MarkS, people who don't want to accept other's arguments will always find excuses (extreme rhetoric) to justify their positions. If I push back at Ron's father-voice, and suggest he's wrong, you should be able to detect that push and shove and weight it accordingly.

I do find Bush to be a blight upon the nation. I'm not alone in that--his position in office is an insult to the majority of Americans who legally and democratically elected Al Gore as president of the U.S. The wars, the loss of life in those wars, the lies, the raiding on the U.S. economy and environmental laws, the current precarious position of the U.S. in the world, are all thanks to Dubya. The gloves are off, we're to the last two months of the campaign. Ad nauseum this stuff is going to come at us. Were there a way to return Clinton to office, I'd vote for it in a heartbeat. Since there isn't, Kerry is going to have to articulate his positions and manage to make them forcefully enough to be heard and remembered over Bush's major machinery (all aimed at discrediting the rival since he has little good of his own to show for his time in office).

Since Clinton is a touchstone for many angry democrats, you can bet that this surgery and his prominence in the news for at least a few days can bring about any number of reactions. It can cast a shadow on what Kerry is trying to do as he forges ahead. (Would that it helped quiet Bush and Cheney and Rove, but I don't expect that).

SRS