I'm not sure what's worse, the endless coverage of this imbecilic woman, or the endless articles about why right-thinking people are/should be sick of her. And Salon, despite the quasi-lofty tone of this particular piece, is no better than E! Television and the rest of 'em in terms of feeding this particularly well-groomed beast.

If you're really, truly tired of her, Salon, stop the coverage. And stop it now. PR 101: Publicity, good or bad, elongates the news cycle. When the attention stops being paid, these people tend to go away. As a case in point, we don't hear too much about Anna Nicole these days, now do we?

I doubt Sen. Obama's reaction to his subordinates' goofs was to send them flowers, but yet no one in our esteemed press corps seems to have asked the gentleman from Illinois his thoughts on the matter. Ditto Sen. Clinton, who's forever being alleged to do/say various things. It'd be nice — and quite refreshing — if everyone could step back, catch their breath, and continue to let the primary election cycle play out. A handful states and a protectorate or two, and then all the numbers will be in the bag. (Well, maybe not Michigan and Florida, but we'll just have to wait and see about that.)

Then, and only then, can we begin to fret about what'll happen at the convention. And for heaven's sake, children, both senators are deserving of respect if for nothing else than the brutal schedule they've been maintaining during a very exciting primary election cycle. She's not a vituperative bitch, and he's not a shallow neophyte. Let's ease up on the name calling, shall we?

I'm somewhat intrigued, yet not surprised, when the very same people who allegedly want an ongoing discussion of the issues we face in the U.S. today, everything from racial stereotyping to the sad state of the economy, howl when they don't like the tenor and tone of said conversations. The increasing stridency of the hard-core Clinton and Obama supporters does a disservice to this ideal, to say the least. Loose-lipped ministers, alleged sniper fire ... it's all fair game in politics, chums.

And for God's sake, stop assigning partisan bias to everyone who writes something that isn't in complete lockstep with your opinions. Makes you sound like the GOP.

Just saw somewhere that the age demographic in PA broke down thusly: 45 and under, 32 percent. That means Sen. Obama's core supporters, younger voters, are making up one-third of the Dem voters in that state. In the 45 and up crowd, Sen. Clinton won pretty handily.

When all this is over (and please Lord, let it someday be), it's highly likely that Sen. Obama will become the nominee. But he's got to start finding a way to get those older, reliable voters to the polls for him come November. As a 45-year-old, I can say that I truly do not care one whit about how excited the 20-somethings are at the moment. They're the least reliable demographic when it comes to actually voting, sadly. But maybe, if all the fervent letters here and elsewhere is to be believed, they're galvanized and ready to roll through the general election. That'd be wonderful.

As much as I want to be "better than that," as various folks suggest I should be, where are the checks and balances on the mortgage-holders themselves? If the automakers have to file repayment plans, why shouldn't any and every home-loan borrower who's about to get a chunk of gov't money submit a monthly budget that'll guarantee repayment? I think far too many of these people, once they're off the hook, will be back to spending every paycheck with no savings or budgeting at all.

Big Brother? Yes, indeedy. But bailouts should come with strings, and unfortunately entirely too many are being crafted right now that are giveaways, not assistance programs.