I started last year with a great deal of respect for the Clintons, all of which is now history. The way they have conducted themselves is appalling. As a former president Bill Clinton should have had the stature of an elder statesman not of some shell-game operator with a potty mouth and worse scruples. As a former First Lady and now senator, Mrs. Clinton should have an aura of respect and we should feel gratitude toward her. Instead she comes over now as a grasping shrill who will sink to levels that should be literally beneath her. We have learned to expect smut from the likes of John McCain, but we hoped for a lot better than we got from the Clinton Dog and Pony Show. Farewell, Bill and Hillary. You both owe Senator Obama a huge apology.

My own all do respect for Mrs. Clinton flew out the window many, many months ago, and it has nothing to do with her campaign. I lost respect for her when she mimicked George Bush like a squawking macaw. At the so-called State of the Union she couldn’t stay in her seat whenever he glanced at the room with an applause look on his face. Now she “loans” her campaign millions. If she didn’t have it she would be long gone. Why does she have millions to loan? Where did it come from? Mrs. Clinton is not going to be able to buy another lease on the White House, but she may well end up destroying the Democratic Party—which at first blush may not be such a bad thing. I would vote for Senator Obama if he ran as an independent, and even send another check to help him do it. I wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton if she was running for high school yell queen.

When we do finally get rid of the bogus president and his sycophants, the sewers of Washington DC will finally be opened and we’ll all be reeling from the news.

I agree with almost everything that Joe Conason writes, except that I wonder if he digs deep enough into Mr. McCain’s character. Has the man really changed so much?

Leaving aside his war record, let’s consider some things that he’s been involved with since that time. For example he was chastised by the US Senate for his involvement in the savings and loan debacle—and that cost the taxpayers plenty. If he hadn’t been a so-called war hero would the senate have been less cautious and called the arrangement what it really was? Being on the take?

There have been articles in the press about his dubious alliances with developers in California and other places. The most biting visual proof that the man has weak knees is that photograph of a triumphant George Bush being embraced by the very man he helped slander. If that’s not a complete sellout, then what is?

Setting aside his dubious credentials as a “family man” one has to wonder what Mr. McCain is really made of. Is he a real hero or an opportunist? From the tone of his present campaign I believe it safe to say he’s made a compact with Lucifer.

A very worthy piece, Joe, and one I hope that somebody in the Clinton camp reads and takes to heart. When this campaign started out I held the Clintons in the highest regard. I thought of Hillary as a brave stalwart of the best things about America. As the campaign went on and on and I saw her shrill and hypocritical attacks on Senator Obama (Her tears? Oh really?), her fishwifey tirades, her injured female faints, I came to the conclusion that she was just another left-over D.C. camp-follower. Now I regard her and Bill as too bad I wasted my time supporting them when Bill let the whole country down and then she followed in his sticky footprints.

The Clintons care nothing for America. The Clintons care for themselves, their hubris, pride and power. Let them leave on the horse they came in on.

As for myself. I live in Washington State. We held caucuses that went overwhelming for Senator Obama, and yet both of our women senators supported Hillary way beyond her shelf life, and as far as I know, still do.

I can be as pissy as the next one. I will not support or vote for Maria Cantwell or Patty Murray when they run for reelection. I can’t quite bring myself to vote for a Republican, but I can bring myself to ignore them and Hillary and all the rest of the shoulder-padded old feminists who long ago should have outlived their anger and done something more constructive than be uptight and vindictive.