As a former Chicagoan, what's going on there saddens me. But then I remember Mayor Daley (sp?) who "helped" JFK to the presidency. Of course Ohio and Florida were in there punching for Bush, so on second thought maybe old time Chicago politics were better.

Wish you and Mr. Brooks had your own show on PBS. Friday night is sacrosanct in our household. Gotta watch you guys.

Are you getting too comfy up there in talking head land, Mark? Burris did absolutely zippo that could be called "deft." He couldn't get his lines straight back then and the babbling idiot still can't get it right now. His adamant insistence that he welcomes an inquiry and did nothing wrong sure sound like he's heading right down that trail of glory blazed by you-know-who. He's best off keeping his big trap shut, but then again words are all he ever had to work with. What is breathtaking to me, though, is how utterly incompetent Senate "leaders" like Harry Reid (you know, the great negotiator) have been throughout the course of this extended practical joke. I must admit, next to them, Burris does start to look deft. The joke is really on us, though. The old barge is nearing the edge of Niagara Falls, and we have idiots like these slobbering all over themselves and smiling away at the helm.

Sir;... Romantic Ideals have no place in politics... That is the rock of scandal that far too often gets in the way of anything getting done of a practical good...The Chicago Commiteeman was right...People should vote for the person who will, or has gotten the job done from their perspective... Sure, I look at a person's morals, but only because we have to trust our elected representatives with so much based upon so little of objective evidence... I don't know if I can say it matters.... I don't know if a purely uncorrutible character could be found, and if found, I doubt such a character would have much attraction to voters... I do know that moral issues are gumming up the obvious, and clearly stated purpose of government.... The object of government is Good... All Good??? No; a clearly defined good in the preamble of the constitution has been accepted by enough people to make the contitution ours... It says nothing of public education, or prayer in school...Abortion is not mentioned....Of the goods mentioned: Justice, Liberty, Welfare, Unity. and Tranquility; -how close have the last stand attitudes on ideologies gotten us to them???Idealism is the enemy of practical government... Capitalism is a failed ideology, and so might it be argued of Christianity since as organized it cannot bring the peace on earth for which Jesus came... Yet, the government which cannot do anything else of good, bows and scrapes to religion and capital... So, Naturally I cannot expect that a counter ideology will be better than our current ideology...Ideals are the problem... Since I love to sail: one must sail the sea one has got rather than the one they have not.... Until we can find some way out of the real world, this is the one we must make work for us... Thanks..And good Job... .. Sweeney