Often those on the right like to point out when Dems harshly disparage or insult people like Senator Helms that so-called agents of tolerance aren't being very tolerant.

I've often thought about this charge, and I have to say that I don't buy it.

Indulge me for a moment: are the right-wingers who argue that the left is hypocritical because we don't suffer hatemongers like Helms actually arguing that as purported 'agents of tolerance,' we lefties should tolerate being insulted and denigrated not only for our beliefs, but in many cases for having been born at all?

Tolerance doesn't mean sainthood. It doesn't mean suffering the rantings and ravings of those who rile up people that would wish us harm.

And don't kid yourself, AJCalhoun. The people that lynched blacks in the South shared Jesse Helms' views on "negroes." The people that crucified Matthew Shepard on that fence in Wyoming shared Jesse Helms' views on "sodomites." And you can damn well bet that the people who shoot and kill abortion doctors feel the way Helms felt about "baby-killers."

So no, I'm not going to tolerate those who wish me and my kind harm.

And if you don't think that Helms and his kind DID wish me and my kind harm, you're wrong.

Tolerance is not a suicide pact.

This is kind of a non-issue.

Patrick, I apologize for the screeching over at the NYT, but please understand that people have just had it. Yes, we're paying less than we really should for being able to fly and land safely, but the perception that we are paying more for less is justified.

Sorry about South Africa airlines, that is atrocious... but have y'all flown on any of the Gulf state airlines, or Lufthansa, or Singapore air, or Cathay recently? For a *slightly* higher price, you get much better service from the ticket agents and on the planes.

I'm not here to complain about pilot salaries, and frankly, I don't think most people really care about that issue. We have an industry in this country that is begging for a total overhaul... yes, Southwest is funny and friendly and cheaper, but did you know they were recently censured because monitors found that their planes weren't being repaired and several of them had safety-impairing structural defects. Now we know how they could keep overhead down...

This is the crux: the airlines don't have to operate like normal businesses because they know that they government will always bail them out when they get in trouble. Other industries, if you can't compete, you go bankrupt or a leaner, meaner foreign competitor does a hostile takeover and reassembles the parts. But here, like a Communist farming collective, we keep prodding up a sub-standard product and that invites stagnation and mediocrity.

Maybe we'd have better airlines if the government would let go and force them to fend for themselves.

Hey, not that there's anything wrong with being a nameless, faceless partner at a mid-sized law firm! You work like a dog, but you're one of the (working) rich and you get a nice window office. Plus, it's not exactly easy to *get* that partnership, especially if you're a woman in the 1980's. I give her a lot of credit for that... so I hope that clarifies things and that I don't sound too glib. (Hell, I'd like to be partner at a mid-sized firm...)

But no, as I said, Bill was the meteoric riser and the natural politician, not Hillary. She's a lawyer's-lawyer; super-intelligent, methodical, studious. Smarter than me and smarter than most, but not one to make it to the White House on her own, even if she was a he! Bill's the glad-handler who could charm the leaves off the trees, and they made a pact that he'd get them there (with an enormous contribution from her) and then he'd reciprocate the favor.

But no Bill, no Senate seat and no White House run.

Easy in, easy out. We all want to beat John McCain, it's going to be okay....

Past my bedtime. Goodnight y'all, keep the trolls under the bridge!

Diomedes

Nah, I stand by it. She married her way to the top.

Listen, I'm a lawyer, top 10 law school blah blah. Plenty of overachievers start out like her and almost none of them achieve fame or rise to the top of the political pantheon. Hillary is smart as a whip, no doubt, but she's in good company.

She failed the DC bar, ended up at a mid-sized firm in Arkansas, hardly a top market. I'm not denigrating her achievement or her character, I actually think she's tops... but if it wasn't for her marriage to Bill, Hillary would be a nameless, faceless partner at a mid-sized law firm. Lots of Yale grads there (here), believe me.