Yes. How you look at it is very important.

If, like most of the US media, you are part of John McCain's Base (the ones who gush for him a press conferences, bring donuts as presents and completely ignore blatant errors, flip-flops and gaffs that would have doomed any other candidate by now) then you are "looking at it" with whatever viewpoint will generate the gratest amount of negatives for Barak Obama.

Just as every pundit's lead story regarding Senator Obama's trip to Iraq ignored what he said and, instead, eagerly anticipated a "mistake" that they could blaze across the US.

Does anyone here think that, had Barak Obama spoken of the "Iraq-Pakistan border" it would not have been the subject of hours of debate on the news shows (Days in the case of FoxNews)? Did any of them cover John McCain's saying those exact words? Of course not.

If Barak Obama becomes president, it will be because he beat not only the Republican national Committee and Conservative 527 groups, but the national media as well.

Aside from the Republican national convention, they are about the only groups who will still have him Certainly there are not many venues in Conneticut that will still give him a welcome.

And, once electin day is past, they will not bother with this year's "Zell Miller" either.

But the media are still rooting for a blunder. Something akin to the "Iraq-Pakistan border" that they can hype for weeks on end.

If Barak Obama does not deliver a major mistake (or a tiny one that can be inflated) soon, John McCain's Base will just have to make something up, pretend that Barak Obama said it, and debate what their reacion would be if he had said it.

All to get their man, Senator McCain, elected in November.

I guess his Base forgot to bring him the present of sprinkled donuts and he is having a hissy fit.

I do not recall even one single Conservative having even a mild problem with the videos of George W. Bush's supporters in tears of adoration in 2004. Or was that DIFERENT?

I am flabergasted that ANYONE in the media will admit the degree to which John McCain has, and continues to receive free passes for his frequent blunders and off-color comments.

Any other candidate, of either party, would have been out of contention for dogcatcher with the kind of comments that Senator McCain makes on a weekly basis.

The reporter who admitted this will, obviously, not be invited to any more McCain Family Barbecues!

That, in a nutshell, is the Republican hope for November. And, between now and election day, expect the racism to become increasingly less subtle. And expect the Conservative commetary the week before election day to be something that would make David Duke blush.

Smiling at someone in the audience using the "N" word for Barak Obama would have been the end of any presidential candidate.

Laughing at one of his supporter using the "B" word for Hillary Clinton got John McCain the Republican nomination.

As long as the Bush Administration promises to "keep us safe", there is no abuse of power, no invasion of privacy, no torture that Conservatives will not excuse. None.

John McCain and his backers are so used to the free passes andd tender handling they have received from Senator McCain's "Base" that anything less than adulation from reporters appears to be hostility.

The McCain's will have to throw a few more barbecues to get his Base back in line.

As the Presidential campaign rolls into November, expect the Meanness of John McCain and his surrogates to vastly increase. It is, after all, what Republicans do best. Ever since Lee Atwater transformed the party into the party of hate and anger, Republicans have cashed in on it to great power and wealth. They will not give up on it now.

By October we will be hearing full volume accusations of "Treason" against Barak Obama, possibly even coming directly from John McCain himself (Dick Cheney and Trent Lott certainly never shied away from accusing anyone they disliked of it).

We may even hear for calls for violence from the second tier of his campaign: FoxNews and the like. Of course any call for violence against a presidential candidate is a violation of federal law, but not one of the Loyal Bushies in the Federal Prosecutors' offices will enforce any of them against Republicans. So expect the Post-Labor Day speeches to read like an Ann Coulter article, only with slightly less hesitancy in expressing their hate.

Re: "Why do left-wingers constantly feel the need to impugn the patriotism of conservatives, using terms like "traitor"?"

Pardon me, but it has been Conservative leaders, from Ann Coulter to Trent Lott, who have tossed the word "traitor" around like confetti, not Liberals.

Or, when Conservatives say it, is it DIFFERENT?

Because that is what the NeoConservatives want. (It maintains the money flows to their contract security firms and think tanks)

Because that is what the Religious right wants. (It brings the world that much closer to Armageddon and the return of Jesus).

Because John McCain has 100% given himself over to these groups in return for the Republican Presidential nomination.

Any other questions?

The McCains will have to have at least TWO barbecues to get their Base back to creampuff quesitons again.

Re: "What real margins of victory will Obama need in which states, in order to still win those states?"

Depends. In states where Diebold is counting a majority of the votes, Barak Obama has already lost.