Jesus, hold your wagging tongues for ten seconds, fools. Once again the slimy media have jumped the gun to piss on Hillary's grave. (Please excuse mixed metaphor.) They have been building to this lovely crescendo since Iowa. So, regardless of how anyone feels about this primary, I hope you understand that the media is NOT on your side. It has no conscience and no loyalties; it just perpetuates itself. Like a virus.

I look forward to celebrating Obama's victory AFTER Clinton's concession speech.

I'm sure Gore himself is not on the fence anymore after this. However, people who care about what Gore says probably fell off the fence many, many news cycles ago.

and a whole host of other Bush scourges continue because he serves fundamentalist Christians instead of the American people, regardless of what the science suggests.

What the hell is Hillary's excuse?

The DUI bit is below the belt.

This is dumb. Candidates are not responsible for what people in the audience say (unless they are plants, of course, but that's another topic...), and they are not in a position to start an impromptu debate with their supporters. It's just not appropriate! We really, really don't need to pick apart McCain's response to this idiot in order to show what an idiot he himself is. I am as interested as anyone else in the "shadow campaigns" conducted by surrogates and all that, but this just isn't an example of that. It's an example of McCain showing respect for a fellow veteran even though the guy is obviously insane. Believe me; being polite is the best approach in that situation.

You are a complete ass. Get off my team.

I have been thinking about this a lot, because I respect Sidney Blumenthal and was sad when he left Salon. My first reaction to the news that he might have intentionally spread rumors to help create a general anti-Obama miasma a la the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy was a deeper sadness. I did not receive the e-mails or see what most of them said, and I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt. I think the thing that still bothers me about this, though, is something that comes up a lot in my own line of work: the journalism/publicity revolving door. It works exactly the same way as the legislator/lobbyist revolving door, and there are inherent problems with it. I'd really love to see someone address that more directly. Thanks again, Joe.

I don't even read your posts anymore, but I caught the word "whore" while scrolling down and saw debaser mentioned it.

Do you think Obama would call Hillary Clinton a whore? If not, why not?

G!

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I appreciate the clear and quick response. I assumed something like this was the case, but since this thing was zooming around all morning (with your name involved), I hoped Salon would provide an articulate response. Thanks again.

Once again, before you start assuming that we're NOT getting along, you should pay more attention to the people with the bile problem. They are not Democrats.

You asked about Obama-supporting trolls earlier, and one of the old ones is back; he used to call himself Thrasher, and now he is GThrasher. He pretends to be a black dude and says inflammatory things about white people. Plenty of people are critical of both candidates, but anyone who sounds totally over the top and appears to be completely irrational and ignoring the issues and not actually responding to logic with logic - they are trolls. I don't care whose "side" they pretend to be on; I don't WANT to get along with them. It would be better if everyone acted as though they weren't contributing to the conversation. Because they aren't.

I think you are giving lolcait way too much credit. He is probably being paid to piss you off, so it doesn't serve him in any way to "turn down the vitriol."

I know you and all the writers here at Salon hear a lot of trash talk from people who would not be very good at your jobs. I am not trying to attack you, or Salon. But both the Kantor and the Blumenthal stories have been around for the same amount of time, and one seems more relevant than the other, both to this campaign and to this publication. I'm just hoping someone here will address it soon.

Even when I thought Kantor had said that word? It meant absolutely nothing to me. I just. don't. care. It has nothing to do with Clinton, nothing to do with Obama, and nothing to do with anything.

Frankly, I am more interested in what a former columnist for this very media outlet has to say regarding daily Obama-smearing e-mails to his former colleagues in political journalism, courtesy of the vast right-wing conspiracy. What does it say about the media? What does it say about the media's role in perpetuating unsubstantiated garbage "some people" allege is true? What does it say about how Fox News is setting the journalistic standards now?

Thanks for keeping tabs on the stuff that is bouncing around the echo chamber, Alex. I hope to see an entry soon about The Echoes of Blumenthal.

No, stupidity and fear do not absolve her. But I also don't think she deserves more focus than the father just because she is female. After all, HE is the one who committed unspeakable crimes.

OMG, I think coffee just came out my nose.