"Inside scoop is that the Supremes are poised to disqualify him if the real polls demonstrate that he might really win."

Haha. Pooper-scooper needed for THAT scoop.

Okay, now how about an explanation for Palin and McCain's nastiness.

"-I love the mesmerizing voice of Barak Obama. It's hypnotic just like MLK, JFK, FDR and William Jennings Bryant. Good message, too"

Oh-oh. There's somebody else in the Salon letters claiming Obama is hypnotizing people. Don't encourage him!

"So does this mean he's NOT a Muslim? I'm confused.

Oh, no, he's also a Muslim. And a socialist, a communist, a terrorist, the most liberal member of the Senate, a baby killer, and the greatest threat to the United States ever.

He's all of that. At once.

It keeps him very busy."

#### Great! A multi-tasker like that should make a good prez!

""the man swam about in a racist, paranoid cesspool for 20 years"

Obama spent 20 years in the Republican Party?"

#### Good one!

Transcript is one thing, but hearing it is another. She didn't sound like she was just being polite. She sounded all giggly and high and *wow*. There was no just smiling and nodding - she happily contributed to the hunting talk, stopping just short of agreeing that it's wonderful to kill things. And it's interesting to hear that the call didn't go right thru - the pranksters talked to the staff a couple times first? Then there was no excuse not to check this out with the campaign handlers or get some advice ahead of time on how (or if) to talk to the French prez, etc. - get a briefing or something. (Which would have clued in the presumably somewhat-with-it people beyond her immediate staff.) Even a one-to-one:- Hey John, Sarcophagus wants to talk to me, is that copasetic?

Re Mercer - what others have said. Plus, one that stuck in my memory was an interview with a professor on the steps of his university. Forget the subject, but whatever it was, it was something concerning which his ignorance was appalling. Of course, with the (Canadian) professors of my personal acquaintance, their brains are evidently only activated when they stand at their lecterns and they are otherwise unable to apply their hard-earned thinking techniques.

The Mercer bits were always kinda sweet, tho. You want nasty (but totally warranted), there's Colbert's interviews with hapless Representatives of the Fighting Whatevers.

With you on the tearing up. Regardless of anything else, and even regardless of what kind of prez Obama turns out to be, this is an historic day - a black person as president of the U.S.! I expect a few gushers this evening.

Also, for the idea that Americans are rejecting the nastiness of McCain/Palin/Cheney/Bush...

Cheers & tears!!

is this very moment on CNN yammering on about he wants to keep all his money and taxing people earning over $250,000 is just so awful. So I think that twitter thing was a joke.

P.S. - "Bible Spice" is Alec Baldwin's term

I keep crying.

But not the way I would have had McCain/Palin prevailed!

The talk in the U.S. of left, center and right is baffling to people in the rest of the industrialized world...us with our health care and gay marriage and all.

Which reminds me - apparently the large turn-out of blacks in California, happy to see their own final barrier come down, is responsible for the rejection of bringing down the final barrier to the civil rights of gay people. Sad. Some honeymoons are more equal than others...

"smiling emptily under a shellacked cap of shiny brown hair like a demon clown". (Why didn't everyone see Reagan that way, dammit.)

Surely if Americans had any notion of what goes on in other countries, they'd shrug and say okay to gay marriage and YESS!!! to health care. Far from rotting the fabric of society, the former is neither here nor there to straight citizens, and the latter is absolutely vital to everyone.

There are two kinds of marriage, the governmental (legal contract) and the religious/social, and we perpetuate the gay marriage battle by confusing them. A lot of the confusion comes from church officials having the power to witness the signing of the legal contract.

The province of Quebec in Canada has done a good job of disentangling the two things. In that jurisdiction, there is no "legal marriage". There are civil unions, which are government contracts bestowing certain rights upon the parties (inheritance, support, etc.) Civil unions are available to any couple, regardless of sexual orientation, and available from civil authorities (or individuals can get one-off officiant status from the government if the parties want to combine the legal thing with a ceremony and avoid the sterile civil service atmosphere of city hall). Marriage is something left to churches, to do or not do as they see fit, and bestows no legal rights.

"Palin is a natural force, a natural politician and leader.It's amazing that our country still produces such people in times of need.(I think you should do an article on how our national culture if we have one and our national myth spawns such people.)"

Substitute "Obama" for "Palin" and I'm with you.

Sad how the country also spawns no-nothing ding-a-lings like Palin. Also.