Most painful part of the debate

Was when Bush was taunting Kerry for actually saying something that's obviously true. "Wrong war, wrong place, wrong time." "Allawi is a puppet." And Kerry didn't defend himself, because he accepts that the one thing you can't get away with in our political system is telling the truth. Bush almost never tries it, and Kerry hardly ever. But when he does, there's Bush there to mock him for it. "You can't say that about our allies!" (It worked the other way, of course, when Bush accidently told the truth about not being able to win the "war on terror." Kerry jumped right in and said "Yes we can.")

When you finally realize that both major political parties are working for the same thing, and that they almost never tell you the truth, several things happen. You get depressed. People get mad at you for not supporting Gore or Kerry or whoever the evil of two lessers is that year. You rant and rave about the BS, but don't have any real idea what to do about it.

On the other hand, things make a lot more sense. If all that people knew about the war in Iraq was what they heard from the two candidates tonight, no understanding would be possible. Even assuming one or the other candidate was telling only the truth and the other only lies wouldn't help, because neither one made sense. Only by realizing that reality is on a totally different plane from where these jokers are offers any chance at clarity and understanding.