Huge emphasis is placed on swottiness. Legal studies require a lot of learning by rote; originality of thought isn't required as it frequently is in other disciplines.

The Democratic Party has nominated a freshman Senator for president with no executive experience who is consistently prone to eye-brow raising oratory like "this is when the oceans began to recede and the planet began to heal" and nominated a senior Senator for vice-president with no executive experience who has documented integrity issues and a career-long reputation for populist statements that regularly elicit kind laughter from all sides of the political spectrum. Mr. Editor, your article stands on the most shaky of argumentative ground. Senator McCain and Governor Palin may not be the best intellects and policy experts the GOP has to offer but one could easily substitute Senator Obama's name for Governor Palin's name in your article and proffer a counter article entitled, "The dumbing down of the Democratic Party". Senator Obama is likely to win this election for a variety of unfortunate reasons and also since you're probably too arrogant and cynical to read the powerful policy work that is regularly produced by GOP supporting intellectuals in the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Forbes, The Weekly Standard, etc., etc., you will continue to fool yourself into believing the GOP is on the ropes and headed towards a permanent place in the political wilderness. Be careful, you may want an American socialist state but that's not what Americans want. The GOP will be back.

I went looking for a particular quote I've heard attributed to Hitler. I never found it. I did find these:

“All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach.”

“How fortunate for leaders that men do not think.”

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”

“I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator”

“Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever invented for its own destruction.”

“It is not truth that matters, but victory”

“By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise” [As a worker in the manufacturing sector this is my favorite. LL]

“Humanitarianism is the expression of stupidity and cowardice”

“I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few”

Even if McCain/Palin lose this election I don't think we will have seen the last of Palin. The Rove/Cheney (that is, fascist) group has more invested in her than McCain. She is the perfect vessel for their program. Isn't there going to be an open Senate seat in Alaska soon? Even if Obama had the right (that is, correct) instincts - and I'm not convinced he does - there is no way he can make it through the next 4 years with any kind of success with this trillion-dollar albatross hanging around his (and our) neck.

The way the trolls have descended on this thread shows we must have struck a nerve.

lcliii

this article just proves the joe conason is way less intelligent then sarah palin. its a stupid article from someone that thinks he is way smarter then he is. just the mere stupidity of the article makes one wonder why anyone would ever want to read any article by this guy again. joe stop being an idiot and think like an open minded person should.

This article just proves that flasher3838 is more of an asshole than the rest of you. S/he's a stupid poster who thinks s/he is much less of an asshole than he actually is. The sheer stupidity of the lame retort to Joe Conanson's article makes one wonder why anyone would ever want to read anything posted by this guy again. Flasher 3838, stop being an idiot and think like an open minded person should.

obama got the nomination because of the complete backing of the main stream press. the media went after clinton on every little ticky tack thing untill thats all you could read when you read a paper or got on the computer and thats all you could see if you watched news on tv. they decided they wanted him to be the nominee, not the people. they decided this because they wanted to write the story. the story of the first black man to rise to the presidency of the u.s.a. they liked the story and went with it both guns a blazing. there is little doubt that in these troubled times that clinton would be a better pick. there is little doubt that his redistribution of income that obama wants to do, is the wrong step in this day and age. i could go on for hours but u get my point

You wrote:

"The GOP will be back."

For your benefit I will iterate the prediction I made in these pages earlier this year:

In approximately 6-7 years, the GOP will cease to exist.

Mark the words, boy, mark the words.

Please.

I've been watching redistribution of income since around 1981. It got a nice boost last week, didn't it?

Not so dumb...

Yesterday Palin said Obama had terrorist pals. OK, ex-terrorist pals. What is an issue here is that Obama clearly lied to the nation about his relationship with Ayers in an effort to distance himself Ayers, but when Ayers hosts a campaign event for Obama that is hardly a man who is "just another guy in the neighborhood."

The truth is facts indicate that Ayers and Obama have had a close working relationship related to the failed Chicago Annenberg Challenge where Obama was chairman and Ayer's hosting of campaign fund raisers for Obama.

Honesty is the issue and Obama's performance with the Annenburg project and his true relationship with Ayers, but on a recent Chicago radio talk about Annenburg the Obama campaign refused to participate except to e-mail activate the bloggers and callers to suppress the interviews.

What all the associations and friendships Obama has had do, is paint a picture of the values and beliefs that Obama may hold, since he won't tell us himself. These are long term friendships with individuals holding radical views, some who have been convicted of illegal deeds, and who have supported Obama financially. How can Obama simply dismiss these people as being insignificant to his life and to who he is today.

Who is Barrack Obama? In depth looks at Barrack Hussein Obama's long term relationships and mentors is critically important. But who will do it? The Times glossed over the Ayers story. There is much more there, but who will tell