"Talk me down"

I believe that one of the hardest things to do in this era of bitter partisanship is to separate message from messenger, and evaluate arguments on their merits. There is a natural defensiveness on both sides, and an unwillingness to even discuss certain issues -- which, as a Barack supporter, I think is anathema to what he preaches.

So one of my roles here will probably be as a Resident Devil's Advocate of sorts. The guy who spots right-wing lines of argument in their infancy, and brings them up for discussion.

The job of my fellow contributors -- and any readers we may have -- will be to talk me down, and show me that these are silly or without merit. Or, if it's the case, admit that they have some merit, but argue why we still shouldn't care.

Case in point: this issue of Obama's untraceable contributions. That link is to the WaPo article, and it seems to be an issue worth discussing. Over at the extremely douchey right-wing blog PowerLine, they raise some interesting questions.

Read it when you have a minute, and share your thoughts.

And I promise not to have you read the vast majority of PL's cheerleading partisan posts, which are utterly insufferable and make me want to hunt the three of them down and bitch-slap them.