Is that really the best he can do? Lordy. Dukakis wore a helmet in his ludicrous tank drive, so there was at least an opening to say that Edwards might have to risk Helmet Hair in 2008, but I guess that's asking too much of a GOPeon working the mic.

As irritating as this kind of thing is, it's important to notice how the GOP has its Youth Corps intact as the farm team for the next generation of cold warriors, despite the weakness of their current lineup, all the screwups of the Bush League, and them getting most of their agenda imposed on the country (even though the majority opposed it); those overdressed, chuckling youngsters are going to be piped through the GOP machine into positions, working their way up through the hierarchy, to keep "the revolution" going. And that's no laughing matter.

The Democrats need to build up their farm team in the worst way, to tap into the generally broad (and growing) liberalism among young people into something tangible, or else the joke's going to be on liberals.

This time, he's a prisoner of the Iraq War. He's on the wrong side of this issue, siding with the president on his war of opportunity, regardless of the outcome.

Barring some unfortunate and untimely re-terrorism in the US between now and 2008, I think the Straight Talk Express is going to roll ever slower toward the brick wall of popular opinion, until it comes to a dead stop, and then McCain will fade away.

Why would Canada and Mexico want a union with the U.S.??? Sheesh, talk about a losing proposition. Both countries have enough problems without getting hooked up with the big retarded, drunk and very belligerent dude living in house between them . . .

maybe it could have something to do with, umm, oil??

Great post, TB! That made me crack up, the big retarded belligerent drunken dude! But oil shales in Canada, Mexican oil...hmm...yeah, I can see that! There's nothing that petro-politics won't try, if it means keeping those fossil fuels burning.

I'm reminded of Orwell, since he had his world in "1984" turned into various regions like that. Regionalism probably will happen at some distant point in our future; I've often joked that the US will try to annex Canada sometime, if only to liquidate their healthcare system.

Maybe transnationalism is the only way to deal with transnational corporations. Or maybe pan-regionalism is the only way. Or maybe we need to revoke articles of incorporation for companies if they're getting too big for their britches. I dunno.

The mainstream media love McCain. Maybe his campaign was always mostly wind, a hypothetical that the pundits and media professionals tried to stoke to life, while the substance of a winning candidacy simply wasn't there.

It's a good thing that the GOP candidate must march in lockstep for endless war, because that'll simply further alienate the GOP and their brimstone base from majority opinion on that and a host of issues. Although I keep noticing that the military's recruitment goals aren't being met, so the GOP base, while being adamantly pro-war, apparently aren't walking their talk. Maybe it's just the idea of permanent war that appeals to them, versus the actual fighting of it. Maybe they just want to WIN at something, and if it means bashing Third World heads by proxy, by jingo, they'll have it.

Which really mirrors their leadership, the whole chickenhawk mentality that continues to hang in the background with the GOP. It's curious that the only GOP candidate with real-war experience isn't winning the brimstoners' hearts and minds, despite his toeing Bush's line. Maybe McCain needs to do some horseback riding or something, get in touch with the base's fevered fantasies of able leadership.

Interesting piece, Mr. Leonard; glad you're giving it some attention. I've been paying attention to the role of organochlorines as industrial pollution and byproducts of plastics manufacture since the 90s, given their tendency to mimic estrogens in organisms -- who knows precisely how much this kind of pollution will ultimately be implicated in things like infertility (e.g., ever-lowering sperm counts by way of men exposed to the false estrogens), earlier onset of puberty in girls , rise in cancers, hermaphroditism in wildlife, and now obesity -- all related to exposure to estrogens or estrogen mimics.

This is important public health stuff, and you can bet the industry will fight/counter any publicly-funded research that cuts into their profits, although I doubt the mainstream media will give it any real coverage, or else will skew in favor of the industrial position, the way they invariably do on these kinds of topics.

I'm glad you at least covered how the industry has funded some shill research to push the pro-industry position -- but I would think that their methodology could be challenged in open science forums. Usually, this kind of rearguard action by industry is meant simply to delay the inevitable regulation as long as possible, following the "tobacco science" model.