If it were up to me, friends (and yet, so few things are), our officeholders present and presumptive would conduct their rhetorical serves and returns at something like Lincoln-Douglas levels. This is likely to happen again sometime after pigs fly. Deploring the state of political give-and-take this wicked century we must accordingly appreciate the present-day media tools as connoisseurs of modern invective and abuse. The form has latterly been perfected by the Republicans, but even the Party of the Clueless and Ineffectual eventually figures these things out. Behold Senator Burns of Montana [link|http://www.tmgvideo.com/ifilms/votevets/conrad_burns.mov|taking a few in the torso] from supporters of the opposition. Red meat artistry for a red state.

cordially,