Wow, I don't know what to say. I agree that when I call Russia (or China) it would be/might be/likely be tapped. That doesn't mean I think it's a good idea that needs to be accepted here, too. There are plenty of things acceptable in totalitarian regimes that I'm not willing to accept.

As far as property rights, most people I know that bitch about government intrusion about being able to do whatever the hell they want to do on their land just mean themselves. When the next door neighbor wants to turn their home into a halfway house for recovering meth addicts all of a sudden their minds change. When an all night strip club is going to be put next to their McMansion they believe in zoning. When their neighbor wants to operate a business, a repair facility for motorcycles in front of their house and on their own lawn they want "rules".

I don't give my social security number out (except where required by law), though that frequently is a hassle. I deal with it.

On the side, my husband relies on my recollection of every conversation ever had and for names of every person we've ever met...it helps him as frequently as it annoys the hell out of him. Or so he tells me. :)

I hope Olbermann read the WSJ's take on his and Obama's change of heart.

If you cave in to their bullying, they don't accept it. They rub your noses in it and paint you as partisan (for your initial opposition) and weak for caving in.

What's funny, is people respect those that take a stand (even if wrong) more than those who won't commit to an idea. It was one of the reasons that more than 20 some percent of people ever liked Bush in the first place.

Teen moms are a bunch of real losers.

Yeah, good thing there were no innocent teen boys involved in the pregnancies....

What's funny is if the girl's had been sinners they could have used contraceptives (boys, too...condoms could have been used, too, it's common sense) and we would never have known and wouldn't be tsk tsk'ing.

What's funny is if the girls had been very, very bad, they would have had abortions and we would have never have known and wouldn't be tsk tsk'ing.

Teen moms in the good old days would have married the teen dads and either they both would have made it work, or would have been miserable for their rest of their lives.

Thanks Inanna.

It's funny. My Mom died when I was very young which left my very young Dad a single parent. Obviously being a single father was not an ideal situation for him (or me) but it was what we had to deal with.

We didn't have extended family around so he dealt with many of the same issues a single mother faces...with one big giant exception. People were not suspicious of him at all and he had no stigma. In fact, people were very helpful and sympathetic. He never had to "explain" that he was a widower, or why he was in that situation. Even if he had never been married, people would have seen him as admirable for trying to raise a young girl by himself.

I'm not advocating anything, what these girls are facing is cringe worthy, but it's premature to think these girls should just roll over and stop trying and that their lives are over is wrong. They still have a chance, but they sure have complicated things. Helping each other can only help them, especially if they share babysitting duty.

I'm amazed that people don't realize that the reason people liked McCain for so long, and the reason that Huckabee was able to go as far as he did, were because they were (rightly or wrongly) perceived as straight shooters. I agree with the previous poster that thinks on the Dem side this was a large part of the appeal of Obama over Hillary.

Huckabee didn't have the support of just evangelicals. The AM radio crowd was screaming that he was a nutjob, very few of the evangelical leaders endorsed him, and yet he was getting a ton of Republican votes. He was unapologetic about his views...didn't go for nuance. Hell, a bunch of liberals I knew couldn't help but "like" him, too.

After you get the voters that will vote for a Democrat or Republican come hell or high water you have a sizeable chunk of people left.

Voters that when they say they "like" somebody it doesn't mean have a beer with them, it really means they respect them. Trust them. Even if you disagree.

Obama needs to learn this, otherwise he will be seen like Kerry, Gore and Dole. And we all know how that turned out....

Very few people I know actually thought that Obama was a "liberal" far to the left of Hillary. Many of the supporters of him I know thought of him as their second (or even third) choice.

I think you could easily spot the repub trolls posing as Hillary supporters in the old days by saying we had to fear a socialist like Obama, someone the "lefty-left" wants. They were usually just trying to start flame wars (frequently successfully) between the two camps. It could get ugly quick.

Maybe there's more to their victory than embracing/rejecting neo-con ideals.

Maybe there is. But incumbent Republicans are all shown to be the ones in a position of weakness right now. Incumbent Democrats, not so much.

I think Glenn's point is valid.

If a Democrat comes out and actually stands for something, they weather the attacks quite well. Hence why traditional Repub districts will go for a strong Democrat, not just the "centrist" one.