it is unfortunate the gentleman from texas was not more forthcoming to matthews disrespectful and arrogant challenge to come up with something obama has done; however, the meaningful(and tirade-stopping) answer would have been, "gee mr. matthews, i can tell you what he didn't do - he didn't vote to authorize this war!"

it seems barack has to fight the under and above ground rumors he is a secret muslim or the wright association he is a south chicago black panther. should we not judge both the democratic candidates by what they do and say rather than what others say-whether it is bill clinton or jeremiah wright or even pastor hagee?

my suspicion is those most bothered by any of these comments, would not have voted for any of these candidates; and statements by others only gives them an acceptable excuse to validate their biases.

yes, wright's view of america is grim; but how can i judge where he is coming from as a white, middle class, over 60 voter. you know i have heard it said, older women have said to hillary they have waited an entire lifetime to vote for a woman for president.

well, as a child of the 60's i remember driving from my home in the midwest to attend lsu and seeing for the first time a "white only" drinking fountain at a filling station in mississippi; or experiencing walking back to my dorm on the lsu campus after hearing jfk had been assassinated seeing the only people of color on the campus men digging a ditch standing with their hats in hand sobbing; or worrying about my husband coming home after night classes from UofH the night mlk was assassinated, i have waited my entire adult life to vote for an african american for president.

so let's see: we the electorate should be insulted and appalled by the grim words of obama's pastor; yet we have a president who has sanctioned torture and renditions, imprisoned those at gitmo without habeas corpus and any legal rights, lied and manipulated the american people and our allies into a pre-emptive war with iraq which has cost us blood and treasure and not made us safer taking our eye off bin laden and afghanistan and pakistan, politicized the justice dept.,and given tax breaks to the wealthy and corporate loopholes to eliminate jobs from working americans.

yes, i am shocked, shocked i say!

as we have watched 8 years of the "evangelical" right wing of the republican party; and seen a "born again" president authorize the use of torture, rendition, gitmo, iraq, warrantless wiretapping of american citizens and the politicizing of the justice dept., i for one am sick and tired of the God, presented as fact, in our country.

i too miss dear molly ivins; and would love to hear what she would have had to say about this campaign. the phrase "deal-with-dignity" seems like an oxymoron to me when it comes to the clintons.

i am deeply saddened to hear what mike huckagee quipped at the nra convention today; although i am the polar opposite in political views, in the republican debates he seemed at least to be human and sincere and affable.

words do matter, and i am convinced while racial bigotry and anger still exists in this country, it had become unacceptable to voice them outside of the confines of one's small group. this all changed when first bill, then ed then hill said it was okay to vote and voice your bigotry.

as one old enough to remember november, 1963 then the killing of MLK and finally Bobby, i am horrified someone who even joke about this, let alone a baptist minister.

dear readers, do apologize for my bad typing; i must learn to preview first.

we have watched hillary arrogantly lie(3 times)about bosnia as though no one would dare show a you-tube moment of truth; we listened to bill clinton and his jesse jackson comment prior to the south carolina primary, we listened to ed rendell with his coded permission, "some people in pennsylvania will not vote for a black man," we listened to hillary's comments about hard working whites; but now we are to accept her assassination comment as though those who are supposedly her biggest supporters did not grow up enduring dallas, november 1963, memphis, june 1968 and los angeles, june 1968. as her past comments would suggest, she was not just tired or frustrated, she knew exactly what she was saying, she meant what she was saying and she knew what coded message she was sending. shame, if not on hillary, on superdelegates and those over sixty voters who still support her and excuse and accuse anyone and everyone but her!