Ryan - agreed. I'm not sure I can fit this in myself, but a month for 'Pale King' is more than ambitious, though it should separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were.

Love those ads. Seriously, how boring and stupid would politics be without negative campaign ads?

Sleep! The trick is sleeping before it hits you really hard, because afterward you're dealing with a fever and not being able to breathe which makes sleep difficult...

I hope so. This is seriously lame.

Ah well, it's a team effort!

Yeah, I forgot about the whole money and fame part. Damn it. I knew I was missing something...

Oh I totally agree. It's just a notion more than anything. Maybe it's how we use it that's the real problem.

No, I totally agree. It also makes me wonder (and suspect) whether they already have - and Romney is actually trying (again, too hard) to follow advice similar to this.

Hmmm. That's interesting. I suppose, to play devil's advocate here, it's always tricky to peer into someone else's head and heart and figure out exactly why they did what they did. I'm not sure this amounts to blaming the victim necessarily, so much as questioning what looks to be a very risky move on their part, and one they almost certainly knew was risky. That doesn't make the treatment he received at all justified, but it's not terrible to try to understand why they did it and still not really be able to figure it out. Though I do take your point.

Thanks for this piece. Really well said, and I think the context of the time and place does matter. But I also think that it's important to look at your post - and the heartfelt regret expressed here, or at least just the sincerity and admission that you probably wouldn't have done things differently because the stakes were too high - and compare it to Romney's non-apology.

I keep meaning to do this. The problem is, my daughter can be very stubborn and stuck in her ways...we are still listening to The Nutcracker Ballet months after Christmas. Admittedly, ballet is a fine thing compared to endless cycles of The Wiggles, but when it's the same ballet over and over again...

Yeah, the toy company thing is important. Even PBS stuff, like Sesame Street, must make a ton of its operating budget off lucrative toy deals.

Interesting point. I love kids books. Why are young adult and children's books so good, but the majority of kids music and tv shows so bad? There's some decent stuff out there - Raffi is pretty good; Sesame Street is fantastic overall. Lots of kids movies are good also, especially Pixar.

I can. When they run for president, namely.

Yes, I would like to see politicians do the right thing, especially when the political gain is so little and the moral implications so vast.

Oh, and also: this is still the best damn combox on the internet and I love all of you. But good grief. If you don't like it here: go. If you don't like someone else here: ignore them.

I'm not asking for peace or even civility. Just less fishing meta.

Oh, and also: this is still the best damn combox on the internet and I love all of you. But good grief. If you don't like it here: go. If you don't like someone else here: ignore them.

I'm not asking for peace or even civility. Just less fishing meta.

What we do in our past is a marker for how we are in the present. It helps others see whether or not we've truly changed. Mistakes in your past can be a good indicator that you're a very good person. Or a very selfish, power-hungry one.

Gosh, Farmer, I write my first post about politics in what - weeks? And you can't "take it anymore." By all means, as I've told you in painful detail a thousand times before, just go away. Just spare me your moaning and groaning and self-pity. I'm sick beyond measure of it. Half the reason I don't post here more lately is all this complaining and bickering. It's bloody boring and I'm done with it. Go if you want to go, stay if you want to stay, but if you say you can't take it anymore the door is right over there.

Of course, this isn't what anyone is actually saying DensityDuck. If that were the case we'd none of us have any legs to stand on, me least of all. My past is littered with stupid mistakes and stupider ones, bad treatment of people who deserved better and plenty of things I'm not proud of. But I'm not going to hide behind a non-apology or, for that matter, run for president. I do have a marijuana conviction on my record; this has prevented me from renting apartments before. Our pasts inevitably harry us along the way in small and big ways.

Thanks, Tod. I don't think it's irrelevant. It would be if he actually showed that he'd changed, become a better man, etc. Alas...

If I apologized to my wife that way for being a dumb-ass she'd kick me to the curb. This is a pathetic apology. He should non-apologize for such a bad non-apology.

Power-obsessed, bullying tendencies, basically ran a company dedicated to gutting other companies, and a hawk to boot. His hard-right turn this election only compacts my discomfort with the man. These instances in his youth are less surprising than they are reaffirmations of my older doubts.

Thanks, Elias. I agree that it's *nice* to see Obama come out in favor of gay marriage. It's the process that rankles. We all know he was before it before he was against it before he was for it again. It just feels dirty.

You need to change your gravatar to Bugs Bunny, dude.