This is a very short diary, but I'm going to post it anyway because I think it raises an important point.  And potentially points out an area in which McCain's campaign is way, way out of touch with reality.

The question is whether McCain, should he need to do so, could get his own health insurance (given his age and health history) and, if so, how much it might cost.

The issues came up today in this WaPo chat with reporter Michael Shear.

Here's what Shear had to say, in part:

This was prompted by Johnny Venom's recent diary about racist relatives and politics.

It set me to thinking about my own parents, our very different political attitudes, and how that may have come to be.

Here are a few thoughts.  Maybe others would like to take the poll and share their experiences.

You'll notice that I'm trying to be generous here, and understand why things are the way they are.

I always enjoy reading coverage of US politics from other countries.

They provide interesting perspectives, and also often say interesting things about the writers' own countries.

So, since I'm tired of trying to keep up with who's winning how many delegates in what state, I thought I would provide a few links to stories in non-US newspapers.

I have often chosen blogs or feature-type stories rather than lead articles about the latest results.

If anybody is interested, please add similar links of your own.

Okay, I've read the comments and see that people think I'm way off base.  Re-reading Gore's comment, I have to agree.  I guess I just read that he said that he would only run for president, and that nobody was currently advancing his point of view.  So I started to wonder.

I'll leave this diary up.  (Seems lame to delete it after people have taken the trouble to comment.)

But, informally, I retract it.  

And I wish Al Gore the best.  Even though he's not my guy for president, he's an admirable person who is doing great work on important issues.

Anyhow, here's what I originally wrote:

Who do you think is our "smartest" candidate?

I mean "smartest" in a fairly narrow, intellectual, academic way.

As in.....

1. Who would get the best score on the GRE?

2. Who reads the most books (and not just about policy)?

3. Who would be the most likely to know something about, say, Roman history?

4. Who could hold his/her own if Vaclav Havel, Steven Weinberg, and Gabriel Garcia-Marquez showed up at the White House to drink beer and shoot the breeze?  (Apparently Bill Clinton and Garcia Marquez had a great time talking.)

5. Who would know what "C++" is?

Okay, let's say it's 2008.  The Democrats have a candidate, and they're getting ready for the convention in Denver.

The candidate, of course, needs a video.  It's almost all about what a great person he/she is.  (Like Bill Clinton's "hope" video.)  The future, not the past.

But given the unpopularity of the current President, a decision has been made to include one brief scene of him.

What's your choice?

 

We're in such a vile mood around here lately.

The pro-Israel and anti-Israel crowds are at each other's throats.

The religious people and the atheists are ready to burn each other at the stake.

The pro-{insert name of any 2008 potential candidate} people are ready to strangle the pro-{insert name of any other 2008 potential candidate} people.

People are down on Jim Webb.  (I don't know enough about the Senate to judge what he's done in the last day or two, but his response to the SOTU was a masterpiece.)

We should cheer up.  There's a hell of a lot to be cheerful about.  Let twelve facts be submitted, in no particular order except for the last, most important one, to a candid Kosdom:

According to this BBC report, the Iranian government contacted the Bush administration via the Swiss in 2003, offering a variety of concessions.  Powell and Co. at the State Department felt that this was an offer that should be seriously pursued.

Cheney, however, rejected it.  As Larry Wilkerson told the BBC,

But as soon as it got to the White House, and as soon as it got to the Vice-President's office, the old mantra of 'We don't talk to evil'... reasserted itself."

I don't have a lot to add, so I hesitate to post this as a diary.  But I'm going to do so anyway, because I think this is especially significant, and deserves wider attention.

As Wilkerson said in a BBC World Service report (not in the written story), Iran is now pretty much "sitting in the catbird's seat."  (RIP, Red Barber.)

Talk about hubris on the part of Cheney.

Again, my apologies if this is a little thin for a diary.  But I wanted to give the story more visibility, and to promote conversation.

According to the Austin American-Statesman (subscription required):

As many as 130 students were barred from Ennis High School's senior prom on Saturday evening for taking part in immigration protests earlier in the week, school officials said.

Students at Ennis High School, Ennis Junior High and the Sixth Grade Center were suspended Friday, a day after they marched to protest federal immigration proposals that call for a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Brief comments, questions inside.

I apologize if this has been discussed before (I didn't see anything), but I just listened to a very interesting interview of Colin Powell on the BBC.  It doesn't seem to have received much attention in US media.

He is still fairly circumspect, but he goes a lot further toward confirming what we all suspected was going on than I've heard him do before.

I know, I know.  He should have said something when it mattered.  So I'll never have much respect for him again.

But still, the fact that he's speaking out at this point is interesting.

Quotes and link to article (with video and audio) on the inside.