Let me make one thing perfectly clear: If they bring a potato to the fight, we'll bring an onion.

Point well taken, Cassandra, and I agree with you about the subset. Governing majorities can be cut many different ways all the way to the slimy and ridiculous (see Europe) but there are only a few ways that work. Ideological purity is usually not one of them. My principal point was that while the ideological comparison of Scozzafava and Brown is interesting, it is really not amazing but rather quite rational to oppose one and support the other. Sloppiness and shorthand aside, we argue on the same side, no?

“Shor’s research shows us that even compared to Dede Scozzafava, Scott Brown is a very liberal Republican.” “It never ceases to amaze me that the very same folks who jumped on the Dede Scozzofava (sic) is a big fat RINO bandwagon have been going gaga over a candidate who is arguably even more liberal than Scozzofava (sic).” ***** ”Insightful”? Say what? It is absurd that this critique of the conservative “base” as being blindly ideological instead of practical is itself based on a purely ideological comparison of the two candidates instead of the practicality of the respective choices in the local conditions. Don’t you see the incongruity of the reasoning? The “base” made a pragmatic decision to support Hoffman against Scozzafava because in NY-23 she was too liberal and he was realistically electable in the district. It's bad it did not work. He came close. I hope we all agree that Scott Brown was a long shot and anyone to the right of him did not have a realistic chance. It was just another practical decision to support him and we are happy that he won. Now, I don’t blame any “moderates” who want to use the occasion and make their case---that’s their good right. But can’t we at least go with the facts and apply some logic to them, please? You can’t argue with conservatives and hope to win with flimsy arguments. Try again. Yes, reasonable people who share similar goals have to build a majority but are you attacking the conservative “base” because they were attacking a RINO who would have been fine with you? Huh? That's politics. Personally, I prefer policy to politics but it's silly to complain about it. It's not pretty but short of war I don't know about any other way of reconciling our differences. And the more reason and logic we use in politics the more space we'll leave for the discussion of policy. Trying to define some national standard of the lowest common denominator of an electable Republican candidate just seems ridiculous to me.

I am tired of you right-wingers who need to make nasty comments about everything creative and beautiful. Just because you are too rigid and narrow-minded doesn’t mean everybody else is, too. I followed Antony Gormley's advice and stepped barefoot on the floor in front of the woodstove. Boy, was it a surprise! There are 10 inches of snow outside but the tiles are warm! I did not know that. Then I put my big toes into the fire and I got burned. The man is right---our feet are very sensitive. I think that people in the third world put their feet in the fire all the time. We Westerners have become too civilized and disconnected from the natural world. We don’t have gravel pits inside of our houses like in the video but it’s a great idea. I’ve just spray painted a rectangle on the hardwood floor in the living room where we could build one. What a hit at our next party is it going to be!