This is all about one thing and one thing only. This administration has to justify this war somehow, no matter how, and they will be believed by two types of people: those who are too pained by the idea that the Great Decider could make an idiotic decision and will go to any lengths to rationalize that decision, and damn fools. Add them up, and you scrape up the twenty-odd percent that still believe the Administration is doing a good job.

As a corollary, there's a good reason why Dick Cheney is far less popular than George W. Bush, it's the "President doesn't know" syndrome. Time and again, and especially in budding dictatorships, people just can't bring themselves to (gasp!) doubt the Great Leader, so they cling to the notion that the Great Leader simply doesn't know what his nefarious minions are doing. (That the Great Leader is thus shown to be an incompetent moron is conveniently ignored.)

In other words, Cheney's claims are "debunked" only to those who were doubting this Administration's intentions in the first place. Those who blindfold themselves with the American flag will believe anything Cheney says. They have to. They'd feel like idiots otherwise.

...for a new political ad. Show scenes at Abu Ghraib, and at the end, in Bush's voice: "I am George W. Bush, and I approve these methods."

Hell, of COURSE the press is silent about this. Do you remember the anguished contortions they went through about that article on McCain and the lobbyist, and in the end published essentially a nice straw man for the right wing to shoot down? God forbid they are actually adversarial on serious issues! As to why... well, there are books on the subject by finer folk than I, so I won't even go there. But it's still gross.

Germany's Chancellor, a woman? Egad, I say!

And of course you can trust the European yellow press to make like overhorny pre-college teenagers, jump up and down and scream "Boobs! Dude! Boobs! OMG! Boobs!" (Isn't it a truism that they're a lot worse about it over the pond?)

But hey, for the Germans it's one more thing to be proud of. (All we Americans get to show off is our President's codpiece. {shudder})

Believe or not, I'd rather suffer through another four years of ugly Republican rule than see the Democrats unite. Why? Because this "union" is perhaps the WORST feature of the GOP. Senators, Representatives, Governor and Justices that walk in lockstep with a dimwit of a President... no thanks. That would be bad regardless of who is at the helm. Coming from a nation where Communists (that's what they call liberals here, don't they?) walked in lock-step, united as one, I've developed a strong allergy to that sort of "union".

Furthermore, who says that Obama may not be someone different and new? Is that so impossible? Or am I too young (I was not alive in 1972) and naive (I wasn't here in 1984) to see history as a revolving wheel, where our doom is inescapable and our options grim? Not to mention that perhaps these gloomy predictions of a 2008 massacre are about to turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I'm not saying that we should be ignorant of history. Of course not. But screaming that "we're doomed!" just because Obama is a bright-eyed idealist and Gary Hart was a bright-eyed idealist is silly. We are betting on him precisely because he is hard to pin down. Black AND white, liberal and yet (as Paul Krugman says) using conservative rhetoric. He's not a far-left radical, and he knows how to extricate himself from gaffes that would've already capsized Kerry's or Gore's candidacy, regardless of how much Fox News or CNN chews on them.

Not only that, the people also have a say, don't we? Perhaps we're not buying the old bullshit anymore. Perhaps Americans are (amazingly) smart enough en masse to see through all that crap and vote on the issues. Maybe?

Aw hell, maybe not. But please why don't we suspend our cynicism for a little while and hope for the best. We can always lose this one, but let's wait to do so until it happens. Mournfully inscribing the Democratic Party's tombstone six months before the general election is dumb, regardless of how clever it makes one seem.

Okay, so I'm not a huge election wonk (I'm not really a wonk at all), but I think this is the first time Puerto Rico was mentioned in campaign coverage as anything approaching a decisive voting area. If anything, the dead heat of the Democratic race is making a lot of voters who were resigned to insignificance for decades feel important again. And (if I may be partisan for a sec) they have Obama to thank for that.

Something Obama supporters (of whom I am one) easily forget: Hillary Clinton is a kick-arse candidate. For the first time since I started voting (in 2000, no less) the Democrats have to choose not the least of two or more evils, but one of two really, REALLY good candidates, either of whom blows the best the GOP has to offer out of the water.

If you don't see hope for our nation in THAT, I'm sorry for you. If you're so idiotically partisan that you'd vote for McCain (McCain!) in the event of your candidate's loss, please, stay at home in November. Freedom is great, but we really don't need idiots screwing things up this time around. We've had too much voting out of your arse as it is.

Remember, folks: we are American first, Democrats second and partisan last. Vote your conscience, not your petulance.