Glenn, you point out a truism about McCain...he is obsessed about righting the wrongs he perceives occurred in Vietnam...as one Vietnam vet wrote elsewhere here:

John McCain is NOT the only American who ever went to Vietnam! AND! Those other Vietnam survivors, if they trust you, will tell you that the Vietnam War was a gigantic mistake and blunder, from the beginning of our American involvement right through to the pitiful helicopter leaving our Vietnam embassy roof.

McCain believes victory is America's goal in Iraq, despite a clear sign it will not be forthcoming. He has bet the farm on a failed, far right policy advocated by the man he chose to embrace literally and figuratively, Dubyah, a man supremely unpopular and one who may very well send him off with his tail between his legs in defeat in November if he keeps up his war mongering.

We saw how not connecting with average voters sinks candidates...remember Bush Pere at the check out counter when he hadn't a clue what a scanner was? If Obama can't figure out what low budget Pennsylvania ales there are, or bowl anything better than a series of gutter balls, he is never going to connect with blue collar voters...they are deeply suspect of egg heads, of which Obama clearly is. It may impress the latte swillers at Starbucks and the Ipod toting kids at Ivy League schools, but beyond those hyperliberal bastions, his intellectual credentials are liabilities, not assets.

Freedy wrote:

John McCain is NOT the only American who ever went to Vietnam! AND! Those other Vietnam survivors, if they trust you, will tell you that the Vietnam War was a gigantic mistake and blunder, from the beginning of our American involvement right through to the pitiful helicopter leaving our Vietnam embassy roof.

Right you are...McCain came to the same conclusion as his misguided chicken hawk pal he so loves to hug, Dumbyah. His tragic support for a continued presence in Iraq in order for America to save face is one of the strongest reasons why he needs to be soundly trounced in November.

It seems clear that McCain has taken away a very different concept about war than so many who returned from Viet Nam, bitter, angry, and frustrated at a failed strategy that sacrificed so much for so little. Many soldiers in Iraq feel the same way, that the blood of so many has been spilled for a war that was clearly engaged in under false and misleading pretenses. For McCain to pin his hopes on an "in it to win it" strategy is a sure-fire way to send his chances of winning the White House to certain doom.

How prophetic those Iraqis were about the horrors to beset their country in the five years to come; in fact, it has turned out many times worse than they imagined...it was good to hear similarly unscripted voices blow Rose's hopes for an affirmation of the surge out of the water today.

I guess it looks less seamy than Barack and Hillary trading same insults mano a mano (LOL!)How that could possibly be, is a puzzlement...yet I fail to understand the sturm and drang over Ferraro's comment (she was stating a truism that was just not PC, and has nothing to do with how people of her generation view race--that was used as a means to dismiss her comment with a healthy dose of ageist claptrap)or James Carvilles' equally correct assessment of Bill Richardson's Benedict Arnold routine. I do agree with Shapiro's assessment that the media have gone hog wild for inconsequential back and forth squabbling when there are substantive issues such as the economy or Iraq to debate--and no, that doesn't mean claiming because one opposed the war earlier than your opponent, that somehow gives you some moral high ground. We need to focus on the here and now, and not try to score idiotic PC cred by trying to have pissing matches over one's stand on the Iraq war.

You bob and weave in your arguments for/against either candidates' chances of winning the nomination...it's nice to see you wish to be so ecumenical, but such largesse is entirely unnecessary. It has become clear that a media, always deadset against Hillary, has decided to let silly, ridiculous stories about Bosnia become the gotcha story of the day, which, like the ones back when during the Clinton years never amounted to anything, even the Monica mess...on the other hand, the Rev. Wright controversy speaks to the fundamental tenets of what Obama was trying to present himself as, as a man who rejected old school hate mongering. But it is clear he doesn't, choosing instead to engage in a shameless smear of his grandmother, the one who chose not to be a "typical white person" and help raise his sorry ass years back. What has been clear is there is buyer's remorse about Obama, and his claims to nomination are by no means legitimate. Pennsylvania and other states to follow will have a say, and they will be putting a stop to Obama's chances, once and for all.