"Nobody actually knows which of these views are right because there hasn't been a serious national campaign in a very long time that has attempted to elevate itself above the Drudgian muck ..."

I'm inclined to give Obama a shot, if only because he does seem to be willing to try things that other politicians have dismissed as hopeless or useless. Our politicans have been trying the same old crap over and over again for as long as I can remember, and look where it has gotten us.

"But it's also necessary to keep in mind how profound the risk is. Because if (assuming Obama is the nominee) he's wrong in these assumptions, then you're looking at President John McCain for the next four years -- with all of the disasters that brings with it."

Isn't that exactly the kind of argument the Reich Wing has been using to persuade people to support their agenda?

The upside and and downside are not balanced. If this speech is Obama's undoing because americans really are so dumb, then we're probably screwed anyway and Obama losing the election wouldn't matter very much.

"... the boisterous, screeching, simple-minded, ugly, vapid attack-based freak show found on the World Wide Web in the form of MoveOn, Kos, Salon and FireDogLake."

Speak for yourself. Yours is the first post in this thread that fits the description.

"Puh-lease! This Letters thread is like just about all message threads at all of those sites. It isn't possible to go more than three or four entries without encountering an attack on the "criminal" Bush administration, etc. The left isn't about policy disagreements anymore. ..."

OK, so there are people like you on both (or all?) sides of any issue, but the noise doesn't prevent meaningful discussion. It just makes it a little harder to find.

My question was genuine, and it was prompted by my observation that americans seem to be constantly bombarded by misinformation created by people who stand to profit from deception. I also think that our education system doesn't do a very good job of preparing children to deal with deception.

My own education was pretty good. I had a decent mastery of the basic skills when I left my parents' home to live on my own, but I had to learn about deception for myself, mostly the hard way. I got burned pretty badly a few times.

I think younger people face even bigger challenges than I did. They don't seem to be any better prepared for deception than I was, but they have to deal with a lot more of it. I am not surprised that large numbers of them were suckered by well-financed and experienced con artists.

Maybe Hillary wants to be president so she can send Bill to various dangerous and obscure places.

... is all the retail/distribution infrastructure that was erected on the assumption of prosperity that never existed. All of the jobs that were created will go away, and they will NEVER come back.

"Bush's era of fear mongering has had lasting, unexpected consequences."

I suspect his incessant reminders about our "prosperity" may have delayed the onset of caution. Why should anyone worry when the president himself is saying that everything is peachy-keen?

"OK, I'm really worried about this recession, but isn't comparing it to World War I a bit excessive?"

I don't know. What do you think might happen if the other countries we have been forced to borrow money from suddenly start attaching strings to the loans? How might Dubya react if he was told "No more money unless you get our of Iraq"?

I saw a report elsewhere that attributed this to hedge funds that had bet on the Fed covering B.S.'s bad loans. Supposedly, the insurance on the original debt was very expensive, but it got a lot cheaper when the Fed stepped in, so the hedge funds were able to book a profit on a difference by reinsuring. Now the hedge funds want to make sure the deal goes through, so they are buying stock to so they can vote in favor of the deal.

I have no idea if this is true, or if it is just some alleged journalist blowing smoke.

"We made the world safe for future generations of gamers everywhere."

I never expected that I could do so much for humanity while hanging out in cheap bars.

... and getting deeper in debt every second. We're going to need a lot of help from other countries to get us through this.

How does McCain plan to run yet another mideast war if the sheiks and the Chinese decide they don't want to finance it?

... but his real power is control over so many media outlets. I think he'll forgo the chump change if having many readers increases his power to influence events.

"The "Creative Destruction" of capitalism cannot work if the government props up failing banks, and gives multi-billion dollar no-bid contracts to uncompetitive companies. "

That suggests that capitalism cannot work if the big players have too much influence over their government.

So how we clean up our government to create an environment in which capitalism can work? Failing that, what would be suitable substitute for capitalism?

... that our president has been working as hard as he can for the power to use methods that are usually associated with repressive regimes.