He adores rolling the dice. His decision to select Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate typifies the man. It is a big risk.... Mr McCain approaches international affairs in the same spirit. His instinct is always to take the radical option and to march towards the sound of gunfire....

The spotlight will be on McCain for having the judgment of a river boat gambler and impulse control of a gunslinger....

He carries good-luck charms, including a gambler's lucky chit....

Mr Obama is by temperament a cautious, pragmatic conciliator. Mr McCain is aggressive, unorthodox and radical.... Mr McCain would be an interesting choice for president. But safe? Forget about it....

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke with Jim Lehrer on last night's News Hour. He reinforced much of what Obama has long been saying -- as well as what Obama said yesterday about the need to factor recommendations from military leaders into a larger strategic vision.

Admiral Mike Mullen repeatedly took pains to indicate that his military perspective is an expression of his role as a facilitator of President Bush's stated mission. "Right now I'm working for the current commander in chief."

Key points:

1) The situation in Afghanistan is "precarious and urgent."

2) We need three additional brigades there.

3) Our commitment in Iraq has not allowed us to put the necessary troops in Afghanistan.

4) The existing Bush mission treats Afghanistan as a lower priority than Iraq (a prioritizing that McCain so far has supported).

5) The job of military leaders is to focus on carrying out missions set by civilian leadership -- not to argue strategic priorities.

6) Mullen would have no trouble or hesitation executing a new mission by a new commander in chief.

My conviction, even before Barack officially joined the race a year and a half ago, was that he could win the presidency by forging a definitive mandate for a progressive agenda and a new political culture. I thought he could pull off this feat with his unique vision, his rare ability to articulate that vision, his extraordinary creativity/imagination, and, of course, his native political skills.

Looks like I'll be proven wrong.

I know there's a strong argument to be made that sites like No Quarter should be ignored. Just visiting them for grins supports their hit count. But their destructive hate-mongering is increasingly disturbing.

Personally, I worry some about innocent/naive lurkers who might not get exposed to refutations of all the lies. Moreover, in my dabbling at No Quarter (whether arguing, parody trolling, truth-telling) I have perceived a softening from some (some) of the regulars when directly challenged. Left to their own devices, they seem to have way too much fun imagining themselves saving the world from the Marxist/fascist/wimpish/brutal Obama -- "by any means necessary," as they like to say.

American Heritage defines sexism two ways:

1)    Discrimination based on gender, especially discrimination against women.

2)    Attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender.

Those who engage in the first form of sexism against women are probably accurately labeled as misogynists. But the second form of sexism is not so cut and dried.

I'd like to see a conversation that's not directly about Hillary -- although her experiences certainly help us put tangible examples on the examination table. This election season brought a host of simmering cultural challenges to a head -- partly because of the candidates' distinct identities, and partly because of their differing perspectives on big-picture cultural issues. Barack symbolizes, in effect, the turning of the page on the culture wars of the past few decades, which makes sense to the majority of young voters, but it feels like a backward move to many older warriors (particularly feminists, in light of what happened to Hillary).