All i can tell you is that a few years ago, I was skiing with friends at Aspen and encountered former Florida Secretary of Stae Katherine Harris sipping a glass of wine with a female pal and a couple of grey haired sleazeballs. My friend identified Harris' female pal as a "well known coke whore." Does that entitle me to call katherine Harris a fucking whore (whoredom by association)?

Also, would it be OK to call Mark Penn a whore?

It's very easy to imagine a McCain supporter refering to Obama with the "N" word, and Sen. McNasty laughing at it. Please review his record on racial issues, the MLK holiday, etc.

I have heard black friends refer to Obama with the "N" word, by the way, and I (being white) didn't feel compelled to chide them.

Similarly, it seems to me relevant that the comedienne who referred to Ferraro & Clinton with the "W" word was a woman, as was the crone who called Hillary a bitch.

Most to the point is Limbaugh's campaign to encourage right wing wignuts to vote for Hillary in the primaries, since he and the rest of the pro-McCain media whores know she can't win in the fall.

One reason for that is that she is indeed not likeable, and it has nothing to do with her gender.

Another is that she lied for years about her husband's infidelity and perjury, she has lived a lie all of her married life, and she continues to lie, almost compulsively. And lying by a politician is the voters' business, no matter what Chelsea says.

re: "...the promise by Amy Poehler channeling Hillary Clinton on "Saturday Night Live" to keep campaigning until "after the Inauguration" may be an exaggeration."

Not an exaggeration if, in fact, the Clintons have shifted their target year from 2008 to 2012. This seems increasingly likely as the campaign seems focussed on weakening Obama while aiding McCain. There's really no other plausible explanation for the "3 a.m. phone call" ads and the stress on qualifications for Commander-in-Chief. Clinton, Penn, et al are hardly so stupid or delusional as to believe that voters would choose the ex-first lady or the young freshman Senator over the career military man (McCain) on that issue. Since it's mathematically impossible for Hillary to be the Democratic nominee, the HRC strategy is clearly to help McCain be elected over Obama, relying on the likelihood (given his age) that McC will be one term president, setting Hillary up with a head start in the 2012 race.

Cynical? Deceptive? Disloyal to the Democratic Party? How could any of that be surprising when we're talking about the Clintons and the DLC?

Dream on, losers. Obama's continued success proves voters see that Rev. Wright and Barack Obama are not one and the same person, any more than John McCain and the Reverends Hagee and Parsley are the same.

As for Rezko, read the Chicago papers. Stuart Levine, the star prosecution witness, has been shown to be a drug addled sociopathic liar with severe memory loss. Rezko will walk. Bye-bye Tony. Bye-bye HillBill.

Obama is obviously far from being an "empty suit." That preposterous epithet is disproven by his superb executive skills in running the most effective presidential campaign in memory. His positions have been consistent and clear and his judgement impeccable. None of this has been true of McCain or Clinton.

It is bizarre to assert that Clinton's "hard-working white people" line was inadvertent. Top staffers were in the room with her as she spoke. The non-college educated whites of West Virginia and Kentucky (two states rich in Jim Crow history). The Clintons and their managers are not bumbling amateurs. They're communications experts. the offensive comments were clearly thought out, planned, and deliberate (as well as disgusting).

If anyone really wants to see the number one global warming denier out of the Senate, there's something you can do. Andrew Rice is James Inhofe's Democratic opponent. He's a genuine progressive, a very intelligent, imaginative and honest young guy, with a compelling biography. He's been an effective and progressive State Senator. He can beat Inhofe. Inhofe's disapproval ratings among Oklahoma voters are sky-high. But his oil company enriched war chest is huge. Andrew Rice desperately needs money to buy TV time. He's running a grassroots/netroots campaign a la Obama. Put your money where your principles are. (btw I have nothing to do with the Rice campaign- I don't even live in Oklahoma). see:

Oops, I fogot to paste the web address for the Andrew Rice campaign in my previous post. Here it is: http://www.andrewforoklahoma.com/

As a Chicagoan, I must protest the characterization of the bondage and domination community as located only in "some parts of San Francisco and New York." Is the author unaware of the National Mr. Leather competition, which takes place right here in The City of The Big Shoulders? Not to mention the thriving local dominatrix industry, which stretches back to the days of the fabled Everleigh Club (where the heir to the Marshall Field department store fortune is said to have expired from excess excitement during a session with one of Ms. Palin's 19th century predecessors). And if you need further evidence of the robust presence of pathological masochism here in the heatrland, I offer to you the fan base of The Chicago Cubs.

Has it occurred to anyone that maybe what McCain was mumbling was not "horse-shit" but "whore-shit." Channeling Danny Thomas, maybe.