1 Yup...Kerry sure is good at that diplomatic balm. Why just recently, he's managed to insult to Poles, the Iraqis, and the Italians.

2 "[Kerry] appers (sic) to genuinely believe he possesses some kind of diplomatic balm that will heal the wounds of the world." With most of the wounds caused by Dubya... I hope Bush's meds have worn off by now. He was a bit manic in Debate 3 - rather unbecoming for a President. Oh right, lowered expectations because Bush can't speak well and it's *so hard* to be President. Happy Friday!

3 Open season on typos in your own blog, huh? My pleasure . . . uh, plesure. And, remember: I don't set myself up as a "savant super-speller." (Oh, wait—that wasn't your own term, was it?)

4 I believe that most everyone is missing the point of the Kedwards Kampaign putting Ms. Cheney front and center. Of all of the important Donk constituency groups there are three that are quite opposed to the agenda of the mainstream gay groups, African Americans, Catholics and (somewhat overlapping with the Catholics) Hispanics. We are all aware of the Kedwards problem with Catholics. What isn't being reported much is something deep in the internals of the polls. Dubya is polling to take about ten percent more of the African American vote than he did in '00. The trend is about the same with Hispanics. I tend to believe these polls because in Dubya's reelection run for Gov of Texas he gained even higher percentages of these groups than he did in his first campaign. There are several reasons for this, the Donks make the same promises, election after election, four years of Dubya and Minority home ownership rate is at an all time high. The number of minority owned businesses is at an all time high. The Donks win and their administrations appoint bagmen like Ron Brown and buffoons like Jocelyn Elders to the Cabinet. Dubya wins and it's serious people, Colin Powell, Rod Paige and Condi Rice. Republicans are trying to get a school voucher program going, the Donks are standing in the schoolhouse door just like George Wallace back in the day. You make a mistake when you think that Kedwards is trying to drive a wedge between Republicans and the Bush Administration. They are desperately trying to drive that wedge between the Bush Administration and that increased percentage of Blacks, Hispanics and Catholics that are poised to punch their ballots for Dubya. If they lose that extra ten percent of those groups they are out of power forever. Or at least until they drasticly retool their Party. That is what this is about. The Donks hate Dubya for a simple reason. Before he ran for the Presidency Dubya was reelected for Governor with the highest percentage of minority votes a Republican has gotten in Texas since the New Deal Coallition was formed and that includes the time Jim Crow was still going and the Repulican Party was the Party that welcomed Blacks and the Donks were the Party of the Lester Maddox, George Wallace, Senator Bilbo and that vicious Arkansaw racist, Fulbright. Not much but the rhetoric with the Donks, they're still, as they've been since they were the pro-slavery party, desperate to keep minorities in their place. The Donks hate and fear Dubya because too many of their minorities ran off and left ol' Massa's plantation to join him.

5 I agree that the Dems are losing minority votes. And they are absolutely bleeding Catholic votes. And I certainly agree that all three of these groups are more likely to be a little socially conservative than the population at large. But I'm not sure what the numbers are (of social conservatives within each group), and it's worth noting that the Democrats' socially "permissive" nature hasn't kept these groups away in the past. And we must remember that the gay—and gay-sympathizing—vote is also critical, especially given how tight this race might end up being. So I don't draw a straight line (pun not intended) between Kerry's controversial/gauche remark and the relationship between the GOP and minorities. After all, the GOP is also attracting libertarians in droves, and we want gay rights, for the most part. The GOP of the future will be filled with alliances just as uneasy as the Dem alliances of the past was. And I'm sure this will be true of whatever party rises from the ashes of the dearly departed Democratic party over the next 20-30 years to take its place.