I thought "I can pass a security clearance" (i.e., I haven't used coke since I was 36) was the gold standard for answers to questions regarding drug abuse.

Excellent Ezra, exactly right.

Here's how to respond to RW attacks. Use rapid response & throw the same/similar charge at their candidate. This diffuses the point & since the MSM loves to play he said, she said, it becomes an ambiguious issue.

A couple of examples: 1) Kerry is accused of being a flip flopper so his staff immediately comes up with examples of W flip flopping & Kerry starts using the flip flopper label on W on the campaign trail 2) Kerry is accused of making up that his boat crossed into Cambodia while traveling up the Mekong Delta. Kerry staff immediately questions why Bush was no where near this area during the Vietnam War. Kerry asks: How come he never made it to Nam, I know he supported the Viet Nam war.

Never explain as a response to the charge. This only makes you look weak & gives the story legs in the media.

Slightly off-topic: Can someone point me the article about how smears stick with partisan voters even after the smears have been debunked?

I dunno, Ezra, I think that, for some reason, the media now considers discussing Obama's drug use a vile campaign attack (at least when Hillary does it). So if a Republican third-party group calls him a drug dealer in a commercial in August 2008, the media could do the same thing they did with the Swift Boats -- not cover the actual smear for what it was, but cover the question of "Will the Republicans take back their campaign attack??" And of course they will not; the media will call for "civility" but actually just prolong the smear; hence, the story is played out for a month on cable TV during a slow news cycle.

The feigned outrage over the use of the word "cocaine" to describe the actual drug "cocaine" borders on the absurd.

What the hell else should we call it?

IUPAC nomenclature calls the compound methyl (1R,2R,3S,5S)-3- (benzoyloxy)-8-methyl-8-azabicyclo[3.2.1] octane-2-carboxylate. Obama prefers the slang "a little blow".

However, given the fact that the term "cocaine" is the preferred clinical term used by the scientific community makes the word choice entirely appropriate.

Obama's cocaine use is a matter of the public record because Obama himself made it a matter of the public record by writing and speaking about it. Should Obama win the Democratic nomination, it would be folly for him, or other Democrats, to hope that the GOP will join Obama in using such innocuous terms as blow, snow, coke, skiing, etc.

If Obama indeed thinks that that is how the GOP conducts Presidential elections, then I want some of what Obama's smoking.

See, this just seems like a reason to support Obama. I for one can't wait to hear from the "Crack Head Veterans for Truth."

Ezra, here's Obama will handle the attack when it comes from "quiet mailers or darkly insinuating ads"

"As I told the Clintons when they cynically tried to use my youthful indiscretions against me, while being deceitful about their own past........So I now give the [Republican Candidates] agents the same message.

....but if I could note one difference between the [Republican Candidate here] attacks and Mrs. Clinton, She had the courage speak openly while my current opponent clearly lacks the courage that Mrs. Clinton showed and that lack of courage shown by my opponent is NOT what the country needs right now.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>
......Actually, I think the squabble is manufactured to keep Edwards out of the news cycle after polls showed him to be the strongest candidate in the general election....but hey who care if the Democrats get to choose between two war mongers.
>>>>>>>>>>>

I have to admit that this whole affair demonstrates one thing that I do like about Hillary: she's willing to do something like accusing her opponent of being a drug dealer.

It's unseemly now, of course, because her target is a fellow Democrat, and it's not cool to smear someone who may end up being the party's nominee. It shows the fundamental selfishness shared by both Bill and Hillary - a willingness to put your own interests ahead of those of your party, or the people you are supposedly trying to help.

But I do appreciate the willingness to go for the jugular, and not just in a "principled" way. Substantive attacks on your opponent are all well and good, but when the opportunity to hit below the belt presents itself, you've got to take it. But I wonder: if Obama has the chance to take that shot against the Republican in the general election, will he take it? I'm not sure, and that worries me.

Hillary, obviously, is willing to take it. HOWEVER, the willingness to play dirty is useless without the smarts to do it right. This incident indicates a willingness on Hillary's part to do whatever it takes to win, but it also perhaps betrays an inability to do so in a way that isn't clumsy and self-defeating.

Obama ahead in New Hampshire

Obama edges Clinton in poll

Barack Obama has come from behind to turn the Democratic presidential race in New Hampshire into a toss-up, according to a new Monitor opinion poll. The results - which show Obama with a one-point edge over Hillary Clinton - mirror other polls released this week, indicating that Clinton's once-imposing lead has evaporated in the run-up to New Hampshire's Jan. 8 primary.

The poll suggests that the Democratic race could hinge on the turnout of undeclared voters, who aren't registered with either political party. Much of Obama's backing comes from undeclared voters, while registered Democrats make up the bulk of Clinton's support. In New Hampshire, undeclared voters can vote in either party primary, giving them sway in both contests.

After Bush's cocaine and alcohol use at least into his 40's, it is hard to see how Obama's use into his teens and (?) 20s matters at all.

Except of course he is Black and a Democrat, so he doesn't get the same free pass as W.

After Bush's cocaine and alcohol use at least into his 40's, it is hard to see how Obama's use into his teens and (?) 20s matters at all.

Except of course he is Black and a Democrat, so he doesn't get the same free pass as W.

South Carolina: Huckabee Bolts to the Top of the GOP; Obama Cuts into the Clinton Lead

[Obama, who moved up 7 points since the July poll, was helped by increased support among black voters.

While in July, 33 percent of African-American Democrats said they would vote for Obama, he now has 45 percent of their support compared to Clinton's 46 percent.

Among Democrats, 41 percent said they've definitely made up their minds about who they'll vote for in the primary, while 22 percent told pollsters early primary results could help them decide.]

Iowa polling, RCP average 12/03-12/13

Obama -- 29.8

Clinton -- 26.8

Edwards -- 21.8

Please, Ezra. Please.

John Kerry was a legitimate war hero. Max Cleland was a war hero as well. Obama's "problem" is much worse than anything Kerry had to deal with. Besides, Kerry's unfavorables were better than Obama's were at this point in time. And the media--and liberal bloggers--have made this comment more about Hillary than about Obama. It's hard to look at the coverage so far and come to a different conclusion. This is a way to get to Hillary. If it means helping Obama out, so be it.

But seriously, I know people like Obama, but are liberals really so naive? If so, we deserve to get beat again and again and again. Not that this is a deal break for Obama, it's just absurd to think it won't come up again and much worse in a GE. It's a hobby for the media and liberal bloggers to thwart Hillary's campaign.

By exposing the electorate to these charges in their weak and treatable form, it may be harder for the GOP to deploy them in a more damaging, sinister fashion.

The GOP don't have to bother deploying them at all. Just this week over the telephone, my father expressed how scared he was of the candidicy of Osama. So the "fact" that everyone knows that Barack Osama is a Muslim is going to be much more damaging than any youthful drug peccadilloes.