The guy is so transparently phony (robotic, even) that he would not have helped as a running mate, even if he could have gotten along with McCain for the duration of the campaign, let alone a four-year term. They hate each other. And from the voters' responses to Willard during the primary season, they're none too fond of him either.

Willard is done. McCain is close to done. Palin will be lucky to be a footnote in four years.

Rove is a swine - on his good days. Still, this was pointless, doomed to fail, and there is no chance that it would even evoke sympathetic responses from most liberals.

Leave the hollow theater to the TSA. Code Pink, knock it off. You want to do something useful, get yourselves down to your local Obama field office for GOTV calls.

Aren't they the people who always said that if you have nothing to hide, there's no need to worry?

So Sam Wuerzelbacher has a few things to hide - his unlicensed (and therefore illegal) operation, his tax evasion, the fact that he was contacted in advance and is thus a plant - we're all supposed to overlook those things, because he's a "real American".

Well, I'm a real American too. And people like him, McCain, and Palin disgust me. They represent the basest aspect of humanity, distilled to its essence. And the stench of that essence is overpowering.

So? Unions were formed to protect workers - the plumbers and such that Palin fraudulently claims to speak for.

People like "ideefixed" (how utterly revelatory) seem to think that everyone other then them ought to work for free, for the privilege of being allowed in the same room as the object of his one-handed typing. They are wrong, of course.

Oh, and "ideefixed" - next time you browbeat a waiter, as I'm sure you often do, remember that it's rarely a good idea to be unpleasant to the person who's bringing you your food...

The ludicrous clothing bill these people ran up gives the lie to any pretense of being part of the "real America" they may want to display.

Then again, isn't this what real Republicans are all about? Looting the treasury (any convenient treasury will do, apparently) while claiming to "look out for the little guy"?

I know, I know, it's long past the "wake up, America" time - still, it bears repeating: These people will say and do anything to appease the gullible while enriching themselves at others' expense.

And now that I think about it, it does make perfect sense that a looter like Palin would be the running mate of a guy who has to ask his staff how many houses he owns.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.