"my anecdotal drop in the bucket

My grandma got behind Obama as soon as Hillary, her favorite, lost. But people whose primary concern is Israel are still behind McCain. Lieberman is unpopular with Jews, at least the ones I know."

A polite and sincere question...Would you be willing to give us more insight, your take, on why those "whose primary concern is Israel are still behind McCain"? I sincerely want to at least try to understand why he (especially with Palin on the ticket) would be favored.

I started writing a long post filled with my own anger and dismay at what's going on. What I really wanted to do was simply agree with you and say...you said it very well. We simply cannot condone going back to the politics of race-baiting and bigotry. This "campaign tactic" of McCain and Palin (at this point, I happen to find her obvious willingness to engage in the smears and lies even more despicable than the objectives of her "handlers") is dangerous for the country. It is despicable and reprehensible. And yet, I'm still contending with many family members and a few friends and several acquaintances who just don't get how seriously, morally wrong this attack line is, and how much ensuing damage it could wreak, toward and beyond the election itself. Anyway, I'm repeating your post below because I think it's important.

"In a country with a sad history of political assassinations or attempted assassinations - MLK, JFK, RFK, George Wallace, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan just to name a few that come to mind so easily - Governor Palin's and Senator McCain's attempts to excite crowds with inflammatory statements, insinuations, and accusations are dangerous.

In one day they and their friends managed to link Senator Obama to terrorism, introduce him as Barack HUSSEIN Obama, point out that he does not see America as "you and I do", and imply that he is un-American. The message is clearly "beware of this black radical."

Exploiting bigotry, racism, and predictable but sometimes uncontrollable crowd reactions to shore up a failing campaign with an unclear leadership and a fuzzy message is not low: it is chilling."

I think I've developed some "street cred" toward complimenting you on what you had to say on "Larry King" tonight because I haven't always been complimentary of your Salon.com editorial choices ;)

"You're wrong about that, Lady" would have had my mental machete out. On that alone (and I DID hear you say: "Lady?" before responding...), I give you kudos for staying cool. I heard you stand your ground and make important points--and not get "talked over" as so often the case can be on pundit opp MSM. I appreciated what you contributed. Go for more of the same. You have a voice. IMHO, you used it tonight.

I'm thanking angelbug, too, because I missed Countdown today, and was glad to watch the latest "Special Comment" online since I didn't set my DVR.

To 9design...you asked about who the commentator is. It's Keith Olhbermann and his show is called Countdown. Not the favorite of the right (big surprise) and not necessarily of the left. He garnered some harsh reviews during the primaries from Clinton supporters. Me, I'm a Democrat and I am appalled by Palin and I'm grateful Olhbermann is on air. If you want to read his blogs and view other "special comments," they can be found by going to msnbc.com--now that you have the commentator and the show name, should go smoothly. You can send your e-mails to him, also. Whether or not you get a response, I think today's comment showed that abject concerns were heeded.

I agree it was "spot-on." You brought up "the unexamined life." And on that, I couldn't agree more. So, here are your words again...

"You know, one phrase that comes to my mind in regards to Palin: That famous phrase 'The unexamined life is not worth living'. It seems to me that she has zero ability to self-reflect, to examine her biases, to think through anything in a critical, analytical manner. So she takes pot-shots at anything she disagrees with... and if she is called on anything, well, she'll try to fire the librarian or blame the media for wanting to clobber her. Of course, it's not her fault if the media holds her up to ridicule! (sarcasm)"

It's scarier than that, if she were to hold the VP or (shudder) Prez office; and what she & her running mate are claiming amount to downright lies and defamation of character, with potentially dire consequences to the country and our standing in the world community.

McLaim & Pailn'failin' would not be pulling around the limo?