...when you wrote this--"The peculiar thing is that this only applies to politics: voters who would not dream of taking their car to an incompetent mechanic or their body to an unlicensed physician have no problem electing totally unqualified candidates to perform the most difficult and important job in the world, simply because they identify with them."

Gary, a lot of Americans (including some Democrats) are not entirely happy with the giant experiment we are doing with our medical students. In essence (in large part due to affirmative action policies [which in many circumstances I am in favor of]), we are trying to find out how watered-down we can make the science education (and, in some minds, the raw intellect) of those pre-med students who make it onto medical school.

Do not discount the effect of affirmative action...on many swing voters. So, while all physicians are licensed, there is the gnawing thought (in the minds of some) that because of affirmative action, the overall quality of MDs isn't as high as it could be.

This sort of thing is important in the minds of many swing voters.

...on several fronts, in order to enable the country as a whole to see what Sarah Palin is all about. It isn't hard to imagine the Republican strategists using all of the 'tricks of the identity politics trade' that the Dems and feminists have used all these years, on their own behalf now...chortling all along the way.

I am reminded of how the Democratic attempts to get minorities into Congress relied on redistricting, and how the Republicans, years later, used those same strategies IN SPADES.

Be careful what we wish for...

Bravo Camille. I am a Democrat...but share your views. Keep it up.

...you're fighting the good fight, and you're a decent writer, and your voice is essential these days.

But on Chris Matthews, you are very very wrong. How can I persuade you and other Salon readers that it is (was) people with the thinking of Chris Matthews who decide elections...that Chris Matthews was a Jimmy Carter speechwriter...and that if folks like Chris Matthews hadn't defected (first in the '80s for Reagan) and now with W...if those folks hadn't voted Republican...we would not be in the mess we're in.

And these folks believe that the Democratic Party deserted them. Rightly or wrongly...that is what they believe.

Chris Matthews is NOT a liberal or a conservative. He is a centrist-oriented media personality.

And he is like the coal miner's canary. We should listen to Chris Matthews...for our own sake, and for the sake of our country.

...I am plagiarizing Reality Based Lefty. I could not write it better myself:

"Joan,

Please quit, immediately.

You do not get it.

Fundamentally."

Joan Walsh is an embarrassment to women...and an embarassment to Salon.

She is a singer who can only sing one note. And her song is off-key.

...because I do not have much appreciation for the words of Ms. Montana-LeBlanc. Does anybody out there agree with me...that she is part of what is wrong in New Orleans?

Gary, you have put into words what I have been thinking since the '84 LA Games. Do you s'pose that Carter's 1980 boycott signaled to the patriotism zealots that it was OK to carry on like they do?

But it is the over-the-top patriotism combined with the incessant desire to get women to watch, with touchie-feelie references galore...together with the notion that NBC is playing with its viewership (lack of live coverage for important events)...I feel like my kids have been cheated as far as real Olympics coverage is concerned.

Now ESPN programming head John Skipper is on the record saying that NBC has dishonored the notion of the Olympics with their shaping of the narrative...and that ESPN plans to bed on upcoming Games...and will show everything LIVE.

Bravo ESPN!

I cannot emphasize enough how much I agree with Ventura's point of view regarding Bush and Cheney, in terms of how their thoughts and actions regarding the war in Iraq would differ if their own offspring would be required to serve on the front lines.

In this way, Rep. Rangel was on to something when he suggested, years ago, that perhaps the draft should be reinstituted.

...whether this is a battle worth fighting. My heart says it is. My head says it isn't. I plan to try and read as much as I can about Obama's position and post again. For sure, though, Glenn G.'s perspective is important--more voices with his perspective need to be heard.

Joan Walsh:

You.

Don't.

Get.

It.

And I'm afraid you never will.

You don't understand the reasons why Reagan and the Bushes won elections.

And you don't understand why I don't pay (directly) to read Salon.

I'm afraid you aren't very smart. Your opinions are not valued.

I honestly believe in diversity. It is important to have mediocre talent in positions of authority.

It is almost impossible for me to overemphasize my belief that what you write, in terms of your views, are only understood to be 'logical' in the same way that the OJ Simpson jury's verdict was 'logical'.

I'm 100% serious. You, when writing about Hillary and Obama and gender...your own experiences have so colored your views that your writings on the subject are as WRONG as the Simpson verdict was.

Perhaps understandable...but wrong. Wrong for the country, and wrong for the Democrats (which includes me).