The glossary to the the American version of Trainspotting defined "cunt" as "any other person, male or female."

I actually found that too broad, as I have never heard a non-American English speaker refer to a woman as a cunt, but I have heard it used commonly, in mixed-company to refer to every other possible male in every situation, whether it is a compliment ("Robbie sure is a clever cunt, isn't he?" to the familiar ("Tom you old cunt. Howzit?") to the angry ("Let's take this outside you fucking cunt.")

It is a nearly all-purpose word, used for every situation except to be a dig at someone's masculinity. It is emphatically not the same thing as calling a man a "bitch" in America. Only a complete fucking cunt would make that mistake.

I'm a iphone user and was a treo user before that. the two things I need from my iphone that it doesn't give me is a cut/paste/copy functionality (how hard could that be?) and a BT keyboard. I'm an academic and am often in the archives. If I could go to the archives with simply my phone and a collapsable keyboard I would be a pig in shit. I don't need much, just the ability to take notes.

Looking forward to that keyboard soon.

... on one level, please, don't over-sell it.

NO ONE in Delmar uses "summer" as a verb. NO ONE. It ain't the Cape and it ain't the Hamptons. Hell, it ain't even Saratoga.

This is a cheap, rhetorical bull-shit talking point used by the Republicans.

Thomas, it's still just Albany. There's no need for Palin-esque exaggeration. It makes you look silly.

ummm. I might go with audacity rather then audaciousness, but I'm an east coast intellectual elitist pedant.

If Gore and Kerry showed us anything, it is that this sort of meme -- elitist, arrogant, intellectual -- works with a huge swathe of the American public and we ignore it at our peril.

The Boondocks had a great strip in 2005 when Bush was screwing up for umpteenth time. The one character asked "what was it we didn't like about Kerry again?" The reply: "he windsurfed."

By definition, the vast majority of people are of average intelligence. Couple this with a national mythology of egalitarianism dating back to Jackson at least, and you get an electorate that is disdainful of anyone painted as being superior. Toss in the latent racism and you might just have a winning formula if you are a Rovian operative.

Obama needs to address this systematically and ceaselessly, not with faux goose hunting photo-ops like Kerry, but by showcasing the facts of his life and having surrogates constantly remind people of McCain's inherited (and married) privilege.

Thanks for not using Millard Fillmore as an example of a mediocre president. We're very fond of him here in Buffalo despite the fact that he was an anti-Catholic Know-Nothing and this is one of the most Catholic cities in the country. He was never even elected president, but he did found the university here (now SUNY Buffalo) and there's a nice statue of him outside city hall.

" The Americans that are hurt the most are low income Americans that are driving the oldest automobiles."

Last time I checked, "Americans" were people and therefor warrant a "who", no?

The Americans who are hurt the most are low income Americans who are driving the oldest automobiles."

And they used to make fun of that guy.

Thank you for a beautiful and thoughtful essay. As a father who has recently divorced and is just beginning to seriously see a woman with two sons, I appreciate the opportunity to see how a child might be viewing these developments. Happy Father's Day.

Hmmmm... who would have guessed that the guy who graduated valedictorian from West Point would be more eloquent and thoughtful than the guy who graduated 894th out of 899 from Annapolis?

Although I gave him money in '04, Clark did not impress on the stump or with the media last time. He seems perfectly well seasoned now and a good fit with Obama's strategic and tactical plans. He didn't get angry, but he didn't get off point. He refused to concede the media's base narrative as true.

He's looking better and better as VP.