Barack Obama's speeches reek of grandiloquence, or, as the writer Thackery put it: "tall-talking." His ideas are thoughtful, his positions well-considered and his conclusions reasoned. Unfortunately, his passion is about as luminescent as a 15-watt small-appliance bulb.

OTOH, John McCain's bombast and bloviation reek with absolute misinformation, blatant mischaracterization and basic falsehoods. He does, however, speak with passion and conviction...even if his facts are suspect and his reasoning flawed. His speech is connecting with the "average voter"...unfortunately.

Subtlety and nuance are being trumped by dumbed-down simplicity and jingoistic blather...and, America is poised to lose, once again, to the Republican disinformation machine.

Never "misunderestimate" the shallowness of the average American voter; they usually get the candidates they deserve.

I blame the National Rifle Association and its "any gun at anytime for anyone" mentality. Their constant lobbying for lax gun laws or non-existant gun laws make these kinds of crimes not only easier but inevitable.

The NRA's egregious ad campaigns against any candidate for office who advocates for even SENSIBLE gun ownership guidelines, the glorification of guns in violent videogames and a culture that extols killing as the first resort all combine to make these student rampagers feel emboldened to act.

I am an adult gun owner who has three firearms: a semi-auto .40 cal pistol, a semi-auto 12-ga shotgun and a .223 AR-15. I have no problem with legal gun ownership by competent adults who target-shoot, hunt or keep firearms for protection. I do question, however, why anyone would need scores of guns, up to and including a .50 cal monster.

The NRA bears the ultimate responsibility for the proliferation of thousands of guns...and, the ultimate mususe of same.

After watching Sarah Palin's interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson, my jaw dropped at her amateurish and wholly-naive "performance". She careened between being a deer-in-the-headlights to being so totally flummoxed by questions that a PolySci 1st year student could ace.

I have moved from the "she's just new at this" to "she's completely unprepared for this". America cannot afford to embrace this lip-stick clad neophyte to the 2nd highest office.

God help the United States of America should she and McCain somehow manage to flimflam the public into electing this very odd couple.

After Bush, prepare to be f*cked...again...this time by Dan Quayle in drag!

No reviewer's opinion has ever gotten me to see a film and, conversely, no reviewer's opinion has ever prevented me from seeing a film. Reviewers have biases and, generally, base their reviews on them; I base my viewing habits on my set of criteria only.

The "insider sniggling, niggling and giggling" of "Burn After Reading" by Mr. O'Hehir sheds no great light on the Coen Brothers current film and is only slightly more edifying than reading the menu at "Applebee's". In other words, another big <<yawn>>

Sarah Palin, with her long and tired litany of faux pas, missteps, half-truths, outright lies and outrageous buffoonery, qualifies as bona fide "white trash". She and "first dude" hubby look more at home in the front row of a tractor pull or WWF event than in any boardroom or White House Executive Office. The "common woman" approach has worn very thin and is now extremely tiresome and patently grating.

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear...even with a dollop of lipstick on that pig.

Yeah, they're still lurking here. Those who continue to blame Barack's slide on Hillary. How pathetic. They whine that "Hillary used the race card", "Hillary didn't get out of the race soon enough", "Hillary and Bill aren't working hard enough to help Barack"...yadda yadda yadda.

Actually, Barack failed his first big test by not seriously considering Hillary as his running mate instead of the loquacious Senator Biden. Barack's seeming lack of combatitiveness and reticence to fight back against the SwiftBoat-type ads from the Republicans...until very recently...were his second mistake.

I will vote for Barack Obama over John McCain even though I remain convinced that Hillary would have made a better candidate and would be making a far better showing versus McCain. Just my opinion.

So, could the Barack Obama partisans please dispense with the Hillary bashing?

Thanks...

John McCain's long and twisted trail of bizarre behavior continues. This latest and unbelievable 180 degree u-turn is simply another reason I question the mental faculties of the Republican nominee. Seriously!

From his "maverick" personality (unstable is more like it) to his "maverick" pick of the totally-incompetent Sarah Palin (based on some weird thought that she would appeal to Hillary Clinton supporters) to his step-on-the-brakes decision to stop his campaign and abandon the long-scheduled debate on Friday night (he obviously saw the polling showing him diving), John McCain has demonstrated his scary and outrageously erratic behavior over and over.

John McCain, imho, is mentally-unqualified to be POTUS. With the Apocalyptically-seeking Sarak Palin lurking, how scary it would be for him to control nuclear weaponry and the military.

You wrote: " It has been reported since Palin's selection that most of our ABM systems are located in Russia..."

Sir/madam:

I doubt highly that our ABM systems are in Russia. You appear to have been programmed by the same robotic lemmings that programmed your heroine Sarah Palin.

Aside from your factual errors, you, sir/madam, are regurgitating McCain/Palin talking points as put out by their puppet-masters.

Your errata is superceded only by your lameness.

Even if McCain shows up for the debate in Oxford, his chair will still be empty...as empty as his campaign and his ideas.

The choice between McCain and Obama couldn't have been made clearer than in Friday night's debate: McCain was rash, petulent, discombobulated, disjointed, crusty and rancorous. Obama was cool, calm, collected, thoughtful, in command of the facts and unflappable.

Guess which one would be better with his hand on the proverbial nuclear button?