Watching that pathetically, desperately, and absurdly manipulative ad, with the knowledge that they'd only bothered to run such nauseating trash on Fox, I had to, for a moment at least, lapse into my recurring state of guarded optimism about what lies ahead. As other writers have mentioned, this crap passed its expiration date in 2005, began exuding foul odors in 2006, and by now only serves to remind everyone of the utter bankruptcy and patent uselessness of the fear card going forward.

As much as I loathe the term "going forward," for its self-serving dismissal of what went before, and therefore its evergreen usefulness in branding those who rightfully remind us that we've been the victims of systematic lying all along, in this case I like it. In our ADD culture, September 11, and the supposed unity and "resolve" it has been relentlessly evoked to conjure is, simply and irrevocably, done. Inoperative.

I would be willing, and even eager, to see this bogus nonsense distributed much more widely, for the simple reason that its effectiveness is only in discrediting its creators, supporters, and rapidly vanishing adherents. Bring 'em on, or as Bill O'Reilley might say, with a noose in one hand and a loofah in the other, "Is that all ya got?"

The humorous possibilities of this "affair" are well-nigh endless. Perhaps McCain's staff deliberately played up the sex angle to counteract worries about his, well, geezerdom. "He may be a bag of bones, but he can still get a boner!" Such puffery (fluffery?) may seem beside the point in the age of Viagra, but the counterpoint to that would be, "Cheney's doctors won't let him near Viagra."

Further, if you're not selling out to lobbyists, (possibly involving nudity -advance apologies to the nausea-prone...) blaming the New York Times, and furthering media consolidation, how can you face down Al Queda?

Lastly, the key to Republican success, beginning with Nixon but reaching its apogee with Bush, is to deny, loudly and explicitly, whatever is said about you and blame the "liberal media," no matter whether your words are provably false. McCain seems to at least have learned that in his 497 years.

The key to whether oral counts as sex, and not just for politicians, is whether you're proud of it or not.....

Derbig Mooser... Was "thrust" a Freudian slip? Are you giving our septugenarian flyboy ideas, unnecessarily? Or did that lobbyist just slip on a banana peel and land on his Straight Talk Express?

Cause to wonder.

Pedinska... I proudly admit that I'm seeking to steal the "Miss Ewwww" banner from you. Glad you liked my first volley....

It seems significant to me, and part of the larger problem, that even in an expose, the newspaper blandly states, "....without warrants ordinarily required for such searches." Ordinarily? Would a newspaper write, "without a license ordinarily required to drive a car?" Of course not. That's the kind of crime little people commit, and has no ifs, ands, buts, or "ordinarily's."

It seems that government lawlessness has become so ingrained in our culture that even investigative reporters proceed on Nixon's famous principle, novel at the time but no more, that, "if the President does it, is not illegal."

Just a tad out of the ordinary.

...and he is retarded.

This bobojake character illustrates, with delightful clarity, what we are up against. A certain percentage of the electorate are, delicately, not too bright, but nonetheless utterly dedicated, and hungry for, life in a dictatorship. It is evidently not necessary to have a command of the English language to be a devoted member of the "English Only" crowd, but fawning worship of Bush, and sincere belief that the Clintons caused everything from 9-11 to hangovers, seems to suffice.

Frankly, I think we're up to the challenge.

That post, in all its glory, exemplifies the mentality, and I use the term generously, of what few warrentless spying fans remain, and ought to be spotlighted, repeated, and broadcast far and wide.

WT... In trailer parks from sea to sea, no one worries about tapped phone lines since service has been already cut off, thanks not to that meth/budweiser habit, but rather those slick trial lawyers. The invisible hand, and natural selection, at work. Cheers to you, too.

DCLaw...

I've noticed this same pattern. During the 2000 election a friend of a hippie friend of mine, whom I didn't know, called me and spewed bile about my corruption and closet conversatism for supporting Gore. Simple statements like, "But he's the candidate," and, "In any democracy, we simply choose the best of the candidates available," were met by spittle-flecked insistence that I was dishonest and vacillating for choosing an imperfect candidate.

"So, Gore's your guy?" she hissed contemptuously and repeatedly, as though anything short of my fondest wish should be intolerable to any thinking liberal.

Admittedly, had there been a nudist, vegan, free-love, pot-smoking candidate who wanted to slash the military by at least half, provide health care for all, and double taxes on the rich and gasoline, I might have fairly skipped to the polls, and emptied my bank account supporting him or her. Alas, there wasn't.

And then there's the pesky reality of the other 300 million Americans who might not share my enthusiasm.

Life is full of compromises, and particularly in hindsight, Gore was an acceptable one.