you know, actually do something to wrest control of the nation from the beltway bandits. or are you just going to sit there, crying "the sky is falling!" until government goons break down your door at 3am?

fascists don't normally issue explicit warnings, but there are plenty of harbingers flying around: nsa looking at phone calls, army to control crowds, secret prisons, habeas corpus obsolete, when will you realize that without democracy you will have dictatorship? or are you gonna wait for them to take your neighbor? that is usually too late.

it's his campaign, not yours, and his judgment prevails. if he gets in, you will knuckle yer forelock or curtsy,and do what he says. he certainly won't get in if the yokels stay home, so saber-rattling is necessary to his primary goal. his primary goal is not good management of the nation, it's getting elected.

choosing a grab-bag of policies, sight unseen, by electing a president, is a profoundly stupid way to run a country. if, that is, your goal is long term survival.

but america is no longer the best educated nation, nor even close. half think the bible is all you need to know. dubya got in by agreeing with them. until the people who voted for dubya die out, and only if their children get an education, the king of america can be elected by the idiot vote.

so it's no use saying mccain doesn't have a clue. he's doing better than any republican should do, with notably unfriendly conditions. the people who don't have a clue, are the ones who vote for politicians instead of referenda. they are playing russian roulette with the nation's head for a target.

after choosing dubya, watching him destroy the republican appeal, the gop is lucky to have a candidate at all. the fact is, he went in as a big loser, and if he comes out a big loser no one should show surprise.

mccain would be a hero, if he showed any grace at all. but he didn't- he showed he was not in the race out of any principle, but rather because he really, really wanted to be president. if he had any self respect he wouldn't have run. if he had any respect for the electorate, he would have said "the gop has betrayed america, vote democratic".

the people that ran his campaign, for profit or principle, are amoral hyenas. they aren't losers, because they work for the rich and will get paid, one way or another. if they have lost this election, they are ready for the next one or the next. they don't lose anymore than anthrax loses, victory is intermittent but certain. and each interlude in power corrodes the nation further.

if you keep handing the keys of the nation to one 'king', you will keep getting commodus or nero or caligula, and each will file off a bit more of the nation's wealth and freedom.

give some thought to establishing democracy, if it's not already too late.

absurd! you think. but the bush regime has killed many more, and lied about it, so we can reasonably imagine one or two more 'retail' level killings wouldn't be beyond them.

on the other hand, they don't have to kill to get what they want. millions of americans are willing to kill out of some feeling of repressed rage. just say "muslim!' or "raghead!" or "terrorist" and they foam at the mouth. clearly they feel any person outside the usa is sub-human, and many of the gun-clutching bible-bashers despise anyone over the county line.

the sad fact is, bush is more typical of the usa than paul wellstone, by a factor of 100. when you vote for any politician, any, you legitimize the rule of the winner. everyone who voted for gore or kerry also put dubya in the oval office.

people like wellstone, a political scientist, should understand this. they should understand that the only change that means anything is a change of the system, not a change of faces. that's why mike gravel started his 'initiative for democracy'. when the usa has citizen initiative there'll be fewer wars, fewer financial collapses, and fewer broken people in va hospitals. because they people who have to bear the consequences will have their finger on the 'stop' switch.

i guess you thought a presidential election was a measured discourse, the thoughtful exposition of how to make america a better place. that's one theory.

the other theory is that two right wing parties are scrabbling for power, whatever it takes, and use any tool to scam the mugs into backing them. think about the history of america and choose which theory comes closer to reality.

sarah palin would do a strip-tease if it would get her to the whitehouse. so would john mccain, although he would have to be reassured it would work. it's unfortunate that the american public likes to pretend the candidates are moral philosophers rather than strippers, but since they are generally fat old men, you can see why the rnc chose the expensive plan 'b'.

political parties do what they do, decrying their behavior is simple disingenuous hypocrisy. ms palin is entitled to her working clothes, as much as any 'randy la rue' on the pole.

you vote for politicians, you pay them, you lay down and let them rape the nation, but suddenly the cost of the pollies clothes is germane? do grow up sometime.