Given the nuances of contemporary politics, there was a time I would have liked to see Hillary Clinton run. However, I think that whatever small window existed for this possibility is now closed. Had she risked sporting the infamous "flip-flop" label and admitted that this illegal invasion/occupation was a mistake, I probably could have accepted that. Anything now is too-little-too-late.

And whether or not the 2000 and 2004 elections were "stolen" is water under the bridge. But the narrative after these travesties should have been about election reform, and not about reaching out to red-staters and the "morality" of the Christian right. Hillary and Company (i.e. the DNC and the DLC) have done very little as leaders to accomplish anything of what should be an opposition party.

As an ardent Dennis Kucinich supporter in 2003, my first choice is Russ Feingold. I honestly don't think that he carries the same baggage as Kucinich, and perhaps Howard Dean, and I believe that we have probably learned many lessons from those campaigns that can help a candidate like Feingold.

At the risk of seeming as stoogy as George W. Bush, I frankly could care less about pollsters, pundits, and pajama bloggers. I prefer to contribute to someone who speaks to issues. If confronted with a candidate inclined to steal elections, and/or a public willing to compromise issues for that and less, then the people get what they deserve and things will have to get much, much worse.

Frankly, we've seen very pessimistic scenarios concerning the future of this country on the very pages of Salon. My view is to let the chips fall where they may. But I'd rather do it with some integrity left. And Hillary Clinton is unfortunately not part of that left.

I called Senators Boxer and Feinstein to urge them both to support a filibuster. I then asked why we're even having a public debate about issues such as abortion rights, torture, warrantless spying, equal rights, etc., when it seems our elected officials cannot even muster the political courage to use whatever tools are available to defeat such a radical, monumental appointment as this.

No, it doesn't really matter if the remains of Asbury Park disappear... as long as Rebecca has her article, and Carrie has her book publishing deal of that fabulous photograph collection... well, then, the kids are all right!

Rebecca Traister is one of those writers that... like someone with whom I have a meaningful relationship... I alternately love and hate...

When she is good, she's really good... but when she's bad, I really just want to say "no more... it's over."

And that's how it was with this article, which was so good right up until that very end. Where she ruined it. It just made me want to roll over and wonder why I even bother sometimes.

GEORGE BUSH WAS NOT "RE-ELECTED." STOP. REPEAT. GEORGE BUSH WAS NOT "RE-ELECTED." STOP. REPEAT. GEORGE BUSH WAS NOT "RE-ELECTED." STOP. REPEAT.

"A" cover-up worked... it's just not "THE" cover-up to which E.J. Dionne is referring. I know we've read all of the same post-election analyses and have come to different conclusions, and your condescending resident centrist / apologist Farhad Manjoo has contemptuously dismissed those of us who -- if not contested the results outright -- believe there were enough idiosyncracies and irregularities to at least question the overall outcome of the 2004 presidential election.

Enough of the electorate knew something was wrong, just as we did in 2000. I will contend that the cover-ups by a negligent press now complicit in stolen elections is part of larger vortex of deceit and denial... and that combined with an apathetic public is creating an overall cover-up of reality. THAT is the real problem here.