E-mails of the editors are available on the site if you want to call attention to the name-calling. The poster in question has been doing that here for years. Anyway, I'd rather read answers to R-BL and KcM than retorts to a known psychopath. Why don't you ignore him and answer them?

Journalists or their editors will have to agree - a huge majority of them - that they will change. Otherwise, those who choose integrity over the illusion of "access" will continue to be marginalized, while the mainstream access-ories continue to print "anonymous" press releases and "leaked" talking points. I think the blogosphere goes a long way, but the mainstream press still enjoys plenty of legitimacy. And the old digital divide people used to talk about is still very, very real for the people who most need "access" to the truth.

I have NO idea what Power was thinking. I have been wondering if she was drinking with that Scotsman guy or something. The censors were clearly turned ALL the way off. I do feel sorry for her, getting her tongue caught in the media wringer like that. I can imagine doing something stupid like that myself - which is why I will never, ever be a politician of any kind. At least I already know my own limitations.... Apparently she did not. I thought the Obama campaign handled it very well, though.

Of course neither candidate can make a precise plan for how to get out of Iraq right now. First of all, they aren't getting out RIGHT NOW. The "promise" part is "I'll leave as soon as possible without making the situation worse for Americans." I wish some actual news would happen already.

All that said, Power is much better outside the campaign, as a commentator.

I hope you will not leave. I have gotten very good at skimming the first few words of a post and knowing which ones to skip. I can name most people's tunes in fewer than five words now. I can name manos', W.E.S.'s, maureenodonnell's and certain other posters' tunes without even reading a single word, in fact. So no, I didn't see the "violently" thing. But I respectfully, humbly, admiringly and extremely adverbially implore you to stick around. I think this time is just a lull in the news cycle, and people are uncomfortable with uncertainty and trying to push things in what they see as a favorable direction. It feels more ominous than anything else to me - because there are clouds on the horizon, and surely something big is going to happen, and no one knows yet what it is - but whatever does happen, I will come back to read what you and Juliebird and Slackie and even Xrandadu, who has mellowed and grown on me, write about it. Thanks for being here.

I'm still not sure whether to take you seriously, but I adore you, as ever. You are one of the sharpest tacks here.

I voted for Obama and have given a little to his campaign, but I don't call myself an Obama Supporter because the term has come to have herd-mentality implications - thanks, in part, to Hillary Clinton. Furthermore, I have never experienced "the Big O," as you so hilariously call it. For me, Clinton represents the worst of the Democratic party. For a while I thought I could happily vote for either, but after he failed to do in her campaign on Tuesday, I remembered the dread I used to feel, long before she officially announced. I am tired, tired, tired of the Democratic party's centrist, loser candidates. I do admire her, but I don't actually think she would be a better president than Obama. Of course, I will vote for either in November. I feel that Obama will win the nomination and the presidency, but in the meantime I am going to have to stop reading so much about xGate or I will lose my mind.

Did you just become an Obama supporter today? Or was that tongue-in-cheek?

I think Joe's point is that Obama needs to answer them in a national forum, or it's going to come back and get him. He feels he has answered the charges, but John and Jane Voter don't all read factcheck.org. Obama needs to speak to the American people on the subject, and look good doing it, and he has appeared to avoid that. I am an Obama voter, and I believe there is no There there with Rezko, but I still agree with Joe.

Let's have a moment of silence for the slippery slope as well. It used to be the name of a logical fallacy. Now saying someone is headed down a slippery slope is actually considered a great argument.

Both campaigns send out e-mails when they lose, when they win, when they go on the attack, when they get attacked, etc. I expect to start seeing e-mails from them every time they change their socks. What I would like to know from you, Alex, is whether there really ARE radio attacks in states where I do not live that anyone besides Senator Clinton and her surrogates consider "deceptive." Because that's not something I can find out very easily without driving to Wyoming.

Hey, wait. I thought you were out yesterday! And weren't you already out the day before that? And last week?

The idea that you were ever "in" is ridiculous.

about undisciplined messaging.