Since we now have two Dan Rather threads going I'll respond to your Dan Rather stuff under Dale's new Dan Rather thread. I'll respond to the rest of your questions here:

What is your point about John O'niell's campaign contributions? 

I don't have a point about his contributions. The author of that article was using that information to show O'Neill lied several times about his contributions. Some of the lies were incredibly stupid but from what I understand even Merrie Spaeth the woman who designed SBVs media attack says he comes across as a nutjob. My point to you Kevin is that I think that a decent human being like yourself should not in anyway line up with or support scum like Mr. O'Neill. It's very sad when that happens but only folks like us can prevent it from happening by speaking up when it does. In the way you are complaining about Rather, which I completely support you on, you should be complaining about SBV. An end to Rather is simple, he gets fired. Not a big deal really. An end to SBV is a little more difficult. Sure, they will be a footnote after the election perhaps but McCain was slandered using the same tactics...it wasn't as big as this campaign to slander Kerry but same thing...and it's a shame. It's that sort of tactics you and I need to be on the same side against.

Do you ever just sit back and think how the hell is it that two guys that we really could refer to as douchebags (to use Gene's website suggestion), Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, that did all they could to avoid Viet Nam were elected president of the United States, despite all their overwhelming shortcomings and the fact that better men ran against them in the primaries and were destroyed, but two very decent men that have a long history of honorably serving their country, John McCain and John Kerry, with excellent records and excellent credentials to be president, are assaulted with all manner of lies and distortions (they are called liars, insane, war criminals, baby killers, unpatriotic, traitors...not to mention the other ignorant stuff like having a black love child or being a flip flopper) because they actually went off and fought in Viet Nam? As a matter of fact Viet Nam veterans that run for president seem to have an incredibly tough time and are inevitably destroyed by having served. It really is an upside down, black is white and the sun is purple kind of world.  

So what...it looks like he gave to both sides. 

You didn't read that article too carefully if that's your take on it.

I want to know who is corrupting him with big dollars?  Isn't that what you were insinuating?  It's not happening is it? 

No, it's not what I was trying to say. It's not that I am saying they are doing it because they are getting paid large sums of money to do so, not at all. They are doing it because they are political extremists that hold a rather large and nasty grudge...and in case you haven't noticed we have a lot of wackos out there that will do or say anything to help their side win...at any cost...and I'm not just talking about Republicans. These guys that head SBV are just that type of wackos. It's now come out that more than 25% of the names the SBV slime have said support their side were used without the authorization or support of the people whose names they used. They also called certain individuals neutral that actually support John Kerry. SBV has been a hideous example of big time slime...it's a shame and we should not in anyway support them. They've lied and changed their stories and been caught doing it again and again and they need to be flushed like the giant turd they are. That was the whole point.

I hope you can see that most of the time the clear message I'm trying to send you Kevin is that as human beings I feel that you and I should be on the same side about a lot of issues. We really can't let nonsense issues that are invented by political operatives separate us. This election has been all about doing that to us and drawing our focus away from what matters to finger pointing instead. The media has been horribly guilty of being an active participant in that. I will not defend them for doing a crappy job.   

I'll talk about Rather in the Rather thread.