a reader writes .....

"McCain and Nader are too old. -- Have you guys even known anyone with dementia -- especially Alzheimer's? -- it's really common.

Let me tell you a little story - - or two.

Mah Daddie is the descendent of abolitionist anti-bellum Republican state senators and the son of a perenial Wilsonian Democrat Party politician who lost elections due to Philly's being a GOP stronghold. A Korean & Pacific War naval officer veteran he has written, as a pacifist, every President since FDR JFK LBJ Nixon et Al his protests against their overseas intrigues. He's insisted that Bush Junior is the absolute worst President in his lifetime.

In his 50 year career in Medicine he has worked both in private practice and for the Veteran's Administration, where he cared for vets from WWI & Vietnam to the Gulf War. In 1980 he surprised his family by voting for ... egads !! ... Ronald Reagan !! - - for the simple reason that having seen the inner workings & nightmares of the VA hospitals, the Gipper was the soul voice in preventing the nation's health care industry from becoming a de facto Socialized Medicine Mirror of the V.A. ...

Everybody here remembers how Congress was up in arms 2 to 3 years ago over the Rat Infested Walter Reed Hospital in D.C. -- one of the VA's finer sites. -- What ? You thought Reed was an annomaly ?

I've prefaced the above to highlight the great surprise that hit me when I was sitting in a Carolina motel room heading down the Coast while watching the 1984 Republican Party Convention. My father sat there silently rubbing his chin with a half-smile for a lingering moment as the roars in the convention blew the roof off.

"What's so funny ?" sez I.

"I don't think I'll be voting for Reagan this time around." said he.

"Why not?" I queried.

"That man has the early signs of Alzheimers"

This was in 1984. True story.

Ralph Nader, I will tell you, is undoubtedly the sharpest cookie in Washington. My cousin, an insurance industry official in D.C. has repeatedly crossed paths with Ralph over the years. And although Nader's been a constant thorn in their sides, my cousin's confided to me that he & many of his colleagues have had a sincere regard for the man's intelligence & capacity to cover ALL the bases.

My uncle, a corporate Ford attorney in 1960s Michigan respected his high professionalism, and was personally appalled by the shennanigans of what the underlings had attempted to do to Ralph. Still, Uncle ____ was not very much humored by the White House vote I openly cast for Nader in 1972.

The point is, "Reader", that "no such early signs" of dementia that you've alluded to is noted in Ralph's ability to bullet through Every Issue Under the Sun. He's at the Top of his Mark; I heard him a few weeks ago at my own local university here a few weeks ago.

I've also witnessed the on-going televised rallies that Sen. O has been speaking through the political season; wholly devoid of substance; as well as the Book of Emptiness he penned. Rhetoric !! ... nothing but a cascade of cliches. Read Nader's current book, "Seventeen Traditions", or any of the 20-plus books he's worked on over the years.

You deride the 70-ish Nader ... (and McCain as well). Yet Barry understands well that his shallow understanding of how our domestic government works would be readily exposed by Barry within the first 20 minuets of an open one on one debate with Nader .... and perhaps as equally as embarrasing, an open debate on foreign policy with McCain. He should be out there every day on a stage with his challengers.

Cowardice will cause him to loose his luster with the Very Angry Populace of 2008 whose approval ratings against both Democratic Houses of Congress & the Republican White House is at a near even tie at the bottom of the Latrine.

Barak Obama, in short, is a Total Zero.

We've just suffered through an 8 year presidency of one inept moron, and now you wish to finish the job of screwing the nation with another Empty Suit.

And, by the way, the REAL REASON Frau Klinton Lost It Well before Bubba's verbal blunders, was her own alarming "tear welling" between Iowa & New Hampshire .... because .... Her "Feelings" were hurt .... Good Lord !!! .... What could she have expected Presidents Hu, Putin or Ahmadinijad to have done with her "Feelings" ??

YOU HAVE POINTED OUT THAT .....

"With Alzheimer's the judgement really goes. That isn't ageism. That's just reality."

I & MOST SOBER AMERICANS WOULD RESPOND THAT ....

With Frau Klinton the 'emotions' really go. That isn't Sexism. That's just reality.

With Obama practical 'life experience' is what really goes. That isn't Racism. That's just reality.

In November it really will seem to the All-Important Middle Ground of the Electorate (those who have ALWAYS decided the elections) as to whether or not Obama is Even Qualified to head the Department of Commerce in any administration.

I've seen nothing to suggest that he'd be high on anyone's list. He may not suffer from dementia ... but he certainly suffers from a near blank resume.

The Mindless Mob have been serving up goulash plates of Kerrys' Dukakis' and Goofy characters like Gore for decades. They turned their backs on Ralph ... and in my own Democrat run state ... boxes of signatures to get him on the 2004 ballot simply vanished.

A pox on the Destroyers of the Democratic Party.