And, speaking of ugly cankers ...

[Media] Syndicated pipsqueak Ricky Lowry has another op-ed in the Trib: this time ruminating over Jeremiah Wright's baleful impact on the Obama campaign. (Lowry does care, you know. The dear boy only wants the Democrats to have the best candidate possible.)

What are Wright's terrible crimes against humanity? Far as I can tell, he preached that God doesn't like the way America has been treating blacks for the past couple centuries or so. He even went so far as to suggest that the United States hasn't always acted in the best interest of its black citizenry.

Now I suppose, if you were particularly clueless, you might try to argue the point. Yes, the U.S. has made some progress on the civil liberties front--due almost entirely to huge sacrifices made by black civil-rights workers, and no credit can go to the white politicians and conservative opinion writers who, by and large, have strenuously resisted every civil-rights push in history. In other words, Rich Lowry doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. (And no more do I, but I don't pretend to, either.)

The wingers don't seem to have thought out this Rev.-bashing strategy very carefully, however: The one good thing about the right-wing Rev. Wright drumbeat? Once the Democratic National Convention's over, John McCain's nutty buddy Rev. John Hagee--whose endorsement McCain actively courted--will be fair game.

Here's a little taste of that down-home Hagee wisdom McCain has come to rely on so much:

"The United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West... a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming of Christ."

The thought of such a lunatic having the ear of a presidential candidate chills me to the bone more than anything Wright has said possibly could.

(Brandon Burt)