Consistency, dignity, respect and a focus on the issues.
How can a progressive community that condemned John McCain - and accused him of misogyny - for not denouncing a woman who referred to Hillary Clinton as a bitch then turn around and recommend enthusiastically a posting that includes a video of Betty White using the same dismissive epithet for Sarah Palin?
Consistency, dignity, respect and a focus on the issues.
These are the things that attracted me to Barack Obama as he spoke before the 2004 convention. The lack of these qualities is what disgusts me about the current state of John McCain's campaign.
I'm not saying it isn't funny . . . it is. But it has little place in the marketplace of serious discourse unless someone can explain to me why it's ok for us to laugh at Sarah Palin being called a crazy bitch, when we were outraged at the very same thing just a few short months ago.
UPDATE: Remember, next time Dennis Miller or Rush Limbaugh or some other entertainer (self proclaimed or not) refers to Michelle Obama in the same terms. You may have tacitly approved.
It disappoints me when we are find ourselves collectively incapable of resisting the urge to be sucked down into the gutter, when we condemn the degradation of political discourse in one moment only to degrade it ourselves the next.
Maybe I'm overreacting, but look around us folks. We need less sophomoric divisiveness and more attention to substance.