I have a friend who insists that as people grow older they become more and more who they really are, and not always with happy results. I have come to the conclusion that this may be the case with John McCain, that he may not really be the war hero of his image, but rather a victim of circumstance in Vietnam who has written an sold a dramatic résumé. His behavior and the negativity of his campaign is not the stuff legends are made of. In any event if Mr. McCain is not becoming more of who he really is then the other possibility is that he is becoming senile. Both scenarios are equally frightening in the world that seems to be falling apart with a loud noise.

Therefore it’s with great relief and gratitude that I applaud Colin Powell’s rather brave decision to support Senator Obama. We are giving this young man the great task of renewing our nation and clearing out the debris left us by a discredited ideology and eight years of ignominy. Colin Powell can be a great help.

Hysteria is going to get us nowhere. You need to take a deep breath. Colin Powell is not without blame and nobody said he was. However, I honestly believe that he has recognized that fact and is doing what he can to make amends. The world cannot be put back the way it was before George Bush stole two elections, but it can be healed just as we’re still healing from Vietnam and a score or more of other heinous adventures against people over the past 100 or so years.

Powell helped get us into Iraq and he may be able to help us get out. If Senator Obama is grateful for his endorsement and has asked for his help then explain to me what second guessing the Democratic nominee is going to do. In spite of your response being starred as an editor’s choice, I find your tone offensive and unrealistic.

There’s no question that the Republicans are capable of just about anything when it comes to voter suppression. I don’t think Obama is going to stand to one side without a fight. Already there are volunteer lawyers spreading out across the country to watch for hanky-panky. However, in the back of my mind I hear that lingering refrain from past elections: the Republicans play hardball while the Democrats play for lunch, and it’s scary!

Major reforms are needed in our election process, and I strongly believe that the Electoral College should be done away with and the conventions likewise. There should be a national primary sometime in September with the election held in November and a strict spending cap put on the campaigns. Voting by mail (as I do in my state) and strict safeguards would do a lot to stop these threats!

Your points are well taken, but isn’t there more to this *attack* story and the reason the right wing was so quick to exploit it? For the past ten or so years, the Republican Party has gotten away with uncountable lies, or allowed their surrogates to do it for them, for example: Swiftboating Senator Kerry. Karl Rove has set a whole new standard for deceit and millions of people bought into it, especially the Republican hierarchy. The result? Eight years of George Bush who was no more qualified to be president than Sarah Palin is now.

One of the things that I profoundly hope will happen is that Senator Obama as President Obama will restore grace and honestly to the national scene, and that the pandering, slobbering jackals that have made up the Republican right will be replaced with the honest and loyal Republican opposition that the nation needs now.

In the first place, anything that William (Billy) Kristol writes is by definition going to be wrong. This critter has never had an idea, any idea that has worked. He’s a failed Reich-wing wonk who really should be put out to pasture (a long grassy stretch where he can kick up his heels and pretend he knows something, anything). The fact that he’s published in the NY Times makes me wonder how low our nation can go. You must remember that Billy is actually responsible for Sarah Palin way beyond his sphere of influence. How did that happen?

As for the rest of the article. I agree with most of it. I would love to put flowers on the Republican grave. Cheap plastic ones from some garage sale in the driveway of a foreclosed home!

Color me stupid because I get these rightwing slobbering fascists all mixed up. I know who Ann Coulter is because she looks so much like Bill O’Reilly! But, there’s that Michele Bachmann critter up in the Midwest somewhere who sounds like that idiot woman on The View. Then we have Liz Dole looking for God and another facelift and I recognize her because she looks so much like Karl Rove with bad hair! Really! But seriously, folks what have we allowed our country to sink into? Mud? Hardly and it smells a lot like the Republican cloak room in the capital. (Home of that famous tap dancer with the wide stance.) But, seriously again. I hope that the Reich wing doesn’t tamper with the vote, because I will be in the streets along with a few million others who have had enough. As for Michelle Malkin? She should team up with Clarence Thomas. Wouldn’t they make a swell couple? They could hang their diplomas side by side at a garage sale. Fifteen cents each.