Fearmongering

The imagery on the cover of the New Yorker represents the quality of conversation on race and religion in this country: mixed messages, nothing decoded.

Can we just stipulate that each of the candidates devoutly loves this country, since there's no way to disprove otherwise? Slimy rumormongering just won't cut it.

Things are always less scary when the lights are on, so throughout the campaign HuffPost will be conducting a FearWatch, keeping our eyes peeled for attempts to scare the public into voting their fears. And we need your help... Read More McCain's Campaign Funding Hypocrisy: Why Are the Media Looking the Other Way? Amidst all the attacks on Obama's public funding "flip-flop," how much have you read in the old media about the fact that McCain has completely reversed himself on public financing -- and is currently breaking campaign finance law on a daily basis? Read More Watch Arianna on: BBC News' Hardtalk, CNN's Election Center, and Anderson Cooper 360

While we are relishing our Obasm, we must be aware of the forces who peer jealously across the widening breach, who are becoming even more determined to prevent this movement from succeeding.

It seems that for now at least, in this election, all of us are paying enough attention to the issues to make an informed decision.

When that weariness beckons, it's more important than ever to remind myself why it's worth fighting on, no matter what. Here's my Why We Fight, circa 2008.

Add to the list of America's "big fear" moments when an ex-President and his wife went off the deep end and became the ugliest force in American politics.

The Fear Game, characterized by rigid, dogmatic, top-down thinking, and a neverending competition for control of the political narrative, simply cannot be effective in this new world.

The Bush administration didn't invent the practice of selling fear, just employed it with shocking cynicism and assumed a mandate it didn't have.

It is mostly on TV shows like 24 and The West Wing that the phone rings to an unexpected crisis in the middle of the night.

It's been a busy week for Democrats, with a lot to cover. There has been good news and bad, but on the whole I'd have to judge the week a success for...

It's interesting to be in the work of fostering citizen courage in this time when a growing national theme seems to be: Be afraid. Be very afraid. "I...