1 "And the other question as well -- why hasn't Bristol Palin been shown the sort of respect for presidential children that was expected of the press during the Clinton and Carter Administrations?" I'll take "Because Bristol's mommy is not a Democrat" for $1,000.

2 I think that the most historic aspect of the presidential and vice presidential nominating process of both parties is not related to the nomination of a black man or a woman; it has to do with the continuation of myth-busting by the Republicans. Without a shadow of a doubt, the unprecedented orgy of wasteful and profligate spending by George W. Bush and his dear departed Republican Congressional Majority has exploded the myth of Republicans as fiscally responsible stewards of the American economy and of our common wealth. We, our children and their children, left to pay the tab from an administration who doubled the national debt in just 8 years, will forever curse in horror, pain, revulsion and betrayal every time the words “Republican” and “fiscal responsibility” are mentioned in the same sentence. And now, further dramatic myth busting wrought by our Republican friends—that the GOP is the party that best represents the conservative moral views of our country. First they nominate McCain, an admitted serial womanizer who dumped his handicapped wife for a younger, more attractive (not to mention filthy rich) woman. And then they go and choose Palin as the VP nominee, a woman that preaches abstinence only “education” to the masses but whose sphere of influence as a leader on the issue does not even extend to the four walls of her own home. So congratulations are clearly in order to the Republicans who have busted the myth that the GOP is the party of fiscal responsibility, and have gone on to shatter the myth that Republicans are leaders on moral issues as well. What’s next, dismantling the myth that Republicans are strong on defense? Perhaps in order to do that they would need to nominate as their presidential candidate a former cheerleader who dodged the draft by having his father get him into the National Guard from which he later went AWOL, and as a VP nominee a man who avoided the war through the judicious application of 5 separate deferments. Nah…that would be too much for even me to believe…

3 Forget to take your meds, Phil? I suppose you preach about the irresponsibility of the Democrats during the Roosevelt Administration, and the debt they racked up with the New Deal and the optional war against Hitler. And no doubt concede that your hero, Bill Clinton, was a serial womanizer who disgraced the office of the Presidency -- while McCain has reformed his ways, been faithful for nearly three decades to his new wife. I'm sure you will also assure us that no Democrat has any children who sometimes fail to live up to the expectations with which they have been raised. Oh, and by the way, why are you libeling an honorably discharged veteran who enlisted (with no help from his father, according to those involved) in a unit from which men were being deployed to Vietnam? And how can you charge him with going AWOL when DoD records show he completed his entire service obligation early and received an honorable discharge (which is not given to deserters). And if you want to deal with deferments -- There's some guy named Biden who also got five of them during Vietnam -- I suppose you consider him unqualified for office, along with the never-served foreign and defense policy neophyte who selected him as running mate.