I agree with Al on the ethical side of this; it's a cyber lynch mob and I think they're taking revenge for all the swiftboating and Lewinsky and what have you in the past.

But in my opinion it's also the inevitable result of a political and media culture where everything private is used to further agendas and its getting worse every election. I don't think any Edwards affair is really an issue, and it shouldn't be covered anywhere but maybe in the yellow press. I also don't care if the father of some Palin baby comes to Minnesota or not.

But I'm also totally uninterested in learning that Palin is a happy mother of five or how she gave birth in an airplane or whatever, and neither do I care how Obama bought icecream for Michelle way back when or what he tells his daughters when he tucks them in. I hope Obama will smack this hurricane down while descending to the gates of hell to meet that poisonous snake monster tomorrow, but I can't help thinking that I saw his kids two out of four evenings on stage as well during the convention. And I don't think it's cute at all. It's child labor. It has nothing to do with any issues, and all this fuzzy family talk and parading on stage - on both sides - and in video portraits are providing exactly those warm waters and calm winds in which hurricanes like the ones we're seeing now develop.

This is also why I don't think I agree with Al on attacking the media being a succesful strategy for McCain, because they are themselves as guilty of nurturing this monster as the rest of them. Rove is practically the personification of dirty media campaign tactics. I think the only way out is for both campaigns to take the high road from here, in other words, McCain should follow Obama's example or maybe even strive to issue some sort of joint statement. And quit substituting political substance with fuzzy private crap.