The crucial difference between the predicament for McCain and for Obama is that there are many, many evangelicals (certainly not all) that share Hagee's views about the world. Whereas only a handful of Obama supporters think Farakahn is on to some higher truth. It's a no brainer for Obama to denounce/reject Farakahn's endorsement. It's not a political issue for him. It is who he is. Admittedly, not having to cater to any hate groups makes the task simpler for Obama.

McCain, in contrast, has to distance himself from Hagee without alienating Hagee's fellow travelers. A delicate dance, but one he is up to given his born-again embrace of Jerry Falwell. Talk about turning the other cheek. Talk about flip-floppers!

Carville wasn't that bad. He could have reamed McCain for his lack of integrity, but what he does is even better if less blunt: he suggests McCain has ceded control of his campaign to liars. If McCain can't control his campaign, how will he control national polcies?

The Illinois Governor too is not all that bad. The question is not Palin's role as governor but the quality of what she does. That remains a secret to be discussed. I could have done without the deprecating suggestion about what legislators do.

Of course, I would like to get McCain to be shown first the pig/lipstsick attack ad, then the Obama remarks that it is "based" on and have him explain how anyone could reach such a conclusion. Ditto for the sex education ad and whatever else total fabrications his campaign is putting out.

I’m a Jew, I am for Obama and think McCain’s choice of Palin signaled his complete bankruptcy as a political leader. I was floored by elderly Jewish voters who rejected Obama because they feared he was a Muslim and found his color worrisome.

However, your piece on how Jewish voters in Florida are turning to Obama and dumping McCain because of Palin either misses the mark for why Jews are abandoning McCain or the AKs of South Florida are missing the problem. For example, you end with the idea that the remark about “Israelites” from an African preacher in Palin’s church suggested that he said Jews controlled the U.S. economy is just false.

Instead, he made a lame comparison between how “Israelites” do business with other “Israelites”, and argued Christians need to do the same thing. Maybe he was invoking our famous “cliquishness” and recommending Christians follow suit. But he hardly said Jews controlled the economy.

But you are right, Jews should be suspicious of Palin’s love for Israel, which is part of her end-of-days orientation. We, the stiff-necked Jews who historically have resisted conversion, in the end-times will either convert or go to hell. Israel will be the arena for that last great confrontation between the Anti-Christ and Christ. Jews are just props in this drama. We are no more loved by the Palins of this world than the sacrificial lamb is loved by his executioner. Jews should pay more attention to Palin’s comfort factor when listening to Jews for Jesus exhortations. I think that gets closer to her respect for Jews. The most we can expect is the same “tolerance” she has for gays. And her tolerance will go only so far.

For somebody in the word business, you seem to have missed what the journalist accomplished. Forget about the shoes, which were only a personal insult.

To Bush's face he invoked the deaths and despair the What-Me-Worry President brought to Iraq. Unfortunately, like everything else about Iraq for Bush, the shoes and probably the words as well, sailed over Bush's head.

Between LaGuardia, where the flight originated, and the Hudson, where it ended up, sits a huge population. How lucky that the pilot was able to maintain altitude long enough to clear Manhattan or whichever borough it crossed.

It was a great game to watch. Yes, the refs were absurd, but I do wonder if Harrison, though his mugging of that Cardinal on the punt resulted only in an 8 inch penalty, cost himself the MVP by getting caught and getting caught on tape. Holmes was certainly crucial on getting the Steelers close enough to be the receiver on that fade route, which was a thing of beauty, but Harrison was a consistent force throughout the game, and his 100-yard return is a monumental feat. Without the thuggery he would have won MVP.

Joan: In fact, the Republicans provided a model for the Democrat’s strategy toward Limbaugh. Michael Moore became the poster boy for whatever evil the Republicans wanted to attribute to the entire Democratic party. Also, it’s not “qui bono,” it’s “cui bono.”

Though the topic is whether there is any link between right wing rhetoric and the killings in Wichita, Pittsburgh and Washington, it's fair to say that each of the killers was, if not insane, at least so far out of touch with reality to be dismissed as an aberration.

However, right wing rhetoric has always been divisive, occasionally apocalpytic, and now is creating a hostile environment for rational political debate. What are we to make of John Boehner inserting in his latest tirade on the Obama healthcare reforms that it is part of a"police state?" What do you make of Tom Tancredo or Newt trying to turn Sotomayor into a racist? What is it with trying to label Obama a "socialist" and what that didn't resonate with America a "fascist?" Was that the theme Boehner was trying to shoe horn into his healthcare comments? What was it with Frank Gaffney, a prominent Republican, who could ask last week in the Washington Times whether Obama "may actually still be a [Muslim] himself?" Have Boehner et al just lost their moorings, or do they think Americans are dumb enough to believe this propaganda>