The fact that we may actually have a black president is proof how far our country has come, but racism is still alive and well in our country. Thankfully racism is being shown to the door.

pacatrue, you're absolutely right, conservatives should wage a battle of ideas, and not battle over the phrase, “…for the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country.”

I've always been patriotic and sometimes I've been prouder of my country than other times. In fact there have been times I've been really proud of my country. However seeing the Dem. nomination come down to a choice between a woman and an African American has made me really REALLY proud at how far my country, which I love so much, has come.

I'll let other folks argue to death over whether someone they've probably never met should have been really proud of their country or just merely proud.

As for Rick, he's just another cog in the machine that prevents us from evaluating solutions candidates offer to solve problems we face as a country. Instead, we're wrapped up in this never ending battle over what candidates (and their spouses) are allowed to say. God forbid we actually see some honesty or innovative thinking.

To put it another way: you better parrot conventional wisdom, or you don't support the troops.

Or we could try putting the statement in context: A woman and her husband spend years working in their state legislature, fighting for a better Illinois; they do community organizing; they work as attorneys and corporate executives; they decide to serve in the federal Senate as well; and even have the temerity to run for President because they think they have ideas which will improve the lots of Americans for years to come; all things which I think of as serving your country in various ways. And then – gosh! – she says one sentence which can be twisted to fit a stereotype of anti-American leftism and, boom, the truth that they hate America has been revealed! Twenty years serving America tossed out because of a sentence. Nice.

Good lord, conservative philosophy is better and stronger and more articulate than this. It can wage a battle of ideas. Conservatives do not need to descend to this.

It doesn't matter what someone says but her “frame of reference” or some other illogical formulation that dismisses the actual words that came out of her mouth and substitutes…what? What am I missing here?

If words have no meaning why bother talking?

Well said, polimom.

Maybe that's why the Clintons may be trying to get delegates pledged to him to change sides. (Left unsaid is how they will be encourag$$$ed or otherwise motivatedirt-dirt-dirt to change sides.)

the reaction from the right-of-center blogosphere looks pretty over the top, and utterly without room for any possibility that someone else might indeed have a different frame of reference.

Sadly, it's not just the right wing blogosphere, which of course we expected. Larry Johnson and Taylor Marsh are stirring the pot for all it's worth.

what she said has been uttered by leftists in this country for more than 30 years. It's not like we haven't heard this before from liberals.

There have been quite a few times in the last couple of decades when I can honestly say that I have not been at all proud of my country… and nobody's ever thought to label me — liberal or otherwise.

Not only that, but while I don't feel compelled to jump to Michelle Obama's defense (she strikes me as more than capable of speaking on her own behalf), the reaction from the right-of-center blogosphere looks pretty over the top, and utterly without room for any possibility that someone else might indeed have a different frame of reference. Altogether, a very narrow view.

Rick Moran is telling on you!!!

You are so busted!!!!

I think John Cole said it best.

The way these guys on the right manage to gin up controversies over NOTHING and then have it widely repeated and circulated is simply amazing. They are so good at the bulls*it, that to read them, they honestly sound distressed.

But by all means, enjoy your outrage. It's healthy!

And creates a great caricature as well for all observers.

But I've come to expect that from you – which is why most of your comments are deleted on my site.

It's not a question of mind reading at all. You're the one trying to make out that she didn't really mean what she said.

have written to Joe about this post – utterly devoid of substance, logic, and insulting the intelligence of his conservative readers.

Oooh, gonna tell the baby sitter eh? Good for you Rick. After all, you can't just delete it.

Mrs. Obama's words are on what she said, not what you wish she had said or shouldn't have said in the heat of the “moment” or any othe cockamamie notion of why “reasonable” people would take her meaning for anything else except what came out of her mouth.

OK, so she said “for the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country”

Now, does that mean she has never in her adult lifetime been proud of her country?

Or the perhaps now she is more proud of it, “really” proud of it, than she has been in the past?

Oh well Rick, you're the mind reader so I'll let you decide.