Things are going pretty well for Obama. Things would go even better with nine pick-ups in the Senate. It might be worth it for Obama to swing through some states where he could make a difference in a senate race. Oregon is one. Gordon Smith is compaigning on his liberal stances--all one of them-- as if he were Obama. An Obama visit to support Jeff Merkely could take old Gordon down.

I haven't heard either candidate utter the dreaded Nafta word recently. What's up with that? Could be a surprise question in the debate.

John,
You and Elizabeth Edwards are both living with cancer. You both have health insurance. If either of you lost that insurance, you'd never get it back. Here's one difference between you and Elizabeth. She understands the reality of this societal crime and cares about the rest of us. You don't give a damn. Don't stand up there and pretend that you do. Really, you're insulting my intelligence.
You just offered $5,000 as a tax credit to help us get health insurance for a year. What world are you living in, John? 
Come down here out of your seven houses and your millions. Try and get health insurance with your cancer history. Come on down here, John. Be a real hero. 
I want the same health insurance that I pay for you "Warrshington" insiders to have. I want you to give me the same policy that I'm giving you. Make sense?
What happened to that credit card American vets were going to have for healthcare? I always liked that idea, John, because the logical response is that we all should have one. You see John, the worker in an American factory is just as deserving as a vet. And just as deserving as you. We all built America, John.

The idea of universal healthcare comes and goes like a big sick elephant in the room. It’s a throwaway line for Obama, one in a series of things on his to-do list. Makes me long for you –know- who. 
No honest person can say that healthcare wouldn’t be tough, expensive and a nightmare to implement. But there are other dishonesties here. Let’s admit that many people who have health insurance don’t care about those who don’t. I know a guy who’s going for Nader. He wants to stop global warming. He has health insurance and a Prius. Let me put this another way. I don’t trust the Left to make this happen. Too many of them have health insurance. 
Never mind the obvious--that we end up paying for the uninsured anyway and many still go down and lose everything. But here’s the salient point: American industry can’t compete with countries that have factored healthcare into their economic and social structure for decades. The costs of healthcare adds an unmanageable amount to the bottom line for American industry. How can we compete with countries that have spread out that cost more evenly and sanely? 

The rarely spoken history also is that we’ve subsidized the healthcare systems of other nations through our military role in the world for sixty years. When Putin invades Georgia, that’s an issue for Europe not Sarah Palin. We’ve paid for economic stability in Asia for half a century. South Koreans have healthcare. So do the Japanese. The Chinese will get back to it if they’re smart. I’ll be unhappy when the Chinese take back that little island country we’ve paid for. But not unhappy enough to have a war about it—or let McCain or Sara play god with a gun in those once-famous Formosa Straights. Taiwan has a healthcare system by the way. 
Americans have been fooled on this defense issue for decades. Things can only change when the issue is shifted into misspent dollars. But patriotism can play into a solution. Even a 60’s left- leaner like me got tired of Germans complaining about Americans having too much land for military bases. OK. It was kind of fun to rebuild the world after the big one. Saved it from the Communists too, so they say. But it was expensive. 
If I’m sounding like a good old boy unfit for conversation at the ACLU luncheon, I’m getting through to you. The Left needs to change its tone. We need some of those good old boys and girls on our side. Let them keep their damn guns. Let’s settle for a plan for the gunshots.
Explain healthcare in the dollars we spend for other countries to have it. Throw down an American flag at the bottom line. And send a check to the ACLU anyway –if you have health insurance. 
Hey, Ike ! You were right about the military-industrial complex. Thanks for Normandy by the way.

Desi. 
Where are you? What are you doing? Are you making a new movie/pic? It's lonely here without you. Can you show yourself--as chimp. or id, or fragmented particles?

Posters: If you miss Des, rec this piece. You don't even have to comment. If you really miss him, ask him to come home.
Come on chimpo. It's a zoo here without you.
Cypher

Pics. Even those in the insiderspicspeeps tribe. Do not talk to me. 

I just want to compliment the ongoing process by so many TPM regulars (especially Ghengis) for starting a discussion about how the site can be less insular.  I hope that other readers will keep posting.
Also, I think Ghengis might provide some update posts on the process.