First, let us remind that it was not Obama that brought forth the critisism of JTP. Obama answered his question thoughtfully, and moved on. It was the McCain campaign that brought JDP to everyones attention in an attempt to mount a bogus attack on some imagined socialist agenda. McCain set JDP up as some sort of ideal, and the press investigated the veracity of the claims that McCain made about JDP, most of them turned out to be untrue.

So what you are saying is that unless the press decided to hide McCain's deceptions about JDP, they are guilty of attacking him?

If I publicly put myself forward as some sort of expert on something, I expect my credentials to be examined. My credibility depends on it. I also expect that if I say something untrue, that I'm going to get called on it. That would not be an "attack", it would have been me being made to take personal responsibility for my statements.

JDP was not a licensed plummer, who was taking work away from real plummers. He claimed Obama was going to tax a business he didn't actually own. His question to Obama contained a false pretense (AKA: a lie). Obama's policies would, in fact, give him a tax cut, which if anything would have made it more possible to buy that business.

Republican's proposed tax cuts would not have applied to him. He was USED by the Repubican party to support a lie. Which makes the Rebunlican self-riteousness on this issue all the more galling. They used JDP and then have the gall to complain when someone has the guts to point out the lie.

Has Bethea lied? Is she not really a student? Is her a a school actually in good shape? If she lied, then have at her. Joe the Plummer did, and he got called on it. If the same situation applied here, I'm sure you'd be going at her.

The notion that the press as a whole is motivated in some way by liberalism is a republican talking point. There are certainly parts of the press that spin right ((Fox News) and those that spin left (Salon), but as a whole a member of the press is motivated by the desire to get a story.

So I reiterate: nothing in Obama's conversation with JDP exposed him to press scrutiny. A million people asked Obama a question during the campaign. It was John McCain's decision to make JDP a poster boy that exposed him to the scrutiny. It was McCain's responsibility to vet his story, but McCain was too anxious to make a politcal point during the debates t worry too much about the truth. Nonetheless it was he, a conservative, that put JDP on the sacrificial platter. If it turned out that Bethea was similarly untruthful, then Obama would share responsiblity for exposing her to the ravages of the press.

Have you read your history? Trotsky broke from the communists and got an axe in his head in return?

I think one loses credibility when one plays the communist/Nazi card (again history: the two were mortal enemies). If anything American Conservatism can be more closely tied to Nazi philosophy and Communist practice. The wiretaps in the name of security (what's next? Turning your parents in for a pair of blue jeans?).

Darwinism: liberals don't care if you teach your kids creationism. Just not in science class. Creationism is not science; it's faith. Darwinism is science.

Prayer in school? .... Is not forbidden. Children of faith can pray anytime they like. What is not allowed is to force everyone to participate in your prayers. The separation of church and state was designed to protect church, not the other way around. Of course, lately it has been used to protect those of us who like to form our opinions from the religious who demand that we believe as they do.

Abortion? Too complicated to discuss in a few lines. But why should the majority have to bow to the views of the minority when the lives of that minority is not affected? Nobody is forcing you to get an abotion if you don't want one.

For the most part conservatism in this country is practced as a way for the minority to impose their will on the majority. That is more communist thanAmerican.

Too tired to rebut now, but just wanted to say it is a pleasure to argue with someone who argues, rather than "rhetorics".

Some short replies: not a big fan of many actions of Johnson or Moyers.

....I really don't have much of a problem with JDP. I have a problem with how he was used, and how those who used him try to shift the blame elsewhere.

Abortion: it might be fun to argue it with you, but like I said, too complicated for a couple of lines. Starting point: I believe it a matter of personal choice. I don't believe an early embryo is a human being. After that, it gets murky.

Joan: thanks for the welcome. I've enjoyed your writing and even more your TV appearances. I admire your gumption and quickness when confronting zealots and morons. Question: have you ever shared a studio with Ann Coulter, and if so, how did you resist bludgeoning her with the nearest blunt object?

But I do have to say that Im glad we could never be married - you know, the prattling and all. ;-)

I lived in a duplex!

Californians, like myself, are not any more anti tax than average, I think. Prop 13 (which was a long time ago) was popular because it redressed an injustice in property taxation that was causing elderly residents to lose their houses because they could not afford their property taxes.

On the other hand, we've voted in lots of taxes for the common good: transit, for example. I'm not necessarily a fan of federal mandates either, although I prefer these funded mandates more than the unfunded ones we've seen in the past.