your face.

Has he read about them?

First, I agree that there are two very different questions. One is how to deal with former Gitmo detainees whom the Defense and Justice Departments have determined to release. And the second question is where to house detainees that will remain detained until they are dealt with through miltary tribunals.

For those of us on the right, it is indeed hilarious to compare the Obama Administration's squirming on Gitmo after all of the bluster it emitted during the campaign. But opposing the Administration on Gitmo has not been the subject of any concerted efforts from the right in recent days. All the anguish is coming from the left!

What I have seen is former Michigan Governor and arch-Republican John Engler suggesting that that feds build a new super-max Gitmo substitute in his state's Upper Peninusla. And Republicans in Montana suggesting the same thing for their state.

Look, the Bush Administration talked as earnestly (and more honestly) than Obama did about closing Gitmo. What's the evidence for any alleged scare-talk? I really think that the reason that Congressional Democrats is so freaked out about Gitmo is because they have convinced themsleves that all of the detainees are going to someday walk out of a federal courthouse someday, cast off their handcuffs and shout, "Praise be to Allah!" And that Democrats are going to be on the hook for what happens next. More terrorism, civil suits against the goverment, etc. I don't think that. I hope and expect that most of them are going to be housed, like so much nuclear waste, until their half-lives are over.

What could possibly be next?

I'm declaring this the 3,650th day that we knew that Harry Reid was a complete idiot.

And the first day that we know that he won't be re-elected to the Senate in 2010.

@kataisa

Liberal media agenda: free speech for us, but none for people who disagree with us. Got it.

Nice projection. Have you ever tried going to a right-wing blog and writing something that was against the opinions of the majority? Of course you haven't. But I have. I've been banned from pretty much every main right wing blog, not for writing abusive, hateful comments, but rather fact-laden refutations of the conventional right wing "wisdom."

In other words, comparatively, left wing blogs are indeed bastions of free speech compared to their right wing counterparts. Which is only natural, considering that the right wing viewpoint relies on a restriction of facts in order for it to appear at all valid.

Try this experiment: Feel free to post any opinions you have, completely contrary to the prevailing left wing viewpoint of this site, and see if they get deleted. If you can manage to be a bit respectful and not focus on pure ad hominem, you'll see that free speech is actually alive and well here.

-- paulpsd7

I'm going to like this new feature. As one of the main targets of vulgarity in Salon Letters, I might wear out the "Report" feature.

I can tell my old friend "paulpsd7" that I have none of the ill-conceived fears that he rightly criticized from "kataisa" above.

But I can also tell paulpsd7 that I was banned from FireDogLake in about a nanosecond; not for any abusive posting, and not for any violation of any sensible term of use that I know of. Rather, for challenging the views of the authors in simple terms.

By comparison to FireDogLake, Salon is a bastion of wide-ranging free speech.