You want a specific? I'm one of those people who sees Obama's refusal to wear a flag pin as speaking something about the man. It tells me he's embarrassed of his country and thinks he's above ordinary sentiment. If he had just remained silent about it, no one would care. But no, he had to explain to us why he is better than the rest of us, why he feels no need to explain himself. Yet he wants us to trust him!?

Perhaps the world would be a whole lot better off if everyone had double-checked Dubya for flag pins in 2000.

The fact that he has lied the country into war, lied about torture, lied about pretty flipping much everything, would surely have been reflected in the lack of that dang little pin.

Your point, no offense, is idiotic.

If we were living in a near-Eden, perhaps the fact that one candidate thinks flag pins are dumb could be an issue. Unfortunately, this ain't no Eden.

Shooter made the same "character" argument. For Shooter to lecture ANYONE on character, after he has supported the Bush Regime's war crimes, is just too rich. I don't know whether you're just another Bush supporter, or who you are, but flag pins? Sorry. After 2 terms of George W. Bush, I care a great deal more about whether a candidate is willing to lie, torture and bomb innocent people, than what kind of pseudo-patriotic bling he is willing to wear.

LWM, of course, is already involved with a new production of Dicken's "Christmas Carol" in which he plays the ghost of Marley. You know "This is the chain I forged in life, link by link"!

-- Derbig Mooser

Ha ha ha. That got a belly laugh outta me. You've been on a real roll lately, Moose.

And LWM, we know you don't agree with all the politics over at antiwar.com. But they have done yeoman's work collecting and disseminating news on the war mongers from the get go. So cut them some slack. They also feature Glenn quite frequently. :)

Time to start ramping up the phone calls to Hoyer and the other weak knees.

Said the slave about the master. Overlord boots licked for free in New Jersey?

I didn't know the Constitution and the Bill of Rights got trumped by "Trust Us! We're the Government! We Know Better!"

If you're an American, and not in jail for refusing to pay your taxes that support every bomb we drop, then you can't really point to many fingers at others who are working within the system to change it. There isn't much in this country that isn't tainted.

Yes, Electro, and fellow travelers, look at the picture of that savage Iraqi pulling the dead body of his young son out of the rubble. What a bunch of f**king savages those Iraqis are.

You are always on about the Holocaust, Electro. Have you learned nothing from it? Or is it OK to demonize and dehumanize those "savage" Arabs?

The one thing we seemed to have learned from the Vietnam War is not to allow many pictures of what's really going on to appear on the Nightly News. Enough like that of the dead 3-year-old savages and maybe this war would be over.

Rosen, an Israeli journalist who speaks Arabic, has been on the ground in Iraq for years. This article, depicting what's really going on, and predicting worse, is grim:

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/05/selling_the_war/

That article, and that picture of the Iraqi father and his dead child, and I am undone.

I'm not interesting in "rescuing" the Iraqis. I'm interested in allowing them to live their lives without American bombs falling on them.

Those stupid "savages" don't seem to like bombs from foreigners falling on them and killing their children. Don't know why. They're odd that way.

Oh, what I wouldn't give to be smelling the cedars there! You made me homesick. Say hello to the mountains for me, if they're out.

Jeez guys. The maid sure has a lot to clean up this morning -- whadda party.

Shooter uses the example of a "fake news report" from France as a reason to never trust a French newspaper (I put it in quotes because I have no idea whether or not its fake).

The reporting by the NYT has, however, always been stellar and reliable, so Shooter thinks we should trust Michael Gordon. The U.S. government also would never lie in any of its reports, or slant anything so as to influence citizens, so they are a completely trustworthy source, as well, even when identified as "a government spokesman" or some such. (This latter would, of course, change should a Democrat take office next year.)

We're the government, trust us! You, peon citizen, don't you know there's a war on? Fall in line! (I'm also quite sure that Shooter supported Clinton's war in Serbia to the hilt -- love it or leave it, amiright?)

Michael Gordon wants a war with Iran. Sounds like he might get it. It is really hard to express how much I hate these people.

Send a letter to the Times complaining about Gordon's piece:

letters@nytimes.com

The last time Glenn wrote about Gordon's "an American official said" crap, the Times was inundated with letters, and actually changed that article IIRC.

Push back, people. It may not be much, but it's something.