Kerry said, during debate 1 or 2 - "I have never wavered." Actually, it was part of a larger statement, but that's the part that is getting shown on Republican ads. Bush said in a news conference "I'm not concerned about Osama bin Laden." Again, the opposing party is taking it out of context and running with it.

So if either of them owns up to the statements, they are seen as either wafflers or idiots or both. And if they don't own up to it, they are labeled dishonest.

Why, oh why, does the level of discourse always lower to this?

And why, oh why, do I keep feeling like the people who end up deciding the election are people who fall for this deliberate sound bite misrepresentation?

Democracy in the age of mass media and masses of low-attention span voters.

Someone needs to explain something to the world: "Knee-jerk Liberal" wasn't pejorative because of the "Liberal" part. It was the "Knee-jerk" part -- and it's just as negative when applied to "Conservatives."

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And, for my recommendation on listening to music while on the internet: LAUNCHcast. It's a Yahoo thing. But it really is good. Design your own radio station, which learns your music preferences. It is cool. http://launch.yahoo.com/launchcast/