Your County Boy story was great! Back in the early '40's I

attended a "church" school and we, too, recited the Pledge of

Allegiance every morning. (And reading was a very important

part of our curriculum!) Imagine my surprise when I heard

my twin grandchildren reciting the Pledge in 1995 in a secular

school setting and the words "under God" were in the Pledge.

I hadn't realized it had been changed by a meddling Congress

along the way and signed into law by our own 5-star general hero president, Dwight Eisenhower.

Very interesting, but sad! The last sentence in the article reflected my own amazement over the past few years: how did Bush get elected in the first place? Who are the people that pushed his candidacy to the GOP?

Why did they do it? Was it because they thought his name could win, just to insure power to some? Don't these people look any deeper into a candidate's qualifications to be the "leader of the free world"?

First-time mistakes can be understood, but after the first 4 years, how can it be possible the American voters could have put this man back in office? What a sad commentary on the voters!

Pat in Idaho

It is discouraging to know the world opinion, generally, is not very positive regarding us here in the U.S. We must "fix" that! However, I read the Comments to the Canadian Globe

editorial - most from Canadians - and was gratified and surprised at the tone: mostly critical of the Globe editorial and pretty balanced in general. Very little U.S. bashing!

Long ago I stopped watching any program that invites Ann Coulter to participate - her ravings sound mean and "unhinged".

She doesn't appear to be interested in any civil exchange of

ideas but merely spouts vitriol, and the right apparently enjoys it.

Pat in Idaho

Thanks for the article, Mr. Blumenthal, and Salon for "allowing

it". There is a sorry - correction: tragic, dearth of investigative reporting coming from TV News, Murdoch-controlled

et al!! Our collective knowledge seems to be reduced to

politically correct "sound bites". No wonder we've had to endure this current administration for so many years!

Pat in Idaho

I'd vote for Biden or Dodd (and maybe Richardson) in a heartbeat!

Here in Idaho (how conservative can you get?) the Dems I know still have great reservations about voting for Hillary, so I worry about her ability to win. Too bad the Press doesn't give us more of the "second tier" candidates!! Pat in Idaho

I've been wondering when a journalist would bring up the fact that Norman Podhoretz is a senior foreign policy advisor to Guilliani!! Thank you, Tim Grieve! Now can TV journalists start talking about this!! This Podhoretz is one of the original signers of the letters sent to Congress and the President back in '98 recommending "regime change" in Iraq and pushing the WMD hype! Another signator (along with James Woolsey, Jeb Bush, "Scooter" Libby, Wolfowitz et al) was Vin Weber, who is a foreign policy advisor to Romney! Haven't we had enough of these neo-cons and their hawkish foreign policy? The voters deserve to know who is advising the candidates on something as vital as foreign policy. In addition, we deserve to know if these candidates, if elected, would appoint these people to their cabinet, or "advisors". Pat in Idaho

The religious right gave us George Bush #43 and look where it has gotten us! Always amazing that these right-wing 'Christians" who are so against so many things, are so in favor of pre-emptive

war and don't seem to mind killing in the name of democracy. We can't let this militant bunch of voters give us another president. Pat in Idaho

What a bunch of interesting comments!! My husband and I are certainly turned off by Hillary and Bill - after reaching the point of liking Bill - and we've both privately threatened to not vote for Hillary - ever! But some of the posted comments have caused me to re-think: would I let idealism outrank pragmatism? Good point! At this time in history I really, really, don't want the Republican platform to dominate - no matter who is in the White House! I'm closely following the middle of the road, very intelligent bi-partisan statesmen that met at the Univ. of Oklahoma recently (Bloomberg among them)to talk about the current divisiveness and whether or not to inject an Independent Party with one of their own - presumably but not necessarily Bloomberg - to run if either nominee seems too divisive or radical. Wait and see, I guess. At any rate, our vote here in Idaho won't count for much! Pat in Idaho

Well, I'm more than a middle-age, white woman! In fact, McCain is younger than I am, and I think he's too old for the job!! And too many melanoma hits - he'd have to pick an awfully good vice!

His survival of the 5 years in the Hanoi Hilton show stamina and courage, but I've often wondered how that is supposed to qualify him to be President, or even Senator for that matter. This is

signed Trish72, but I am now Trish74!