Well, at least a few have brains they haven't sent out to the cleaners...

There is hope. Even among mass media podpeople. A few even have brains they haven't sent out to the cleaners... and left unclaimed. Maggie Callagher seems to have hers handy and to actually be using it. About last week's joint Bush/sKerry press conference (AKA, "debate"): "Bush broke the cardinal rule of television: Never let them see you sweat. I had more sympathy for the smirks, the tics, the facial gestures than most swing voters apparently did because I shared the underlying emotion that caused them: not anger. Not defensiveness. Exasperation. And disgust. What got to Bush? Here's what I think: It was not the brilliance of Kerry's debating tactics but the absurdity of the essence of the new Kerry position: The war on Iraq is an easy thing. The reason bad things are happening is Bush is bungling. Give that man a wand and slap a pair of wings on his back: John Kerry (news - web sites) is running for fairy godmother! Our allies are opposed to the war? A swoosh of the Kerry wand and President Kerry will have the French and Germans rushing to our rescue in no time. Iraq needs a new army to defend itself? Zap bing -- the Kerry touch will make training an Iraqi army faster and easier. Al-Qaida and other terrorists are pouring over the border to join the fight? When Kerry is elected, the guerrilla insurgency will magically disappear. A summit? How brilliant! Why didn't President Bush think of that?" Dontcha just love well-written sarcasm? Especially when it fits so well with sKerry's auto-mythology? (The guy's a legend in his own mind.) Go on. Click the link. You'll be glad you did.