:D

Your observation about the Church hearings and Carter conveniently leaves out the Nixon Administration, which did quite a bit to discredit Republican use of intelligence for partisan purposes in the eyes of the American public. I worked for a staunch Republican at the time, who said -- and I quote -- "The Democrats could run Satan himself for President and win."

Just keep pitchin' 'em, Ed.

It's also great fun for me to see you give credence to something -- anything -- Howard Dean said now that he's not the front runner. Is he suddenly not the crazed lunatic you perceived him to be, but a creditable source of good information?

This is another part of the current "talking point" strategy: throw rocks at whoever is ahead, no matter where the rocks come from.

If the Republicans were really secure about Bush's record, they would run him vs. anyone, and run him on his own record, rather than attempt to pick the Democratic candidate. Why should you care who they run if your boy is any good?

By the way, if the Democrats are "dims", does that make the Republicans "repos"? Plenty of Americans are having encounters with the repo man since 2001...

Regards--
Mary Anne