AKA Smith, you don't have to be tech-savvy to use Open Salon, it's a simple tool. I'd register you and do all the work over the phone to get you in there -- and so would Uncle Fester.

Speaking of Uncle Fester, I'd love to see you over there. Carol Richards is up to some very interesting things, by the way.

I'm reasonably happy with Biden, though I have questions about the timing and delay. Thoughts?

cynical, I said in my post it was magnanimous for Clinton to release her delegates, so I'm not sure I'm getting your point.

XH, that deconstruction was kinda tedious, but thanks for your interest and comments about the video.

AKA Smith, he actually did say many things like that, before we turned the camera on! I think he says different things to different audiences -- which is not dishonest, it's smart. Certainly he didn't need to tell the Salon audience the media was unfair to Hillary Clinton, since we reported that story. I think his pitch to Salon was bringing the party together, which I appreciated.

Ah, burlydee, feel the love.

And the song when Obama was nominated was "Love Train."

God bless you, Eric Berry. Really.

Great posts, Drewonimo.

Thanks, domini. Letters like yours make it possible to continue to read this thread. There are some stone-cold misogynists out there, some we met during the Clinton campaign (some of them posing as Obama supporters, but driving people away from their alleged candidate with every vicious post); then there are the win-at-any-costs folk, and I sympathize with them but I think they're wrong.

By the way, I think it's fine to discuss Palin's beauty pageant background, but not to dismiss her because of it, or to suggest that's where she learned her poise, when like it or not, she has other accomplishments behind her. Paul Begala knows better than that. And I thought his comment about his wife, by the way, wasn't a compliment to his wife, but a way to tell America he married a beauty queen. But that's probably small of me!

God bless you, Eric Berry. Really.

FaulknerJr., NYShooter, jeb, klytus...this is a great thread. I'd love to see you all on Open Salon, where NYShooter, you could be the one who decided how fast and furious the posts and threads should come on your own blog.

http://open.salon.com

Check it out!

Thanks, bbd. It really is an amazing piece.

I just posted on Sarah Palin, fyi.

Thanks, as always, Uncle Fester -- you made a really good point I didn't think it was productive for me to make.

gehgoeson, thanks for sharing where your screen name came from, I really appreciate that.

Wow, Peter, I hadn't scoured the Web. That is really alarming. I think they've been cowed by all the GOP criticism of the media. This was an abomination, and it's hard to believe any semi-smart reporter editor who saw it didn't wince.

Faulkner Jr., I loved that racial draft skit. Here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrwG6_Z0sjU

I'll be on The Rachel Maddow Show tonight discussing Palin's performance.

Does anyone else remember when virtue001 was an Obama fan and Hillary detractor? Of course, he got my attention by calling me dogface in his first letter to Salon, when he was clearly a Republican partisan.

http://letters.salon.com/opinion/walsh/election_2008/2007/08/22/giuliani_yankees_nro/permalink/a947a8fe6306b32222c83ca33bff741c.html

Then he won a lot of support here by appearing to be a wised up Obamacan, and bashing "Billary," but it was always clear to some of us that was a pose. I think he's an interesting example of faux-Republican faux-support to Obama, which is part of why Obama is struggling in the polls. He was always there with other anti-Hillary trolls to bash her and promote Obama back in the day, but now he's of course not an Obama supporter. Oh lord help us: Obama's going to need real Democrats this time around. Is that a surprise? Only to some people.

And I know some people want more cheerleading from me for Obama, and believe me, I'll be thrilled to do it, when he's running a campaign to cheer for. Obama is awesome, his campaign, not so much right now. I will always tell the truth about both things. He has a great opportunity with the economy, and his 2-minute tranquilizer today wasn't what the voters needed. People who love Obama need to be sounding the same note: You've got a great economic platform that will keep people in their houses -- tell people about it!

Thanks, Faulkner Jr., it might be the fever talking, but I don't think so. We'll see soon enough.

Readerreader, thanks for your thoughts here, I appreciate your hanging in; I like the way you and Faulkner and Fester and a few other folks can go back and forth and, well, converse.

AKA Smith, you made me laugh.

squalorholla, I appreciate the radio perspective. I think, even though I was watching TV I was having more of a radio experience because I was listening hard and trying to understand; I've appreciated the awful body language more in the debate highlights than I actually did at the time.

And Faulkner Jr., yes, I plead guilty to wanting Obama to be angrier, while knowing how carefully he's worked on that unflappable style. The way McCain was condescending to him made me furious and I wanted Obama to smack him. But he can't.

Until Nov. 4.