You wrote a very well-thought out piece based on an entirely false premise - that somehow this one off-handed, poorly-phrased answer during an impromptu Q&A session at a non-public event is evidence of Obama's true core belief about the working class that he's somehow managed to hide during 15 months of intense campaigning.

You're practicing the same brand of amateur speculative psychology that you're denouncing in your article. You assume that this one sentence, chosen among millions uttered in the course of this campaign, is dispositive proof that Obama thinks he's better than the working class.

Because we're bored of and fatigued by the campaign and the neverending onslaught of over-analysis fueled by the 24/7 mixed mass media, everyone is looking for the death knell. The Big One that's gonna tip the scales. Our nerve is in tatters and our patience running at an all time low.

So what happens? This off-the-cuff comment made by Obama is being treated like the Zapruder film. Oceans of ink are being spilled parsing and dissecting and speculating and insinuating. Hillary and McCain are launching nuclear warheads at it. The politics of division and triangulation at work. Let's pit ourselves against each other instead of taking the comment as an opening to discuss what we have in common and where our differences lie before tackling some monumental problems. Great idea, guys. Keep it up and we'll be watching President McCain take the oath in January.

I'm special. I'm always right. It's someone else's fault. I didn't do it. My opinion is correct. There are no valid viewpoints other than my own. I will only vote for someone who's like me. Anyone who's not like me can't understand me. Don't insult me. Tell me what I want to hear. I distrust people smarter than me. I don't want to feel dumb. But I also don't want to read and learn and understand - I already know everything I need to know. The good book tells me. Foreigners are shady. USA is #1. Wooooo! The truth is what I want it to be, and anyone who disagrees is lying. I like people who are like me. I like people who agree with me. I don't like to be challenged. I never change my mind. You're either with me or against me. I have morals. My morals are the only valid morals. People should be forced to live their lives like I live mine - then America would be a better place.

Is there a politician out there who can pander to me? Great. I'll vote for them. It'll feel good knowing that they care about what I care about. And they surely do - they just said so!

God Bless America.

I agree. That's why I titled the post "I am America" and not "I am a Rube" or "I am Small Town America".

Our collective over-self-confidence is not limited to small towns or big cities. Everyone is guilty of this to some degree - it's almost amazing these days for someone to admit they *might* have been wrong in the past, or there was something they didn't consider, or that they have changed their mind after learning more about a topic. Otherwise, "flip-flopper" wouldn't be a pejorative. I actually respect a politician more if they can admit they were wrong about something, or that new information has come to light that changes their mind. This is political suicide in America, because we're supposed to be hardheaded about everything.

The only distinction then becomes the quality of your information and analysis that leads to your hard-headedness. I don't think the "Obama's a muslim" emails are gaining much traction in the ivory towers, but they remarkably seem to still be doing rather well in the heartland. Of course there are a lot of heartlanders who recognize the inherent absurdity of those emails, but there are also a lot who don't.

The media do not care who wins the election. The media care about revenue.

Shouldn't it be clear to everyone in America by now that the person who gets "attacked" by the media the most is the one who's winning?

Of course Charlie tried his best to throw darts at Obama last night. Obama's winning, and if there is a sudden late-game shift to Hillary, guess how many papers and commercials that will sell? Charles Gibson and ABC don't care who the next President is ... they care about their yachts.

All debates should be on NPR. Period. Then you wouldn't have 50+ minutes of fluffy nonsense solely designed to create conflict by the people with the most vested interest in conflict.

From this perspective, last night was nauseating.

By saying you will vote for McCain or sit out the election instead of voting for Obama, you are acting like just as big of an asshole as your candidate.

I guess that makes sense.

Keep firing, assholes.

I didn't say anything about swing voters or independents. I was merely talking to professed democrats who support Hillary who have been saying they will cross over or sit out rather than vote for Obama. These people are assholes. Any democrat who would rather see McCain in office than Obama is a petty, whining, crybaby asshole.

And I just love the "he's gonna have to deal with much worse in the general election" strawman. That's like a parent saying to a teacher "you're just going to have to deal with the fact that my kid likes to take shits on the classroom floor."

No, we don't have to deal with it. McCain will get destroyed in the general by either of these candidates. He will try to shit on the classroom floor, but nobody's gonna sit there and let it steam.

I'm impressed that you're able to type with a straight jacket on. Do you use your nose? That must take awhile. Does the asylum have wireless in the padded cells now? Or did you type that up during activity time?