• Stampp, The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South

Cal Thomas - "Michael Steele should be elected to the United States Senate from Maryland, not only because he is qualified, but because he would provide a sharp contrast to the Democratic Party and its plantation mentality

Wall Street Jouranal - "Democrats are rubbing their eyes in disbelief not just at President Bush's success across America, but also about the fact that a major group they thought would stay on the liberal plantation forever is making a getaway."

Sher Zieve - "Black Americans who have left the Democrat plantation are no longer "black" according to Democrats

Andrew Sullivan - " In fact, it's hard to under-estimate how much some on the left despise the idea of gay men and women leaving the Democratic plantation."

These aren't very flattering to the dem party, but they do demonstrate that this is not unique language.

Mountain out of a molehill; and now the Republican Party has a rift with this guy Shagadelic looking to squeeze in to the old Delay slot. I have to admitt I am glad we are rid of that predatory opportunist.

I'm pretty reluctant to see Hillary run. Nothing will energize the opposing folks like her candidacy. If elected another 4 years of obsessive partisanship, and calls for special prosecutors every ten minutes. Let her run in the primaries, be the lightning rod, then nominate a candidate with less baggage.

Watched a special on Johnson last nite. The other impeached president. Congress passed a law about removing appointees without their approval. He stubbornly fired one. They impeached him for breaking a law congress created. Sound familiar?

Where was this special on Johnson; thats Andrew right?

Gulliani would make a great president but he carries too much baggage. Too bad.

So; who are the under the radar candidate possibilities?

I don't really have a dem alternative yet, none of them step out as centrist enough to be elected. I haven't looked hard yet. But one will surface. I like John McCain. He's pretty far right on a lot of issues, but he tells it like it is. Unlike our current officeholder who started out that way, and now tells it as he wants it to be. And he understands the art of compromise. My right wing conservative employee tells me they'll never nominate him. The hard right of the party doesn't trust him.

I, too, had had the impression that the pre-Lincoln presidents were uniformly dreadful, and there certainly were some stinkers, primarily Lincoln's immediate predecessors Franklin Pierce (1853-57) and James Buchanan (1857-61) -- Buchanan was probably the worst president we've ever had.

But I've also been pleasantly surprised to find that a number of the pre-War presidents were of higher quality than typically portrayed.

My favorite example is Millard Fillmore, whose name is usually trotted out only as a late-night television joke (Johnny Carson abused him all the time). In fact, after growing up in abject poverty (his father was basically a tenant farmer), by virtue of intelligence, hard work and a little luck, Fillmore became a lawyer and leading citizen of Buffalo, NY. The Whigs unexpectedly nominated him for the vice presidency in 1848 on a ticket with Zachary Taylor (also an admirable and accomplished man) because he was almost universally respected and admired. When Taylor died without warning in mid-1850, Fillmore's vigorous support helped accomplish the passage of the Compromise of 1850, which put off the Civil War for ten years.

If anyone wants a recommendation on the generally-recognized single best book on the period immediately leading up to the War, the link is below.

• David M. Potter, The Impending Crisis 1848-1861