I have no idea what you're talking about. But then, I was never much on all that book learnin' (spits tobacco).

I too have friends and family serving in Iraq (and Afghanistan). I hope those you care about come home safe and sound.

Actually, my contempt is not for those who happen to lack college degrees, who work hard and quietly go through their lives as productive citizens. I wish they were more interested in politics, and therefore more likely to argue in favour of their chosen candidate.

They are not the "Salt of the earth", they are people with their own opinions and own reasons, and deserve more respect than to be termed a cowardly breed of noble peasant.

My contempt is for the people who rely the "salt of the earth" bullshit myth to bolster their candidate.

It is for people who seem to think that an education, which is the primary disqualifiar against being "Salt of the earth", is a personal flaw.

My contempt is towards those who speak sneeringly of intellectual elitists, and then expect me to think that they aren't the same people who spoke sneeringly of intellectual elitists being against Bush.

but screw you anyway.

You're right, other people should (and probably can) focus more on Obama's domestic strengths. He seems to have many from what I've read, and a lot of people in here have mentioned the fact that Obama and Clinton have many areas in common domestically.

Iraq is a bit of a pet issue for me. I have some friends who have recently been deployed (in fact, I am about to attend the birthday party for the 1-year-old daughter of one of them).

Screw you.

As soon as Clinton or Obama gains the upper hand in a very real way the party leadership will have a little talk with the other just like when those Republican senators took that walk over to the White House to tell Nixon it was over. If which ever one of the two is told to step aside decides to give a big "fuck you" to the party they're dead politically. This could be over with Texas and Ohio or Pennsylvania even it the nomination is not actually "wrapped up." Both Clinton and Obama want careers left in tact after the dust settles. If either is told to back off, I can't see either refusing.

Ncawley: "Why are you in disagreement of Colin Powell's role in this war?"

What on earth are you talking about? Look, I totally agree that Powell ALONG WITH EVERYBODY ELSE IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION is primarily to blame for Iraq. My position on Hillary's involvement in that is a little more nuanced than you might be capable of comprehending, but I am criticizing Hillary Clinton for not taking better leadership in realizing that the Neocons were incompetent, warmongering screw-ups and averting their march into a severely ill-conceived war.

The only thing I don't understand about your posts is why you're focusing on one person instead of the entire group of them. Why is that? If you can't answer, then don't even bother replying. (It's not like I don't know what you're really up to anyway.)

Anonymous: "As shown there, almost 70% of the public approved of the Iraq war."

Approving of the war at the time, and caring about politicians' positions on the war NOW, are two different things. I think people do care that Hillary Clinton was in a position to avert this disaster, and failed to do so.

Anonymous: "It was not until June 2005 (!) that the American public realized what a mess it was turning out to be. If that is not the will of the people, not sure what is."

Where do you get June 2005? The insurgency was already a major problem within just a few months. Contractors were being dragged through the streets in summer 2004, I think. 70% of Fallujah was leveled in fall 2004. Abu Ghraib shit hit the fan in spring 2005.

So where do you get "the public didn't know it was a mess till June 2005"?

Anonymous: "And this debate (and Obama's candidacy) would have been moot if there indeed had been WMD in Hussein's arsenal. OR even without WMD's if the neocons had actually planned the occupation in advance."

But it's not moot, and here we are -- in the midst of the worst international disaster the U.S. has seen since Vietnam. So it does matter.

I'm not really disagreeing with anything you say. All I'm saying is I think Obama and his supporters would be better off arguing why he's a better candidate on economic issues, health care, etc., than continuing to crow about him being right on Iraq from the start. Unless I'm missing something, he's preaching to the converted--when what he needs to do is convert some of the constituencies he's losing now.

The only thing turning is the calendar while the Media stays consistent. The Democratic race has generally broken down into two camps. The young and elite who in the past have rallied around George McGovern, Gary Hart and Bill Bradley have consistently supported Obama and he has combined them with huge support among African-Americans.

Clinton has combined support from women, working class Democrats and other ethnic groups. With some groups acting as swing voters and no group being consistent always.

Thus caucus states in which ethusiams and more flexible work schedules favor Obama and primary states with large numbers of Black Democrats also support Obama. However with the end of the causes and also the end of Southern primaries it is not clear that Obama will do as well. The coming primaries will be in states with large working class populations and large minority groups who are not African-American. only afte all these have occurred will we really know if anything has turned.

Uh, I'm not sure what you're trying to say about Latinos. More integrated? Don't experience problems? Only integrated, calm Latinos support Obama? I'm confused.

By the way, the population of Ohio is 12% African-American. That is not exactly "huge" demographically speaking. But Obama will undoubtedly win them at least 3:1.

Also, Ohio's per-capita income is 25th in the nation and falling. The economy will be far and away the biggest issue there. Obama will need to convince blue-collar Dems to vote for him. They won't do so because Salon runs front-page articles raving about his momentum.