Herbert: "Dimwitted" Americans May Elect McCain-Palin

John McCain, who is shameless about promoting himself as America’s ultimate
patriot, put the best interests of the nation aside in making his incredibly
reckless choice of a running mate. But there is a profound double standard in
this country. The likes of John McCain and George W. Bush can do the craziest,
most irresponsible things imaginable, and it only seems to help them
politically.

- New York Times columist Bob Herbert

Obama Takes A Risk With Politics As Usual

Bob Herbert at the New York Times sums up the feeling of many about Obama's "move to the right:"

He seems to believe that his shifts and twists and clever panders — as opposed
to bold, principled leadership on important matters — will entice large numbers
of independent and conservative voters to climb off the fence and run into his
yard. Maybe. But that’s a very dangerous game for a man who first turned
voters on by presenting himself as someone who was different, who wouldn’t
engage in the terminal emptiness of politics as usual.

Of course, Obama claims that he's been consistent all along in his positions. Maybe it's the rest of us that were dreaming when we thought we heard something new and different.

Jim

PHOTO: The pink plant is an ice plant, a perennial that will return each year as long as the winter is not too severe

More Shame On The Clintons!

Why can't Hillary and Bill exit gracefully instead of once again playing the race card against Obama by suggesting that white voters won't vote for Obama in the general election? The bad taste that the Clinton presidency left in the mouths of many of us is now refreshed with this latest shameful behavior. As Bob Herbert puts it in today's New York Times:

"...class is not a Clinton forte.
But it’s one thing to lack class and a
sense of grace, quite another to deliberately try and wreck the presidential
prospects of your party’s likely nominee — and to do it in a way that has the
potential to undermine the substantial racial progress that has been made in
this country over many years.
The Clintons should be ashamed of themselves.
But they long ago proved to the world that they have no shame. "

No shame indeed! They (the Clintons) are awful.

Jim