This topic you have now posted on twice.

What backdrop wouldn't be seen as arrogant or presumptive. Can you come up with one? I doubt very seriously there is any set design that wouldn't be used against Obama in exactly the same way. The commercials and blog posts and talking head scripts are already written, just waiting on a Find and Replace to fill in with whatever the backdrop is.

So really, Koppelman, in your great wisdom, what backdrop would not give Republicans the "grounds" to use it against an arrogant and presumptive Obama. Because if you can't come up with one, your posts are no more than typical Walshian tripe.

You say:

...I remind you that 40 percent of children today are born out of wedlock and when you say nasty, hateful things about them, you are saying nasy, hateful things about most women in America.

You also claim to be a former teacher.

If that is true, I pity the students of a teacher who thinks 40% is most of anything.

Levi is the father of Trig, who really is Bristol's child.

Bristol is not pregnant now.

Levi and Bristol marry before the election.

Bristol "miscarries" sometime in October.

The "miscarriage" is blamed on the stress of the scrutiny Bristol has undergone.

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This is awesome for some of the low-information electorate (a very large portion of the current Republican base).

1. If Bristol is five months pregnant now, she can't be the mother of Trig.

2. Lot's of sympathy for Bristol, and by association her mother, as the "victim" of the evil Librul Medya.

3. (A hidden 'family' benefit) Bristol is punished for her indiscretion in becoming pregnant with Trig, and Levi is punished for getting her pregnant.

All in all, this would be (in theory) a slam dunk for the Republicans. Hard to say how it would actually play out though. I am guessing that as more and more is learned about Sarah Palin, her negatives will far outweigh any benefit from such a politically motivated pregnancy story.

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Let me emphasize that this is just a thought experiment. I am not accusing anyone of anything.

And I am especially not impugning Bristol Palin. She is nothing more in this than an extremely unfortunate victim of her extremist, power-hungry mother. My heart goes out to her and her child.

But if there is news of a miscarriage, the plausibility of this scenario goes way up.

Al Gore won the popular vote. Let's ask him how that worked out for him.

In the first place, Fox wins big. Lots of free publicity, and a much much much larger than normal viewing audience. Plus the appearance of legitimacy from Obama showing up on what is in reality a program of shameless lies, innuendo, and RNC propaganda.

For Obama, he appears weak to those who see O'Reilly for what he is, and strong to people who wouldn't vote for him under any circumstance. None of O'Reilly's target audience are going to change their minds and vote for Obama. And the viewers who are already Obama supporters are not going to have their minds changed.

The only people whose votes will be affected are the people who don't really understand politics or government. Yes, yes, this is an unfortunately large percentage of the electorate. But the ones who tune in to O'Reilly to watch Obama and make their decision will be a fraction of the audience.

Those people might be swayed Obama's way if he is allowed to speak live, and he responds well to O'Reilly's typical style. But I have to say they are far more likely to turn against Obama than to turn towards him.

So, in the final analysis, Obama has little to gain, but probably also little to lose. I don't disagree based on that aspect of the situation. But the American public and American media will be big losers no matter what happens. Because Obama is legitimizing the most illegitimate mouthpiece of the most illegitimate national "news" network.

And that is what disturbs me about this.

It doesn't matter what actually happened.

It has now entered the popular consciousness that Sarah Palin killed the bridge. And she (and by extension, McCain) will get credit for it.

The facts have no bearing on the political reality of this issue.

Yes, the American consciousness is a malleable thing.

And Sarah Palin may or may not still be around in a month, or a year, or four years. She may be a hero, or she may be anathema. Lots can and will change.

Her misleading story about her role in the Bridge to Nowhere saga may be eventually held against her. But even if it is, it won't be the cause of her fall from grace, it will merely be a repercussion. For now, as long as she holds the place she currently holds, it will be an asset.

Something else will have to bring her down. Only after that happens is there a possibility for this to come back against her.

This story will never be the proximate cause of any negative consequences on its own.

not choosing Clinton as his running mate will go down as one of the biggest mistakes in political history.

Keep telling yourself that jeb. After enough repetition you will begin to believe it.

Also, please never stop posting. Your heartfelt clueless unintentional humor is only surpassed by that of KateTex, and is one of the few reasons to keep reading this site.

Just because I don't know the lyrics to some trashy pop song I am a cave dweller?

F*ck you, Clark-Flory.

I am delighted beyond words that his new book is out. I will gladly spend money I cannot afford to buy it this weekend.

Food is a luxury I can postpone. There is a new Neal Stephenson book to buy!!!