Clinton's enemies on the Left hate Republicans, but they hate the senator more; they are the 'aristocrats' of the Democratic Party.

I get the impression that a lot of them feel Clinton is a DINO.

Which is not far off my own feelings.

Mr Hillary signed NAFTA, dismantled welfare and vastly expanded the drug war.

Not really the actions of a liberal.

With Mrs Bill we will get more of the same, possibly in spades.

IMO, of course.

but in the final analysis I make up my own mind based on what is most important to me.

At last you and I agree on something.

He just doesn't know who to trust so he seeks a mentor or "champion" to help him pick the right "champion" for the highest office in the land.

Most of us are programmed from birth to be at least somewhat gullible.. Parents teach us religion or faith, believing something without evidence. They tell us to trust police officers, the list is nearly endless.

Then the stories we hear and see both in the media and other places teach us to expect a hero to come and save us, either individually or as a group.

Early conditioning is extremely difficult to break and it can be an emotionally gut wrenching experience to do so. Just go to some of the atheist forums and read the "deconversion" tales if you need examples.

I play games with my grandkids, joshing them about stuff in order to let them gently know that adults do not always tell the truth. Even the four year old is getting quite good at catching me when I'm exaggerating or deceiving him.

I agree with you about civics, although from what I remember of my civics classes it was all pretty well idealized and whitewashed. What was the quote about weak stomachs, sausage and politics?

NCLB is a disaster, IMO. Rote memorization has its place, you have to have data to think with, but learning how to think and how to learn is the most important task in school.

Obama the politician would imprison Obama the teen/young adult.

Young Barack did cocaine, and yet Barack the candidate wishes to continue the drug war.

Young Barack did not need "treatment" to end his cocaine use, and yet Barack the candidate is in favor of forced treatment.

Just another nanny stater, Obama will change nothing fundamental about the way America treats those who are apostate of the state religion.

I've already read this IDENTICAL post on a half dozen other message boards, I can't fathom where it's coming from. Are you suggesting that young drug addicts shouldn't vote for Obama??? And who should they vote for??? Who's the "druggie's candidate? Who's the candidate that handing out free pot and coke???

Kucinich is for ending the drug war, as is Paul.

"The Land of the Free" has the highest incarceration rate on the planet..

We are and have been for some time now a police state.

Obama has no intention whatsoever of changing that.

The more important the issue, the less debate it gets in "serious" circles.

Take a cold hard look around, would Patrick "give me liberty or give me death" Henry have pissed in a cup to get or keep a job?

I'll just point out that absolutely no one would bring out the right wing knuckle dragging bible beaters to vote like Hillary would.

Say what you will, Hillary is Satan incarnate to a lot of the Republican base.

But it's a coping strategy well-established among BDS sufferers;

Look out, Clinton's penis is behind you!!!

...it is astonishing (in the mind-boggling sense, not the awed sense) that even Democrat and Democratic supporters are afraid of their own party member and can express that concept so openly.

A lot of us feel that Hillary is simply a DINO (democrat in name only) and that she is entirely or mostly enthralled to the corporatarchy which is rapidly ruining what little is left of our democracy.

Hillary voted for the Iraq war, for the flag burning amendment and was the only Senator not to vote on the odious bankruptcy bill.

Your sarcasomometer and ironometer both are in dire need of recalibration if not outright replacement..

As long as the surrogate doesn't drink or use illegal drugs, it won't make any difference.

Thalidomide is a legal drug..

As Glenn Greenwald points out, the US spends more on the military than the rest of the world combined.

A very large chunk of those expenditures are devoted to making sure that the oil supply is not interrupted. (the spice must flow).

Plug the military expenditure numbers into the equation and solar starts to look considerably better.

Parity may not be as far off as a lot of people think, this is another factor in the growing nervousness in the oil patch.