As a parent, I am MORE understanding towards people who don't want to have children. Who wouldn't want to sleep in, travel when you like, have money, feel free from constant worry, etc etc? Parenting takes over your life! I also live in NYC where there are plenty of activites for the childless. I have no idea why someone would pressure another person to have children.

People on either side will believe their side, no matter what. Look what's getting all the attention now, instead of the healthcare debate! I am surprised that Obama the master politician would step into it this way.

It still surprising & refreshing to watch, I had forgotten about the bluntness of his statement.

I'm sure you would be *so* quiet and respectful if a Democrat were caught in the same position.

It's always good to see your own situation reflected / affirmed by the media. Most families I know (and my own) consist of two working parents, by necessity. And to the single people who have commented -- I absolutely agree with you as well. Not enough said about your situation.

For our kids, simply because the nanny relationship seemed so fraught. And we had a really awesome daycare option. But I was glad to have it and not to have an employee in my home!

Everybody calm down.

When you have kids, the social game changes completely. I always hated the thought of befriending other people just because they had kids the same age as my kids - I wanted to befriend them because they were cool, interesting people. But then I had a kid and desperately sought out the company of any adult on the playground with a similar age child! And some of them actually turned out to be cool, interesting people. But having the point of connection and common experience was what brought us together (and a bit of desperation) - then you sort out which people you really like, independent of the initial connection.

I just want to say, that was a very eloquent comment: "By embracing the worst, most savage, most uneducated, and most ferociously anti-intellectual side of America, the old blue blood plutocrats had strapped Caliban to their backs. " - great description!

Most things going on in the real world are scary and anxiety-producing. I'd much rather read an intimate piece about someone's family, no matter how shallow, than have to pay attention to the real world.

Totally agree - in my marriage we share everything 50-50 - income, childcare, chores, and have achieved a balance completely missing from some of our friends' relationships where the wife stays home and the husband brings in the paycheck (for some reason, the marriages where the wife brings in the paycheck seem much happier - the women I know cut their husbands a lot of slack, especially if they are taking care of kids!) but it absolutely makes a difference in the power balance. Money is power.

Like @carmody - shouldn't they also have a voiceover reading the quotes, because of the seeing-impaired / reading-impared audience out there? I think about that everytime I see one of these ads with no voiceover. The audience really has to be paying attention, and we know how well *that* usually works.

I thought Allentown was supposed to be one of the pro-America parts of America! Now I find out that Western PA is more god-loving and patriotic than we are. Oh well, now I live in NYC, capitol of anti-America (or "fake America" as John Stewart says), so I suppose I'm completely lost.

I love that her erstwhile unknown opponent raised more money over the weekend than he has for the past several months - she sure helped him out! Keep her on TV.

I think the Republicans have overused the word "terrorist" until it has become completely meaningless. I'm sure people hear these robocalls and they're like, "yeah, yeah, terrorist, whatever." You think?

I used to hate these shows but now I actually get a kick out of them. I think that Cindy McCain, Rick Davis, etc., are all of a sudden coming out and saying that the Democrats are "mudslinging" because they've never seen a bunch of angry liberals before!! People who just couldn't take it after 8 yrs of being ground down by the GOP smear machine! So, yeah, to have someone like Axelrod stand up to them is probably shocking.

Also, I never thought I'd say this, but I think Obama's race might actually benefit him in this election. I do think the charges of race-baiting (re: angry mobs at GOP events) hurt much worse than the actual smears put out by the angry mobs. I also think that the GOP has to dance around the fact that Obama is not white and it hampers their efforts at being fully, completely vicious.

You are hilarious. I need humor in these dark times.

Re: Hillary -- I *always* thought that her attacks on Obama would only make him stronger, even at the time, and even though I was a Hillary supporter. During the primaries, this young kid in my office kept saying "wah! Hillary is attacking him! it's not fair!" and I said to him, listen, the Republicans are not going to be nice. They are not going to coddle him. They will be far nastier. If he can't handle some legitimate attacks from Hillary, he should just get out now, because it's only going to get worse. He's proven himself.