Get ready, and I'm not making this up, but PUMA actually stands for: Party Unity My Ass.

PUMA stands for "Party Unity My A**". It is the term that some of the more adamant Hillary supporters, or Obama haters, use to describe themselves.

TexanLiberal,

I'd remind you that Obama is actually from Hawaii, so it would make sense that he'd want to take the family there for vacation. I dont think this reflects a desire to be "showy".

No show biz there.

He needed to go vacation somewhere much less showy than Hawaii.

It's an American state, Obama was born there, he went to high school there, he still has family there. He doesn't need to pretend he's too poor to travel, that would be false.

If Mr. Private jet to his 8 homes feels the need to say Obama's pretentious...throw it right back in McCain's face.

Besides, I think it's more ridiculous for candidates to pretend they are something they're not. Obama'd look pretty silly going to Branson and Dollywood for his private vacation, it would look contrived.

I know it's never stopped Bush from cutting brush, but R's are a little more forgiving of their own team.

So you didn't read AKA Smith's posts last night? I thought you were around.

She gave the wikipedia definition I think. And she said Axelrod has a background in it. But our impasse was over Obama.

The way I understand it "astroturf" is, as you say, fake grass...it's a term for a fake grassroots movement. In other words when Walmart wants a lobbying group to be exempt from rules that might be placed on a corporate lobbying group, they can sometimes front the group with a name like "workers of the world united" or something equally completely false and misleading, and pretend that it is a spontaneous group of people who want that particular kind of legislation...instead of Walmart driven legislation that would help their corporation to make money hand over fist.

The problem is that Obama is a person and a candidate. I fear that Smith has fallen victim to the Lynden LaRouche writer who has a new manchurian candidate book out on Obama that I have read about but not read. Maybe I'm mistaking her sources, she didn't cite them. But this kind of accusation is hard to disprove or to prove...the point is that if Obama is fronting someone--who is he fronting?

It's all very vague and misleading...and helpful to the right wing. I believe the writing was on the wall for Democrats this year. Hillary might have won--but there was even a movie about her--a horrible right wing movie that was going to paint her as the worst villain the world has ever known. If people thought the obama supporter attacks were bad, it was going to get much worse (I think that movie is even available on netflix for anyone interested--I haven't seen it--and I never will, myself). Obama is being attacked as 1) the anti-christ 2) the manchurian candidate. I've heard all of these attacks before. And Edwards, we now know, didn't have a prayer.

So where is that perfect candidate? I know I get sick of mewling about Obama too--but who else did we have this year? The anti-christ and manchurian candidate seemed just as appealing to me and a tiny bit more (since I liked the way he wrote and what I thought was his good heart) as the rest. So--with no pay check at all for my trouble, I thought Obama. But if Clinton had won this year I'd be exactly as dull, urging Obama supporters to vote for her and to stop repeating right wing talking points against her.

Quel vicious cycle...Oh how I envy that irishman mccain as the beneficiary of our internecine liberal knife fights.

If Hillary isn't given a slot, then that would be a snub. Or is it customary for the party's last elected President to speak at the convention?

I just skim through Smith, her comments are mostly callous, and she likes to shoot from the hip.

However, because I'm slightly off-the-wall (as you Americans keep telling me I am), I had a little peek at this particular laptop, from which, yours truly the hellion lets fly in your fragile face. I'm very tired now but not so tired that I'll let you get away with anything.

Your screen-name sounds self-incriminating and you're finding it hard to get a job. Maybe you could work on achieving a little perkiness and, even playfulness. In your vocation, you should know that youngsters love that and are turned off by adults' moaning. What do you know about me? Nothing at all but I, like so many others on this earth, believe in putting a brave face to the world and NEVER, NEVER burdening others with my own mistakes. As for fawning, I'm not Bambi. I've been scorched but I'm one of those who never says "Die" unless it's of my own choosing.

Dolores seems upset - and that's the only reason I'm bothering with you, lateagain, because you're trying to provokr her. I apologise to Dolores if I've made life more difficult for her and she must learn, as we all must, "This too shall pass". Why did I see Dolores as a scheming minx? Well, months ago, I felt that Dolores was a sincere person. She told about her Republican racist parents, her Catholic boyfriend, her job as a social worker...As time went by and it became clear that I was not enamoured of Obama, Dolores accused me of "hating" him, said she was no longer a social worker because her purse was being adversely affected by her job and that McCain was offering money to people who'd work on his campaign. This all seemed very strange to me, a foreigner. What was she living on? Why did she write extremely long letters day after day, almost word for word to her previous letters? Why did she decide to take me on when I left her to whatever she wanted to do? Why did she quote Maureen Dowd on something about Barack's admission/admittance to Harvard, claiming it had appeared on a Thursday, when MD's column appears in the NYT on Wednesdays and Sundays. Now, Lateagain, since you're so antagonistic of me, perhaps you noticed that Auntie Cairo accused me of "racially tinged" comments but when I, in my opinion rightfully, demanded that she should explain what she meant there wasn't another word out of her on the subject.

Ms./Mr. Lateagain, since you fancy yourself an astute observer of patterns, how is it that you, seeking a job in education, didn't seem in the least bit ruffled when my sanity, my sobriety, my nationality were questioned? I use my own name, one of the few here not hiding behind an alias, my opinions are my own too. It's been a lovely day here, I'm at peace with myself and most of the world, and, because of that, I'll restrain myself from writing what I think of you. As it is, I've lost valuable sleeping time to a malcontent.