"game of chicken" was the 2000 florida election mess in a nutshell. the bushies at least convinced the democrats that they would have an armed insurrection if they had to, and all of a sudden the democrats were saying "well, how much difference does it make, with the electorate this close, he will have to govern as a centrist".

your analysis of republicans and democrats reminds me of parasitology. parasites typically start off as actual independent creatures with functional organs and such; but evolution streamlines them by removing everything that isn't directly related to making them efficient parasites. the democrats suffer from still having some vestigial scruples and concern for american citizens, and this excess baggage weighs them down in comparison to the republican party, which is a highly tuned machine for gaining political power and selling that power to the highest bidders for cash which it then uses to gain more political power; any considerations which may divert some of that cash or power to any other purposes have been whittled away. democrats still waste time, energy, money, and/or votes doing things which are morally, ethically, or logically correct but cost them votes; opposing "drill here, drill now", for example, at the cost of getting stuck trying to explain it to drunken harley riders. apparently, however, the powerful hand of natural selection is now eliminating this drag on electoral fitness as well, as we have seen in the democrats recently.

ironic that the republican party, such a product of evolution, doesn't believe in it on the grounds that it leaves no room for morality.

yeah, the mccain team knew all about bristol and her baby daddy last week before making up their mind, but palin's press spokesman had no idea on saturday. need to know thing, i guess.

is there the slightest shadow of a doubt that the kid came forward last sunday "uh mom, we have to talk" (which is perfectly normal) and they are now lying their asses off to look like they are in total control of everything (which is really abnormal)? following in the bush footsteps, i see, bringing honor and dignity and most of all truth back to the white house.

she's not only run a state, she's run a town; maybe not the biggest of either, or for a long time, but more than obama, mccain, biden, and even hillary put together! so....

Sarah for president! Sarah for president! Sarah for president! It's not too late for the Republicans to correct the order on their ticket! Sarah for president! Sarah for president! Everybody email the republicans! Sarah for president! Sarah for president! Sarah for president!

aren't there other republical women that would at least look halfway reasonable? whitman?

the party which doesn't believe there is any problem with the climate cannot use unforseen bad weather as an excuse to scrub unpalatable media events, such as convention appearances by unpalatable ex-presidents.

"when they talk about their honor, they really mean their anger".

AvP wasn't that bad. compared to so much of the genre competition.

umm... i see a different obvous answer here; that americans who would like to see a solution to the Israel/Palestinian conflict should push for American candidates who share their views, given that the dog does wag the tail and not the other way around.

of course, the above strategy is exactly what the rightwingers are doing; they think militancy is the correct solution and put their money where their mouth is. and they have money and power, because they're rightwingers.

it's just an extension of what's been going on in journalism since forever. it's pretty well known to everybody with an iq greater than room temperature that the "buff books", magazines about cars, or stereo equipment, or computers, etc. aren't likely to pan a product, particularly not from an established company. it's not, as sometimes suggested, because they're afraid of losing ad revenue; but because they're afraid of losing something more valuable; access. if they piss off a major manufacturer, there go all the exclusives, insider leaks, preproduction samples for review, as well as all the paid junkets for demos, etc. in short, they won't have anything to publish that won't have become old news by the time they publish it.

now it seems that that has been extended to the "legitimate" news media and their relationship with the powers that be. piss off the white house, or get too critical of their attempts to mold the public with a "leak", and you'll find yourself reporting on what the more malleable press reported on two days ago.

the alternative, of course, is hardcore investigative journalism, and that's difficult and expensive. no way to run a newspaper, not on a for profit basis in a diminishing field of business in a collapsing economy.

somebody's got israelis on the brain.....

i saw an article on the ellis island experience this summer; included actual case histories of immigrants via social workers. one that stuck in my mind was a writeup regarding a woman who "just had to accept the fact that she could no longer provide her children as much food as she would like." nice to see we're less bigoted about who gets a turn in the barrel nowadays.

where some prankster has replaced the tape with a bungee cord.....

and i'll bore you with it again.

being a republican nowadays requires having no longterm memory.