McCain and Palin offer substance? Not in this lifetime!

McCain's privileged life and career as the son of admirals is now coming back to haunt him. When he had doors opened for him because of his family name, it took from him what ability to open them himself he may once have developed. Now that he has to show he American people what he has to offer, all he can do is stand there and bleat his empty words to match his empty hands. "I'm John McCain, dammit!" just isn't going to get him over in this one, and I think the realization is dawning on him.

As for Caribou Barbie, or "Embarracuda", as Joe Klein has dubbed her, she may be able to attract attention - much in the way a noisy child can - and yet she is showing every time she speaks that she too has nothing to offer other than poorly written attack lines with no substance behind them.

Watching the polls come out, state by state, as the weeks slowly drain away, they must see their campaign hopes ebbing into nothingness. And so they carry on, trying against all odds and reason to sling enough mud to make a difference.

It won't. Not this time. Mud is no substitute for either substance or a ground game, and this time I do believe America has seen enough.

The last gasps of demons are horrifying to behold, truly. And last gasps they are. We will be rid of them soon enough.

McCain the mediocre, a thoroughly undistinguished pilot (at best) after finishing near the bottom of the Annapolis class he only made because of his father and grandfather, deserves nothing other than open contempt from the American people.

He sees his campaign losing, he grows desperate, and he flings mud like a feces-spewing chimp in a zoo. Pathetic and pathological.

Palin is even worse, with her husband's connection to the treasonous Alaska secessionist movement.

Both of them exemplify the very worst this country can produce. Despicable, loathsome liars and dangerous radicals, both of them.

I'm in MN. Amy is my Senator. (The other guy, that utter embarrassment, well, that's hopefully soon rectified.)

She's sharp, good on the stump, and very popular here. And she's a Senator I can address by her first name - as I have.

2016, maybe. Or will she have decided that Senate seniority is a good thing and stay put?

Whichever, Amy, you've got my vote for anything you go after.

You are being far too charitable. The Republican Party and their apologists know the distinction (and difference) between payroll taxes and income taxes. It's long been one of their favorite dodges, one that many (civilian) people who are not tuned in on the difference miss.

In shorter terms, they're lying. As they always do.

McCain was part of a very different - and very isolated - culture during the years of the Civil Rights Movement - and as a result, he is truly oblivious to the historical facts Rep. Lewis' comments reference. I doubt he could tell any of us anything meaningful about George Wallace, I doubt he has anything of substance to offer on the era being discussed. It's worth pointing out, for example, that he was opposed to the Martin Luther King observance for a long time. In fact, I suspect he still opposes it, although even he isn't stupid enough to say it publicly any longer.

The McCain/Palin campaign has much to regret, in their stirrings of the raw emotions of the basest elements of our society. I suspect, though, that they lack the capacity for the honest introspection needed to feel that well-deserved regret, and instead cry foul when they are called out for their crassness, racism, and incitements.

They are a pathetic and loathsome duo, and deserve every bit of condemnation they get. And if it upsets them, well, I thought Republicans were supposed to be the tough ones. What a bunch of whiners.

Remember, she was the one hiding in the bushes at a rally where people were opposing one of her favorite causes, the banning of equal rights for gay people.

She was the one who put a liplock on George W. Bush a while back at a State of the Union appearance - almost stalking him in the runup to the aforementioned aggressive kiss.

She talks as though she is made entirely of extremist Republican (is that redundant?) talking points.

Matthews had her dead to rights - she could do nothing other than repeat herself, not answering any of his followup questions, not addressing anything other than her memorized spiel, staring fixedly into the camera like a spooked deer in onrushing headlights.

As a Minnesotan, I am not only embarrassed by her presence in Congress, I am repulsed. We are not like that lunatic. Most of us, anyway, other than the truly depressing wingnut contingent who feels they need to muddy up the Star-Tribune comments section with their hatred and bile.

She's as sharp as anyone on TV, and quicker on her feet than most. She's telegenic as all get out. Hot, even. And entertaining to boot.

And doubling the ratings of "Verdict with Dan Abrams", while a good thing in its own right, is damning her with faint praise - the Abrams show was terrible.