I did not listen to the Romney speech for two reasons. One, I can't stand to listen to the Republican agenda. I don't want to hear their debates, their "ideas" for the country or their worship of George Bush. It makes my stomach turn. Two, the claims of Mormonism by Mormons ring hollow, and don't think for one moment that they don't have an agenda for this country. It's the same one they have when they send their little pasty-looking "missionaries" to your door. To overthrow democracy and institute theocracy. They have a snowball's chance in hell of succeeding, but like Bush in his heyday, they're going to give it one hell of a try, and any more such attempts would be disastrous for the nation. Romney is only less contemptible than Rudy Giuliani. Slightly less. No wonder the GOP base is in dismay. Don't be fooled by the pearly whites. This nakedly amoral opportunist has nothing more to bring to the table than more radicalism. It's like the bombing of Iraq. Since the bombing didn't work, the Right's solution is "Let's bomb them some more."

Danger: GOP Brain trust at work.

I note that the People's list also made mention of Damon's partner-in-crime, Ben Affleck who looks slimmer, more toned, and seems more settled than I've seen him in years. Marriage and family seem to very much agree with him. But marriage to Jennifer Garner would agree with just about any man! Yet he fails to make your list. Por Que?

Seriously though, living in MA, you have to love these guys. They never let you forget where they come from and, in Matt's case in particular, they never seem to stop being in awe of what they get to do for a living. It's so refreshing to see Ben Affleck so grounded again after that horrible misadventure with that other Jenny from the Block. He looked really sharp in "Hollywoodland" and reminded us that he's much smarter than his past film roles. The shift to directing seemed natural and fitting. I wasn't surprised at all by the reviews, all of which say that his sure-handedness behind the camera served "Gone Baby Gone" as well as the performances. Matt continues to be this regular guy who knows his craft and takes it seriously. If you thought his quote at being named Sexiest Man Alive by People was something, you should have read his interview in GQ this past summer. Smart guy. Hell of a nice guy, too.

This is good stuff. Good on the Salon staff for such thoughtful choices. But, if I may point one other obvious mistake, why is Ed Harris not on your list? How can you not notice how he keeps turning up in these great movies, including the aforementioned Affleck debut? Or did you think his turn as director/star in "Pollock" was all he had in him? If you do this list again, you must correct this criminal oversight post haste. I can almost forgive the Ben Affleck snub. His come-to-Jesus has been rather recent. But to pass on Ed Harris almost warrants congressional review.

I've been calling the GOP the HOP, the Hysterical Old Party because they seem to be the party that best represents the over-reactive and hysterical adolescent strain in our national psyche. The part of us that imagines that there was a simpler, easier time in America and the world was black and white and we had more of a defined sense of "good and evil". Except the truth is that the American Experiment was never quite so simple nor its course so clearly traveled. One thing that remains a constant however is the ability and willingness to ask the really hard questions of ourselves. We do it not willingly, by any means, but we do it. That's what's saved us in the past. The Party of Intolerance and Militant Religiosity is having its own day of reckoning right now. They have Bush to thank for that, and if I had to call it, I'd say the future of the Republican Party, the Religious Right and this nasty, pugnacious, and ugly strain of Id Conservatism is obscurity and the hangover that follows a really bad night of excess. That should effectively leave people like Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O'Reilly unemployed and Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham with a pile of books that they can't even sell on eBay, and that's fine with me. The problems we face now are going to be solved by clear-minded, rational adults. Not 2 year-olds who think the world should revolve around them and fixate on the latest toys they have and not teen-agers who divide into cliques and shut out everyone who isn't like the "in crowd". Time for the grown-ups to take charge and clean up the mess. We're going to be busy for a while.