As a media scholar, I'm interested in the fact that in this discussion people are blaming "the media" for the way they portray Bush but not for the portrayals of Hillary Clinton. If we don't know Ms. Clinton from media portrayals, then how in the world do we know anything about her?

Here's some information: Richard Mellon Scaife, the Pittsburgh billionare who funds conservative think tanks among other things, can't stand Democrats, especially if they're women. The conservative think tanks put on a united face so that they all say the same thing whenever interviewed or whenever commenting (the think tanks I'm referring to include the Heritage foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute and individuals who receive money from them include William Bennett, Elliott Abrams, Jack Kemp, lynn Cheney, Irving Cristol, Richard Perle. Journalists and news personalities who benefit from the think tank money include George Will, Michael Novak, Ann Coulter, Dinesh D'Sousa, Rush Limbaugh, and O'Reilly. Check out the facts. These are the folks who have been destroying the pursuit of objective journalism by encouraging partisanship, by killing the public service provisions of the original communications laws and turning "news" into entertainment. That's how it was practiced in the 1830s. Must we revert back to such unenlightened times?

The hatred in the country directed at Hillary Clinton seems out of proportion to anything she every actually did. Was it because of the chocolate chip cooky bake-off she had with Barbara Bush or what? I see it mostly as misogynistic.

p.s. Meredith -- I'm a Chicago girl too -- northern suburbs (on the lake).