So just who was it that cost the taxpayers all these alleged "millions"?

And the investigation of William Jefferson (D-LA), who sidetracked Katrina relief resources (two trucks because the first one got stuck, and ultimately, a helicopter), for taking HUGE bribes, are ongoing.

As for the whether the "Rezko ploy" will work or not, that's fairly irrelevant, if for no other reason than the McCain campaign has finally decided to open up a can of whoop-you-know-what on Senator Obama.

After over seven years of no response to President Bush being attacked in every way possible, including your utter canard about his education, comparisons to Hitler, Stalin, foreknowledge of 9/11, complicity in 9/11; this is frankly music to my ears, and doubtless millions of other Republicans.

At any rate, sll that has to happen is that Senator Obama's shiny armor get tarnished a bit, and people might be able to see him for what he is.

Besides, there are few candidates with more fund-raising irregularity baggage of their own than the Clintons, so that would automatically take the sting out of any such attack by a Clinton on someone else. Senator McCain has no such baggage.

As a registered Republican, I would try to explain that elitism is about attitudes, not economics, but I don't feel like wasting my time. The bottom line is that the elite think they're better then us poor, unwashed proles, simply because they are them and we are us (as it were).

If you need more detail than that, read Laura Ingraham's book: "Shut Up and Sing"

Heck, read the very first line, that tells you all you need to know about "elitism".

As for: "…normal people don’t barley squeak by at the Naval Academy…"

How utterly ironic. My guess is that Senator McCain, as undistinguished as his academic career may have been, could spell "barely".

And "normal people" aren't carrier pilots, for that matter.

Besides, "A" students teach, and "B" students work for "C" students.

Speaking of distinguished, Senator Obama was the editor of the Harvard Law Review, and was also a Professor at the University of Chicago for five years. In all that time, he was published in academic journals, etc., just as many times as I have ever been (ZERO!!).

At least Senator McCain didn't flat out LIE about his academic standing. Today, I heard a sound clip of Senator Biden claiming to have finished in the top half of his law school class, with three undergrad degrees, having attended on a full, academic scholarship. The problem is he was ranked 74 out of 79, his scholarship was needs-based, and he had only one undergrad degree.

Oops. His explanation? He tends to "exaggerate" when he's angry.

Sounds JUST LIKE the kind of guy I want one heartbeat away from the Presidency!

BTW, while Senator Obama was allegedly "living on foodstamps", he was also going to a very elite prep school.

As for "our president being a prime example" of getting an elite degree he didn't deserve, that is pure, unadulterated, utter HOGWASH!! NO ONE gets such dispensation at the Harvard MBA school (and I DEFY you to produce even the SLIGHTEST SHRED of evidence to the contrary).

On the contrary, they regularly serve their bottom 10% with ultimata – improve or you're out. And if they don't improve, they DO get kicked out.

How in the world is it that a Harvard MBA has the cachet that it has – by giving them out to anyone that can bribe them sufficiently? Give me a break!

Besides, Bush 41 was special envoy to China at the time, do you honestly mean to tell us that the blue-bloods at Harvard would have been at all impressed by that?

Going to your example, just where is the building at Harvard that that funded by the Bush family?

It isn't, and I totally oppose legacy admissions. And it's somewhat of a touchy subject for me. I got my acceptance letter from Cornell earlier than my friends who got early acceptance. Both of my parents graduated from Cornell, and that's why the letter arrived so quickly. But here's the thing: my SATs were considerably higher than most Cornell students, and my grades were too. I graduated in the 80th percentile of a degree program that was not only the most difficult at Cornell, it was the most difficult in the United States (A&EP). Did I deserve to go to Cornell? Absolutely. Would I have gotten into Cornell if I were a lesser student? Absolutely, and that's a problem. But I wouldn't have graduated if I wasn't qualified. Cornell is a school that fails out most of their students (legacies included), and I had to be excellent to survive. And survive, I did. In fact, I excelled. And MIT can kiss my ass for accepting me too late. With apologies to my sister and two uncles, of course. I'm sure they got a good education there.

You now, you have to love your father even if he's an asshole. I was lucky, my father was a great man (yeah, he was an alcoholic, but he was still great). But I know plenty of people who can't say that. And they still love their fathers. There's a good reason that we have the phrase "blood is thicker than water." And it's not just the viscosity measurements. Obama gets a pass on this.

John McCain spent 5 years living like a real person, and the rest of his life living in undeserved luxury.

Which five years were those? And what does "undeserved" mean as you used it? Obama lived the childhood he lived because his father was a no-good bigamist who abandoned him. Yet it's his father he openly embraces in speeches as opposed to the grandparents to took him in and loved him and raised him.

Though I will ask you if you think that what happened with McCain wasn't that different from what happens at most every college thanks to legacy admissions.

Terrific, right on assessment. The Nobama Advisors are as stupid as the defrocked candidate himself: allowing him to 'attack" McCain on a misstatement about who owns his properties when the Messiah has baggage in that department that would give Republicans fodder for years to come. And the Dems should have known better than to nominate an unvetted scoundrel like B. Hussein who gives "skeletons in the closet" a whole new meaning.