If this year stays true to past form, the campaign will get nastier in the closing weeks, and without anyone's quite registering it, Rove will be right back in his element. He seems to understand—indeed, to count on—the media's unwillingness or inability, whether from squeamishness, laziness, or professional caution, ever to give a full estimate of him or his work. It is ultimately not just Rove's skill but his character that allows him to perform on an entirely different plane. Along with remarkable strategic skills, he has both an understanding of the media's unstated self-limitations and a willingness to fight in territory where conscience forbids most others.

The same-sex marriage issue is forcing Janice [Michael's mother] to choose between her beliefs and her son. Her church is gearing up for the November elections. "I have to agree with the president," Janice says. "We need to keep the family unit as intended." And yet her own family unit is not quite as intended. Twice divorced, Janice works two jobs, day and night. Her unmarried 23-year-old daughter has a baby.

Michael can't quite grasp the concept of same-sex marriage. He wonders about the domestic arrangements. Who would do all the stuff women do? "I can't really picture myself folding the laundry," he says.

Don't misunderstand. Dumb is not the same as wrong. Kerry may be right on some of the issues. But that's not the point. Elections are about votes, and Kerry's campaign seems calculated to actually repel them.

The first Presidential debates will be in Florida.

Haven't these people suffered enough?

"It's a humorous statement that doesn't mean anything. You can't lie to God -- it's ridiculous," he told the Associated Press. "If it's an insult, I certainly didn't think it was; but if they are offended, then I certainly offer an apology."

America has become a stultocracy: government by morons, for morons.

You have been banished to the Seventh Level of Hell

Seventh Level of Hell

... I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm gonna be blunt and plain; if one ever looks at me like that, I'm gonna kill him and tell God he died.

Because of a software glitch in an FAA computer, a technician is required to reset the computer that controls the radios every 30 days — something that was not done.

The bill, H.R. 25, effectively would impose a 30 percent tax on goods and services while eliminating the federal income tax and payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare...Economists at the Brookings Institution figured the tax rate would have to be closer to 60 percent over the next 10 years to fully replace all federal tax revenues including the estate tax.

"That was just instinct," Weeks said with a laugh. "Kind of like running from the cops, I guess you could say."

Ryan [Chris Evans, pictured above] is introduced as a shirtless hunk of beefcake who has just been dumped by his understandably fed-up girlfriend

Al Qaeda Attacked Us on 9/11. Maybe, maybe not. In late September 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) promised to "put out a paper...that will describe clearly the evidence that we have linking" Al Qaeda to 9/11. We're still waiting. Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), who claimed credit for the East Africa embassy bombings and other terrorist acts, denied involvement in 9/11. "I have already said that I am not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States," bin Laden told a Pakistani newspaper. "As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie."

1) Tax code reform
2) Privatize Social Security
3) Incentivize people to control their own health care
4) God knows how many other things I support...

...leadership is "about making decisions you think are right and then standing behind those decisions."

He made no case about how best to tackle terrorism. He cited no history; he mentioned no recent events; he merely spoke of manly virtues of perseverance and strength and consistency that he believes are critical in wartime. So his endorsement of Bush was not substantive on the basis of policy so much as it was admiring in terms of character. ... And it's a strong case for the voter who doesn't agree with the Republicans' religious right domestic agenda or even their fiscal recklessness, but who still worries that Kerry simply doesn't have what it takes to lead this country in wartime.

One other noticeable thing: Arnold didn't mention God. His Republicanism is not, like Santorum's or Frist's, an extension of religious views. And so it is a civil open door, rather than a closed Bible meeting.