ABC asked gotcha questions about the flag pin, Jeremiah Wright, and other nonsense that has been in the news recently. They feel that this is justified because voters think that the process is a test of "electability". The fact that polls show this not to be the case is irrelevant.

It is also noteworthy that this kind of treatment is consistently aimed at Democrats. No Republican has been subjected to this kind of treatment since the 1980s.

I suggest that ABC or Salon do a poll asking voters which Senator was involved in the Keating Five scandal? Also ask about the Jeremiah Wright issue and the "Bosnian sniper" issue in separate tests. See what percentage of the voters even knows about McCain's past.

By now, it should be apparent that ABC is pursuing its own agenda, and its agenda is not to help Democratic voters decide which candidate they prefer. Over at Facebook, ABC News runs a section dedicated to US politics. In response to a question asking whether anybody changed their mind following the debate, a whopping 97% of the respondents say 'no'. Furthermore, a good percentage of the comments were openly critical of how the debate was handled.

It really does matter who wins this election. The people in the corridors of power know this, and they are doing their best to ensure the outcome they want. Given a choice between journalism and self-interest, it has become eminently clear in recent years that these people will choose self-interest every time.

Paralyzed faces do not convey any emotion, and it significantly detracts from the acting experience. It is very sad that so many women feel the need to take this step, but it has effectively ruined the careers of Teri Hatcher, Demi Moore, etc.

And yes, there are double standards at work here. Some of the best work in film in the past year was done by Daniel Day-Lewis, Tom Wilkinson, and Tommy Lee Jones - none of whom appears to have succumbed to the butcher's blade. I could go on, citing Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman, and so on...men in Hollywood are allowed to age. Women are not.

Hopefully at some point American audience will advance past the Wooderson approach to viewing women. "I keep getting older and they keep staying the same age!"

If Obama and Clinton say the same thing and different times, it doesn't mean that what they say is equally valid at different times.

In particular, I don't think Clinton has been subjected to anything quite as odious as the "Does Rev. Wright love the United States as much as you do?" question.

I've seen a lot of people say that they loved the questions. Most of these people are Republicans. Isn't that a bit telling?

The story here is not that Obama "stumbled", but that the questions were ludicrous.

Does your minister love America as much as you do, Joan Walsh?

It's perfectly reasonable to conflate Al-Qaeda and the Iraqi insurgency because that makes it more likely the American public will support a war that otherwise has little justification.

That's what Pollack means. War is necessary for his public position, consequences be damned.

Seriously, is there a constituency out there of people who think that Hillary Clinton is the toughest candidate remaining?

So...she wants to gain the nomination on 'toughness', but if that's the battleground she chooses, she'll get her ass kicked by McCain in the general election. As Truman famously said, given a choice between a fake Republican and a real one...

For starters, it's in Italy. I don't know how many of you have traveled in Italy, but you can rest assured that the reputation Italian men have for being sexually aggressive to women in public is well-deserved.

I suspect we don't know the whole story here.

Obama has a reasonably large lead in delegates, given the small number still in play. What incentive does he have to make any kind of deal with Clinton? And what kind of deal is this supposed to be? Clinton has no interest in being his VP. She's just playing out the string because she figures she has nothing to lose, and he's just biding his time.

As for McCain, I wouldn't worry too much. His time will come. The Republican brand is in the crapper right now.

Pretty much everybody knows how to commit suicide. The problem is that there are people who want to do so. Manjoo is dancing around the issue, but there is an implication here that somehow the Internet is to blame. It isn't.