[PornoDoggy]

I agree with the idea that voting for Jerry Falwell is wrong in my opinion, because I don't believe in much of what he stands for. Much of what he stands for is wrong in my personal system of values.

But some of the stuff that I'm reading in this thread amuses me greatly. It takes a genuinely shallow mind to believe in the way that the GOP is playing the race card over the judicial nominee. I'm not personally convinced that this tactic will play very well to anyone outside the choir loft. I think it's quite likely that a great many people will recognize it for the cynical ploy that it is, and a number of non-Hispanics (pro-choice advocates in particular) may be offended enough to counterbalance any gains the GOP may realize from it.

The attempt to depict Sharpton as some kind of counter-Robertson is at least equally, if not far more shallow. It surely is pathetic, however.

And while I agree to a point with the very philosophical approach to the whole issue of politics put forth by Colin and JR, there is something about it that bothers me. The thing about it is, in REALITY if you are staring at a figure in the shadows it will, to use your example, ultimately turn out to be an old woman or a young girl.

What seems to get lost when we wax poetically about the beauty of the system we live under is that the folks agitating for a point that may not be popular today are equally vital to that same system. The example that gets frequently used - "Well, there's no need to worry about the Patriot Act because if there are abuses we will change them - we've done it before" - is correct on its face. However, it ignores the fact that it was changed because "lunatics", "pinkos", "alarmists", etc. screamed and yelled and whooped and hollered for years before anyone even believed that abuses were occurring.