Now, nobody would mistake Mr. Obama for a Republican — although contrary to claims by both supporters and opponents, his voting record places him, with Senator Clinton, more or less in the center of the Democratic Party, rather than in its progressive wing.

But Mr. Obama, instead of emphasizing the harm done by the other party’s rule, likes to blame both sides for our sorry political state. And in his speeches he promises not a rejection of Republicanism but an era of postpartisan unity.

That — along with his adoption of conservative talking points on the crucial issue of health care — is why Mr. Obama’s rise has caused such division among progressive activists, the very people one might have expected to be unified and energized by the prospect of finally ending the long era of Republican political dominance.

Some progressives are appalled by the direction their party seems to have taken: they wanted another FDR, yet feel that they’re getting an oratorically upgraded version of Michael Bloomberg instead.

May I advance the notion that in the year 2008, a woman may dislike a fellow woman and not be considered a traitor to her gender?

Questioning a woman's tone and delivery evokes charges of sexism, of biased preoccupations with niceness - as if no one ever complained about the Bob Dole snarl or the Dick Cheney sneer.

The Arizona Senator has gone from laughingstock to presumptive nominee by campaigning for World War III. So why do conservatives fear him?

No matter how moderate McCain seems on domestic issues, on the issue of war he's stark raving mad. He's a wounded, crusading Ahab, and civilian command and diplomatic restraint are his Great White Whale. If he gets put in charge of a Middle Eastern war that is easily widened, it's whirlpool time for all of us.

If Senator John McCain is a "natural-born" American citizen due to his birth on a military base of the United States in a foreign nation, then Guantanamo, being a U.S. military base should be governed by the Constitution of the United States and the military tribunals are as illegal as they would be if they were held in Cleveland, However, if the U.S. military courts in Guantanamo are legal under the Constitution, then John McCain cannot be deemed to be a "natural-born" citizen and is ineligible to run for the office of President.

Bill Maher and company do a little religion bashing.

In the 19th Democratic presidential candidate debate two weeks ago, following a laughable attempt by Hillary Clinton to come off as a diminutive Don Rickles, Barack Obama gave the camera a WTF? look and ascribed Clinton’s “Xerox” moment as being linked to “the silly season” of politics. I respectfully disagree. I think it represented the unrelenting “stupid season” of politics.

Looking at some of the recent actions of everyone from Nader to McCain, Russert to Matthews and Clinton to Obama – well, it’s enough to drive any sane person to cry, “I reject and denounce” you all. Or, at the very least, lead you to drive a spike into your forehead and pretend you’re Eustace the Unicorn, who lives in a land where no one is an idiot.