Why is everyone (okay, almost everyone) disappointed that this wasn't some kind of slugfest? Two intelligent, good people trying to distinguish themselves in front of voters. Isn't that enough in these troubled times? Do we need it to be a chapter out of Ultimate Street Fighting as well? I'm disgusted by the media's attempts to make this election more entertainment-worthy. I sure don't expect that cheapening and lowering of the process by anyone at Salon. Harumph.

Just eleven and a half months to go!

"...For someone like me, who completely opted out of racial categories, it isn't easy to understand someone who chose to embrace them."

It isn't the same, Gary, and you have to know that.

To say that the electorate gave the Dems "control" of Congress in 2006 is not what I'd call accurate. A razor-thin majority is not control.

I enjoy watching two intelligent and articulate people discuss the issues of the day as much as anyone. But the Hillary/Barack show risks being a re-run. There's not much daylight between their policies; the differences lie in their personalities, their presentation. I say let them campaign, we don't need more debates.

This is what the election of a Democratic president amounts to: a surrender to terror. Are we perhaps seeing the first glimpse of the Republican presidential campaign's general theme? Gee, I wonder.

Maybe Bush has other plans for McCain. Maybe he's going to send him duck-hunting with the Best Vice President In History.

It's amazing to see the truculence with which our elected representatives take on Roger Clemens. Where was all that bravado when Michael Mukasey was in the chair?

Yeah, you just gotta love those Judeo-Christian underpinnings.

"The vast majority of Western Europeans are much happier, much safer than the vast majority of USA citizens. The Europeans can afford vacations; they have newer cars; they get much better free medical care and education."

And why? Because the Euros don't spend ALL their gelt on their military. I wonder if Ronald Reagan is looking down (or up, as the case may be) and watching our infrastructure and societal/economic fabric fray and fall apart as we arm ourselves to the teeth. If he is, he's probably thinking, "Whoa, that's just what we forced the Soviets to do, but we weren't supposed to do it to ourselves!"

Only add several zeros to the budget. Our hard-earned tax dollars spent on the high-tech pursuit of violence, while our schools and bridges crumble and the national mentality approaches that of a sixth-grader. Yaaaahhh!!

And if we're soooo clever with our 3D flat-screen displays, eyes-in-the-sky and pinpoint bombs -- how come we're not winning?

A picture of him. The fat doughy body, the sparse mustache, the watery eyes, the semen drip-stains on his shorts. The only thing a picture wouldn't get across is the smell of his mom's cooking coming from the kitchen down the hall.

The big question about any prezcan is "Who will he/she surround him/herself with?" If Ms. Power is exemplary of Obama's taste in advisors, then it's one more reason to vote for him.

We've already got a president who's committed to victory. How do you think we got those four disastrous years in the first place?? Geez!

Maybe CM sees what's coming for his favorite, sees this as the best way to give them a wake-up call.

As soon as I started reading this article I could just hear the cries for SZ's head on a platter, the nasty, personal attacks on her person and her craft. I was not disappointed.

What is it with you people who hate her reviews but continue to read them? A chance to blow your bile ballast in the morning before heading out into the horror of your day?

I think Camille Paglia is full of shit and guess what -- I don't read what she writes!

I'm not saying the only people here should be SZ's cheering section; as everywhere on Salon there should be a lively discussion complete with disagreement and shouting. But to those who start every post with, "I hate Stephanie Zacharek, her entire way of thinking and writing and breathing..." or words to that effect, I say -- get a life. Go away. You're more tedious than Stephanie Zacharek could ever hope to be.

Look at all the crooks and liars who are wearing lapel pins. If Cheney's wearing one, then I'll vote for the first guy who's NOT wearing one!

Too bad they're airing this 60 Minutes the night of the Oscars (where's that little "registered trademark" symbol...I left it around here someplace...). Last week, 60M did a very effective hit piece on Bayer pharma killing -- no, murdering -- heart patient, looked like Bayer would be sued into the stone age -- but no effect on their stock all week.

We're all numb.

It takes a long time to prepare an Oscar (R) show -- they didn't know if they'd have writers, so they planned for and produced a show that was largely writer-proof. Thus, the montages. Cut 'em a break, you're potshotting them from the safety of never having had a show to put on. Your tone is so splenetic it starts to sound personal.

I so hoped, when Barack was tossed the Farrakhan question, that in the course of his answer he'd find a moment to point out that he is running for President of the United States of America, that as such he will defend the Constitution for all Americans, but that Israel is not our fifty-first state and that its support and protection cannot and will not be prioritized to the detriment, either in lives or treasure, of Americans who need health care, good schools, functioning infrastructure and a safe world in which to live and raise their families.

Of course, it was not to be.

Shame on you.

We have to stop saving our kids from themselves.