When I first saw that catalog, I was going to run right out and get one for my neighbor who LOVES Hillary. It never occurred to me that it was an insult! Isn't that funny? I'm sort of weird that way.

Well, if you're weird like that, then perhaps you'll like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDU9xKNo-zo

I know your neighbor will.

My neighbor is a psychologist; she'll have a heyday with that ending about her being his "daddy"!

So many provocative, engaging thoughts.

Thank you for that.

So many things to respond to, but I'll focus on this:

"I know that many people will say that they are laying a trap, waiting to attack her as soon as they can, but in my gut--a place that agrees wholeheartedly and intuitively with Barack's message of finding common ground between enemies--I can't help but think that she has only gained in terms of her "likeability" factor with real righties."

Ok, as to Obama's claim to unite and Clinton's manifest action in this case.

I agree that reaching out to a Fox audience is important.

The question is how one reaches out.

I didn't see Clinton's interview, only the snippet where she said indignantly, "Well I don't think the government spread AIDS.

That said, here's what I think. If the cost of going on Fox was offering odious panders such as this, then we have a serious dilemma, which is really the dilemma: what's more important, winning votes at any cost or committing oneself to a (more or less) principled agenda.

To me, the cost, in this scenario, whatever else she managed to accomplish or articulate over the course of the interview, is that she marginalized the "liberal" spectrum of political discourse.

Now, we can argue on whether that cost is worth the greater end (which is what, exactly, beyond having a Democrat in the White House?), but to me, this is where the rubber hits the road: is this a cost worth paying?

My answer is no, but I'm happy to entertain counter-arguments.

So when you write that Clinton is a better "politician" then yes, if "electability" is the ultimate metric, she may well be (although I can't imagine her not ultimately being brought down by the same tactics by which she held on and prevailed, if it turns out that way).

The real question is, electability at what cost?

If she's elected and bombs Iran, what's the difference?

Literally, what's the difference? Then we have to start haggling over whether the risk of tension with Iran is worth whatever other boons Clinton is holding out.

Anyway, great thoughts, lateagain, thanks.

You know why European nations by large margins reduce carbon emissions compared to the US? Because a gallon of gas costs $8 or more.

We don't need a break from spending less than any industrial nation on petroleum products, we need to use less petroleum.

Gas tax holiday is a stupid idea, and Clinton running to the right is not earning her any points in my book.

"We heard a lot about Obama's miserable bowling score in PA, but comparatively little about his recent basketball games."

To be fair, I can see how the media might shy away from that one like toxic waste, not wishing to incur the risk of being accused of racism for turning Obama into Shaquille O'Neill.

I'd be inclined to give them a pass on that.

It takes "balls" to make a village

and it takes "balls" to bomb and strafe and pillage

Hillary in that most hallowed Hollywood sense

could don the title "Obliterator"

to impress all the ladies and gents

On the other hand

if Obama ever goes the way of the "Obaminator"

then for me it's "See ya Jack, I'm outta here

bye bye, Later!"

Brains are the the beautiful organs that I want most to see

THAT would be one first for a real victory!

Keep it real people.

Yeah, that IS the funniest video I've seen of Clinton "rap". I like her fighting with Bill over the phone. And the "Barry, Barry, I love your words but you're gonna have to wait your turn"

But on the sort of serious side, I think your weirdness brings up some interesting thoughts about why stuff like the nutcracker that wouldn't be seen a sort of a compliment in the first place - and I'm saying that because I certainly didn't see it. But now that I think about it, there's something actually fairly intriguing about how that's disseminated culturally.

I mean I'm fairly sure that who created it thought it was insulting - and it is. But on the other hand - it's a fantastic and funny statement about Clinton. It cracks me up now.

Just like "Bitch" is both good and bad. But, I think it's only recently that has come across that way.

Perhaps Hillary decided to show up on Fox because (drum roll as hell freezes over) it's the ONLY television network which has given her an even halfway fair shake in recent months. Speaking of which, the following piece is a must-read for anybody who has the slightest concern about the Fourth Estate running rampant. The writer addresses the fact that Hillary Clinton is the first candidate EVER to have been pressured by the frigging media to bow out of a presidential primary (now, there's objectivity for you). This piece doesn't venture into analysis as to why this is happening, a subject which obviously needs to be addressed by someone soon. Someone, that is, other than the 14 million voters, many of them quite angry, who have voted for Hillary and who continue to be blithely ignored by the MSM.

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200804300001?f=h_column

"What I mean is, maybe she will practice bipartisanship at home but win points with the tribe by provoking warfare overseas?

An unreserved yes.

I could be wrong, but it would take some serious convincing. I honestly, in my heart of hearts believe she's more like Bush than we recognize.

Her intransigence when it comes to self-reflection, for one.

Her inability to think in terms of the wisdom of things on a daily basis.

Her apparent reliance on loyalists.

Her thriving on the siege-mentality environment.

I really don't mean these things as ad hominems. They're really not.

They're the products of years of both casual and intensive scrutiny on my part.

It's my considered judgment that her foreign policy might truly reflect the tribalism you mention.