You said everything good there is to say about those people, and thank you. Grew up among such types in country Missississippi half a century ago, had family in Abilene a long time.

The downside of such a culture is that it thrives on isolation and uniformity. The last thing a member of that culture can do is be interested in anything outside it. Children who dream of a wider world are punished severely.

There is no justice except what the culture considers justice (hence racism in Mississippi). There is no wisdom but the Bible (as the culture interprets it). There is no imagination, because after all, their world is perfect as is.

Single funniest cartoon I have seen on the campaign. Has to be a true story. What a country. Giving the link to everybody I like.

Glen Greenwald made a similar point today: The media are followers, and like backing winners.

One can justifiably cry "bias," and suppose the media to be populated primarily by the craven. I prefer to suppose that on the whole they simply aren't that smart, and it takes a while for messages to reach their brains.

Inferior minds are not just inferior at reasoning; they also depend on inferior sources of information. To put it another way, they are much more susceptible to gossip and innuendo because they aren't very good at evaluating the likelihood that an assertion is factual. As a result, they have to wait to make conclusions until there is a statistical prevalence of one assertion over the other, a very crude and inaccurate way of estimating the truth.

I was 19, a sophomore at Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi, when JFK was murdered. MC is a "Christian" school, training ground for young Baptist preachers. As I walked the campus, stunned and sick at heart, I heard happy cries and cheers from all the good little Christians. They were like the principal at that school. They were actually rejoicing that the President of the United States had been murdered.

Don't know why I didn't throw up. Have never been able to respect or trust those people again. There can be no tolerance for such wickedness. That is not opinion, but hate.

Though I read Salon every morning, I never read this column, and I just realized why. It is because I find the tagline offensive: "What you NEED to see, read, do this week." (The caps are mine, of course).

No doubt there is good critical writing here. But I do not respond well to the assertion that other people know better than I what I need. I am interested in the opinions of others, frequently read reviews and criticisms. Perhaps I am too sensitive to implication, but isn't sensitivity to implication a prerequisite for appreciation of the arts? On behalf of other independently-minded people, I ask if you could you give some thought to rephrasing the tagline.

I've seen this purportedly dispassionate I'm-just-doing-the-numbers-don't-blame-me crud before. Perhaps in your case it is true. Whatever. What it boils down to is this: The only hope Republicans have is that Americans are more racist than the polls indicate.

That must make you feel really proud.

I'm impressed to see someone using the word "conceit" in its original sense, "concept." You read, don't you? And not just contemporary fluff.

Just wouldn't be a campaign without the verbose wisdom of "experts," would it? Ah well, people have to make a living, even professional strategists.

It does occur to me, though, that Obama seems to know perfectly well what to do, and doesn't really need the advice of these types--at least one of whom worked for a LOSING Democratic campaign, if I understand correctly.

They seem, in fact, to be describing what he has done to a far greater extent than they are offering useful insight.

Yawn.

What makes you suppose that because I am weary of the prognostications of professional managers, their endless dull bloviating, that I am not a part of a campaign, that I am jaded, that I do not have a deep and abiding passion for my country and for justice, and that I wish the former to embody the latter?

Is it not possible to care about what matters and act for it and yet have no interest in lengthy blather, shallow observation, and hasty assumption?

Is it not possible that pointed language, cogency, and well-founded observation also matter?

Kudos to Mysticmom for pointing out the error in the tagline. Nice to read someone who is both literate and math-literate. Acceleration of the decline means the decline is getting faster. Slowing of the acceleration of the decline just means the decline isn't getting faster faster.

One of the great things about the internet is the ability to go back and say all of those things you thought of later. For example: Odds are I am as old as you, or older, and have been politically active for as long or longer. Or this: You are very poetic about the power and thrill of working for a campaign, and very evocative. Nice writing. Consider though, that many other people may derive just as powerful a sense of connection to what matters from other activities.

But finally, any disagreements we might have are entirely trivial compared to the significance of this election. I have the feeling you and I will be voting for the same executive candidates on the 4th, and I am glad of that. Thank you for all the hard work you've put in for the cause.