Then, of course, there is the matter of rubber definitions when it comes to "liberal" and "conservative." Eric Alterman, in his book What Liberal Media? The Truth about Bias and the News, mentions that during the times he spent traveling in Europe, he learned that what most Americans would regard as a "liberal" politician, most Europeans would regard as "moderately conservative." What most Americans would regard as "conservative," most Europeans would regard as "extremely conservative," if not beyond the pale.

Dennis Kucinich is the most liberal of the aspirants (I'm not sure where Sharpton fits, because I haven't really heard him outline a cohesive program). I find Howard Dean to be "middle of the road." On any scale acceptable to a serious political scientist, to characterize Kerry or Lieberman as "liberal" is highly questionable. Yet, recognizing the political realities, I will bite the bullet and vote for whichever one of the aspirants emerges as the Democratic candidate.

I regard getting the Bush League out of office as damage control. Once that's taken care of, we can see about getting the country back on the road to eventual civilization.

Don Firth