It's a cheap shot, but I can't really say I disagree...

Boy, every post just reaches new levels of class and sophistication.

I do hope, however, that he makes a full recovery. Get well soon. I hope the fall knocked some sense into you.

Damn, even when I'm trying to be sympathetic, I sound like an a-hole...

Funny post, Jack. But it sounds like something Jerry Falwell would say.

I am deeply disappointed at the cheap shot, Mr Bogdanski. It was grossly undeserved and completely gratuitous.

Sen. Hatfield's retirement marked the departure of the last bastion of integrity, honesty, and bipartisan cooperation in the Republican Party. I certainly do not agree with the majority of his politics, I cannot ever fault him for not voting his conscience and standing up for what he believes if right even if it means going against his own party - a characteristic that has been completely excised from the modern Republican Party. When he retired, the GOP reverted into the petty, spiteful hands of people like Lynn Snodgrass, Newt Gingrich and Kevin Mannix. Every election since 1997, I've looked at the Republican contributions to the ballot and wished we still had honest men and women like Mark Hatfield active on the right to inject some integrity into what has become dogmatic conservative extremism.

Implying that a statesman like Sen. Hatfield "got what he deserved" in this accident lowers you to the same level of petty divisive partisanship that so typifies the worst of the current generation of Republican leadership. Shame on you.

Mark Hatfield was the only Repblican I have ever voted for in my life. He validated that vote less than three months after that election by being one of the very few Senators to vote against the "first act" of the Gulf War, following his own peace-driven convictions and the maverick tradition of Senator Wayne Morse. And do not forget his tenure as Governor of this state which included unpopular fights against racial discrimination.

That is why I am saddened by both news stories. First, my thoughts go out to Mr. Hatfield and his family and I hope for full and speedy recvoery. However, I was also saddened that Mr. Hatfield chose to publcly support to support GW who chose to go to war with Iraq with far less (if any) justification compared to GW's Father's reasons of defending Kuwait.

God don't punish with a stick. Obvious since there's no god. What did you guys do, throw a banana peel in front of him to teach him a lesson. Bad manners.

I thouhgt he was talking about Florida's four hurricanes...

Was God not punishing Clinton with a stick when he had his triple-bypass? I wish he had not punished him with a stick about 6 years earlier.

Cheap shots are funny and I'm Taste Arbiter and I approve of Jack's message. I know no harm was intended; it was satire fer Chrissakes!

I also know from personal experience with the elderly that it's common - as their faculties diminish - for them to feel vulnerable to snake-oil, criminals and tyrants. They are more easily convinced of the need for extra security as a result.

It does not matter though. I'd tell Mark Hatfield he should be ashamed of himself because this election s not about one candidate who'll be a tough defender of the US vs. one who won't. I believe both are committed to protect America from real threats.

But the current president does so without a peep about the rights being usurped by Putin, champions the conversion of Gaddafi as a monumental achievement (forgetting the Lockerbie victims' blood on his hands among other things), resorts to political machinations beyond the norm - to a level of corruption unparallelled since the LBJ/Nixon years, says nothing about war profiteering, denies the legitimacy of international law, resorts to torture and detentions at Abu Ghraib/Guantanamo/elsewhere, etc & etc.

If Hatfield wants to squander a career reputation that was fairly honorable on a man like Bush, that's his choice. But he sells his soul for an awfully cheap price.