This is likely to be a fun campaign once the nominations are in place. I suggest that Barack Obama mount an aggressive campaign against McCain, attacking his supposed "strengths," which actually don't exist, but are perceived as strengths. His military experience is in carpet-bombing the people of Vietnam, being shot down, and spending years as a prisoner of war.

If having been tortured is a qualification for the presidency, then we could scour our jails and prisons and find much better candidates than John McCain. If accepting bribes makes one a paragon of virtue, then Tom DeLay should be the candidate, not John McCain. If "experience" is the main qualification, then Strom Thurmond should have been president long ago. Maybe we could resurrect him.

I'm enjoying the slow meltdown of Hillary Clinton. What no one cares to admit is that she is going mad with her ravenous desire for the presidency. She will never be a national factor again. Neither will Bill. We will all have Clinton fatigue by the time this is over, even the Clintons. It will be a similar experience with McCain. If the country is to survive, Obama is the only hope. He isn't perfect, but he's pretty good, and events will force him to be better.

I can't help wondering if Salon paid for this piece. If so, I will have to give consideration to whether I renew my premium membership. I would be paying for such claptrap.

Who cares about Hillary Clinton? She now has zero credibility. She has zero credibility because she is dishonest, and it is out there for all to see.

As far as projections into the future about McCain beating Obama, this is speculation, conjecture, and flight of imagination. Hint: the future hasn't happened yet. At some point it will have happened, and it will be different than any of us think we know it will be.

If anyone can't beat McCain, then it is because he or she has nothing to offer. Actually, less than less than nothing to offer, because McCain has less than nothing to offer. It is pure ego masturbation to pronounce that this or that person will win or lose to that or this person.

Obama is not a perfect candidate, but he offers a better chance for saving our corrupt civilizaiton than anyone else on the scene. If I had my druthers, Ralph Nader would be president on issues alone, but he is not a viable candidate, and would be a dark presence on the national scene, which would make for a long four years.

Like it or not, Hillary fans, she is through. That is not a prediction, but an observation of the present. She is through right now, today. All the garbledy garbledy about the Electoral College an winners taking all will not put this little Humpy Dumpty together again. Good riddance.

If you ever want to justify not donating to NPR, listen to "Morning Edition" on Mondays. Cokie Roberts reports on polls, and provides the most insipid, boring, and shallow analyses of selected poll data that a human being is capable of. Anyone can report poll data, and virtually anyone could do a better job than Cokie Roberts.

It is ethically questionable that she is employed by National Public Radio in the first place. She makes an income far beyond her worth at ABC. Public radio, financed largely by the Federal treasury, was set up as an alternative to Network media, and has specialized in investigative reporting and quality analysis.

Where it is weak is in opinion, relying on "pundits" from other media, like Daniel Schorr (fired by CBS for ethical problems), Ted Koppell (of all people, retired from "Nightline"), Frank DeFord (who triple dips, writing for CNN and Sports Illustrated), Juan Williams (Fox "News"), and a few other lesser-knowns.

Cokie Roberts actually made her "reputation" at NPR, parlaying her status there to her job at ABC, then parlaying back to her former employer.

One thing I've noticed about Cokie Roberts is her growing bitterness over the years, aimed at Bill Clinton, "liberals," and other imagined ne'er do wells.

Her father, Hale Boggs, was an old-style Southern congressman from New Orleans. He was a member of the Warren Commission. Her brother Thomas Hale Boggs Jr. is one of the most notorious lobbyists in Washington.

And, it turns out, in a grand display of nepotism, her daughter Rebecca Roberts works for NPR as a correspondent and show host.