Liberals Do Not Appear To Address Potential

Ever Since Richard Nixon Walloped George Mcgovern In The Presidential Election Of 1972, Political Pundits Have Treated As A Truism The Proposition That Liberals Are Out Of Step With The Rest Of The Nation, And Therefore All But Unelectable Outside The Precincts Of The Northeast -- Give Or Take A College Town Here Or A Ski Resort There. During The Course Of Every Presidential Election For The Past Forty Years Now, Republicans Have Sought To Wield The Word Liberal As If It Were A Six-gauge Shotgun.

The Word Liberal Has Been Employed As The Political Equivalent Of An Untreatable But Potentially Containable Social Disease -- The Kind That Could Be Contracted Merely By Going To A Foreign Movie Or Ordering A Decaf Latte, Or Worse, A Glass Of French Wine.

Fox News Is Nothing If Not Impressive. No Matter How Harsh The Criticism It Endures, The Network Somehow Always Manages To Prove Itself Even Worse Than We Had Previously Imagined.

Obama, Like Carter, Is Reacting To Warning Signs By Seeking To Split The Difference Between Dispirited Democrats And Increasingly Radicalized Republicans.

If Bloggers Are To Improve Our Public Discourse - Helping Busy And Usually Uninformed People Make Sense Of The World - It Is Necessary To Use Some Sort Of Standard With Which To Judge Their Reliability. Perhaps The Answer (strictly Advisory) Is A Body Of Their Peers. Perhaps Not.