...I'd probably take no small umbrage at the implication that my party ever lacked religion.

It would certainly be news to some of my relatives who come from the era when it was perfectly natural to be a church-going Christian and a Democrat who cared about the plight of the working poor.

But that was before the single, overriding purpose of the Democratic party apparently became ensuring the continued legality of abortion-on-demand.

It's funny that between my family, friends, co-workers and me, I can't remember the last time abortion was even mentioned. Yet apparently it is one of only two or three significant issues in American society in the last thirty years.

I must have a very strange social circle, to be so far removed from the mainstream that professional politicos inhabit, where abortion is quite possibly the most important issue anywhere, ever.

Hey, I can be just as misogynistic and insensitive as the next slob...okay, I'm that way most of the time, just by nature.

But anyone who watched those performances last night--or any of the Olympic gymnasts, for that matter--and can say it's not real athleticism has serious rocks in their head. What else do you call amazing feats of physical ability? Or can King Kaufman do triple and double backflips while simultaneously performing a dance routine and staying within a fixed boundary?

I'll bet you're a real stud on the uneven bars, too.

Similarly, anyone with eyes to see and a brain to think could plainly observe that the judges were showing heavy favoritism towards the Chinese. They gave a good score to a Chinese kid who wobbled while mounting the balance beam from the floor. It was not just Americans being robbed--I thought the Russian team put on a beautiful and seriously underrated showing.

I bet it wasn't easy hiding that slight ideological predilection from the members of the Harvard Law Review when they were being tricked into making Obama their president.

Look, "theplanner," I'll save you some time: I know it doesn't always seem like it, but the folks who read these columns and articles tend to have at least a modicum of intellect. That means we can actually read and think.

So you'll have to sell your Karl Rove ice cream on the other side of the street. Some folks here have a clear disdain for Obama, but nobody outside the county fair is believing the whole "Black Panther Manchurian Candidate" shtick.

Next time you want to disseminate such nonsense, stick to spam emails. I have a feeling that's where you're more likely to find the target audience you have in mind.

I'm surprised to hear you feel that way, fightthetheocracy.

Somerby is right, period. The millions of people who already support Obama do NOT want to sit through three months of televised "post-racial therapy" with a 73 year-old rich white man--and all the while Rome is burning--and anyone who would casually proclaim to any stranger with a clipboard that they would "never vote for a black man" is not going to change their mind if only the campaign tactics are right. Fuck the bigots and let 'em go.