"According to polls taken this year, nearly 65 percent of the public doesn't know that Congress has banned partial-birth abortion. Seventy percent is unaware that a massive drug benefit has been added to Medicare. At least 58 percent say they have heard 'nothing' or 'not much' about the Patriot Act, notwithstanding the enormous amount of coverage the controversial law has drawn. This is not a new problem. As Cold War tensions bristled in 1964, only 38 percent of the public knew that the Soviet Union was not a member of NATO. In 1970, only 24 percent could identify the secretary of state. In 1996, The Washington Post reported that 67 percent of Americans couldn't name their congressman and 94 percent had no idea that William Rehnquist was the chief justice of the United States. Only 26 percent knew that senators serve six-year terms and 73 percent didn't know that Medicare costs more than foreign aid. Gallup found in January 2000 that while 66 percent of the public could name the host of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' only 6 percent knew the name of the speaker of the House. Last year, a Polling Company survey found that 58 percent of Americans could not name a single federal Cabinet department. ... With so many Americans so clueless when it comes to government and public affairs, is it any wonder that political campaigns are so shrill and shallow?" --Jeff Jacoby

"Kerry's supporters are reaching out to blacks by demanding that black cabdrivers in New York City who support Bush be fined and suspended. When taxi driver Etzer Jerome told his sensitive Upper West Side passenger he had voted for Bush, she demanded that he pull over and let her out, yelling at him: 'How can a black man vote for Bush?' and 'I'm going to f--- you!' She then filed a complaint against Jerome with the Taxi and Limousine Commission alleging that Jerome had 'verbally harassed her.' He was fined $500 and given a three-week suspension.

Pretty harsh! Yeah, the divisions are gonna heal.