Specious and insulting slurs. But one has to credit the right-wing noise machine for their discipline: they all got the "creepy" memo and they've been flogging the word to death.

So, all the fainting -- it's a coincidence?

Jack,

We all know that when it comes to politics it's all spontaneous! Right?

It's not unusual
To pass out for anyone
It's not unusual
To black out for anyone
But when I see you
Swooning about for anyone
It's not unusual
To see me hurl
On Earl the Pearl

Polititainment. Not real statesmen, they just play ones on the radio hatetalk.

--
Personally, I've been enjoying the overload of postings which list each day's talking-pointed rightwing lies and frothing LIARS, documented at Media Matters (dot) ORG.

oh how I hope this is how the GOP plans to run against him (if he gets past 'firewall Texas' and 'firewall Ohio')

They're creepy! They're a cult! You need to save America by voting for the kindly old granddad you know will take care of us!

I'm not a Republican. But I do want to know if the fainting is staged.

Let's suppose all of the stories are true. What's the likeliest explanation? Perhaps standing around for hours on end in a hot, crowded setting? Exhaustion, dehydration and fatigue? That security is letting people in too early?

I think I understand just what the WSJ intends with "creepy." I do wish the opposition had the same sort of message discipline. It can be amazingly effective.

I think McCain is probably creepier. But at his rallies, he'll probably be the one passing out.

A Creepy vs. Sleepy matchup would be good for the country.

Karl Rove dismissed the staged fainting charege saying fainting was completely common in campaigns stpos.
He was quite pleasant in doing so. Not the creepy Karl the left painted him to be.
It's been interesting to watch him on FOX news.

In stark contrast radio hatetalk-Air America has started their attack on McCain. I heard Randi Rhodes and a caller yesterday refer to him as Nuclear Bomb McCain and that if he wins we're all dead.
When it comes to hatetalk radio, nothing compares to AA's Randi Rhodes, Mike Malloy and Sam Cedar.

I suspect it's real. Campaign events often require you to get there two hours early, the candidate is always an hour late, and it's not like they're selling concessions and bottles of water. Hours of standing around, followed by surging crowds, yelling, excitement. Seems a perfect recipe for fainting.

The other reason to suspect it's real is that it would derail his candidacy if it was fake and the truth came out. Given the perfect campaign that Obama has run so far, I don't see him taking that kind of risk.

That's the analytical, skeptical Miles we all know and love.

The only important thing about this is to make sure everyone understands that this happens at everyone's campaign events. The media (and the Obama campaign) are trying to spin it as though Obama is so charismatic that women are collapsing with a bad case of the vapors. Man's got a bad case of the Messiah's.

I didn't catch that particular spin. The Wall Street spin was a little different.

These people aren't fainting because of Obama-mania, but because with prolonged standing, such as one might do at a crowded political rally, blood is pooling in their legs, leading to an exaggerated nerve response called vasovagal syncope. I am a medical student in training to be a pediatric cardiologist. I was 10 feet from a woman who fainted at an Obama event in Youngstown this week, and I can tell you she was not reacting to overwhelming love for the candidate but to simple physiology.