Oh brother, Obama is a smoker, and he has a church that says objectionable things? So what? He will get us out of Iraq and spend this money on health care for all.

Smoking: bad for him, but in all likelyhood, irrevelant to me as a US citizen if he becomes president.

Minister: Who doesn't have religious beliefs that are wierd? Evangelical Christians believe that if you don't believe in Jesus, in the same way that they do, you will go to hell and suffer forever, and this from a god who is all powerful and loving. What Obamas minister says is nothing compared to this. Why don't presidential canidates who attend churches who believe this, shuned by most Americans?

To Tonia Freeman Doussett:

You neglected to mention the occasional cup of coffee enjoyed by Barack Obama as more prrof of his lack of character. An evil man indeed!

You worship in a glass church Ms. Doussett. Its best that your refrain from throwing stones.

Ignore the dittoheads who wouldn't have an idea or opinion in their head if they didn't come from Rush Limbaugh. The way Obama handled the Reverend Wright affair was classy and showed true character. (What this letter writer is looking for in a candidate I won't presume to guess.) There might not be great hope that Utah would actually go to Obama in the fall, but please, fellow Utahns, let's give McCain a run for his money!

Can't convince my elderly church lady relatives that he's not a secret Muslim and America hater. The mega church rumor machine is in full swing against him...panics about lapel pins and symbols while saluting to their hero GW.

Oh yes, I much prefer McCain's associations with the Keating Five and Lincoln Savings and Loan. They didn't hate America. They just exploited the good ol' American value of laxed regulatory oversight to exploit Lincoln customers out of billions of dollars. I love it when McCain says he's from the "Party of Lincoln" -- I wonder if he's referring to Lincoln Savings and Loan! God help them all!

Why does DesNews continue to print pointless diatribes such as these? It's just childish screaming. Let's have some thoughtful discussion of the issues instead of name-calling each other haters, racists, and (heaven forbid) "smokers."

It is true that Obama smokes and hopefully he can quit. But he will still be a breath of fresh air after the leadership we have lacked for the last seven years. We have gone from record surpluses to record deficits, from worldwide respect to despised, from a strong dollar to weak, and our dependency on oil and poluting fossil fuels has grown without any hint of energy policy to change this. We can and will do much better with Obama.

This is the party line, that's for sure. Would it be equally fair for me to make a political point of McCain's adultery, or George Bush's subtance abuse problems?

Rev. Parsley (McCain's "spiritual advsiser") believes God wants America to destroy Islam.
(check this out for yourselves on youtube)

And this to the far-right wackos is a terrific idea.
Even if it takes 100 years.

On the contrary, as a hardcore conservative I find the fact that Obama smokes to truly be a "breath of fresh air". I'm not a smoker but I may take up the habit to spite all the big-government, nanny state do-gooders who constantly attack smoking while gladly stealing the profits of tobacco companies to pay for wacky social programs (and even putting the cigarette lawsuit settlement money into their state's general fund).
If he starts smoking in public then I'll gladly vote for Obama

Guilt by association. Good thing this isn't the 1950's. Obama might get blacklisted.

I'm getting tired of people that just borrow brains from their favorite talk radio "personality".

If we are to fault Obama for attending a church that points out the faults of the United States, perhaps focuses on them too much, then what of LDS who worship at a church that says at one time, Black people were un-worthy to hold the LDS priesthood merely because they are black? Or what of Evangelicals who say that God will send more than half of their countrymen and the rest of the world to hell to suffer forever just because they don't accept their same beliefs about God?

Aren't these just as bad or worse? If any LDS criticizes Obama for that reason and won't support him, then that LDS better not support Romney for president. The same with Evangelicals supporting Huckabee What religion doesn't have weird and strange beliefs and practices?

I wonder if the writer has ever stopped to listen to the thoughtful and resaonble way that Obama deals with the hyperbolic diatribe the comes out of his enemies mouths? It also seems a bit of a stretch to me that a letter writer in Utah should make an issue of someone's religious leader saying or doing things that don't fit the status quo. For those of us who belong to the predominate faith of Utah, trying to understand the beliefs and motivations of others should be a first priority. Certainly there are many who have misinterpreted or misrepresented our beliefs.

I for sure would rather have a president who doesn't smoke than one who will get us out Iraq, lower taxes on the poor and middle class, and use the Iraq war money to provide quality health care for all.

Smoking surely trumps all these concerns.

I may be wrong, but I have read in one of his books, that Obama is an EX-smoker. Still, he has been seen drinking both coffee and beer. And he's not much of a bowler.

What I don't understand is how Obama's ability to be kind and patient with many different people is a bad thing. Didn't Jesus, himself, hang out with a lot of flawed individuals?

What I admire is the way Obama can be around all these oppositional people, yet he stills keeps his own sense of self and his own personal beliefs. He demonstrates empathy and compassion toward everyone without ever diminishing himself. For me, it's really hard not to like and admire the guy.

@Utahn in CT & Alright then

And I'm tired of all the "thinking" liberals who believe that the only way someone could possibly disagree with them is if they were brainwashed by a talk radio personality.

Talk about fallacy of logic.

But then, I'm not sure too many people are interested in clear thinking or honest dialog these days. They'd rather just cling (yes, I said "cling"!) to their pet theories or opinions. (I wish I could say it was just a leftist problem, but I'm afraid it's not).

(BTW, if you care to contemplate more on logic and evidence-based debate, look up "List of Fallacies" on Wikipedia).

I wonder if Orem has any "hate and racism"?

If Rush doesn't brainwash his didoheads, how else do you explain that he gets them to vote against their own economic interests?

Republicans target tax cuts such that the lions share goes to the very rich, Democrats this year will lower taxes on the poor and middle class exclusively.

Since the 1980's the USA has become much more productive and wealthy, but the common person has not seen much of the increased wealth, it has mostly all gone to the very richest among us, what is the Republican response to this fact?

Lower taxes in such a way that the wealthy get most of the benefits of any tax cut.

Its not the wealthy who are exclusively responsible for this increase in wealth. Inventors of the internet / e-mail, are responsible, teachers, skilled laborers all share in the credit, as do government representatives for agreeing not to tax the internet.

If this wealth were more evenly distributed, we would all have better health care, more vacation time, more pay.

Think before you vote.

I am not hesitant to say that I judge candidates for political office by their personal habits as well as by their positions on issues. As I recall, it was Mrs. Obama who made her husband's tobacco habit an issue. She said, in so many words, that she wanted him to quit, and asked those who ask him questions to ask about his tobacco use. So I think the letter writer has a point. In this day and age, anyone's use of tobacco should bother everyone. It is no longer merely a religious issue. Tobacco's health hazards to users and non-users alike are thoroughly documented. Consequently, there must be something wrong with the character of people who use tobacco. Either they lack self-discipline, a trait every president should have, or they don't care for the well-being of others around them, or both. Simply put, we just can't ignore a candidate's personal habits.

"I wonder if Orem has any "hate and racism"? "

I would hope Obama would hate the way blacks were treated in years past, if not he is no man and I wouldn't want him for president, it would be too possible to walk all over him.

I would also hope he is capable of forgiveness, which I believe he is, in spite of anything past, he reaches out to all Americans.

If you blame Obama for his preacher, do you also blame LDS people that their church said that blacks didn't used to be worthy to hold the priesthood merely because they are black?

Do you blame Evegelical Christians for saying that unless you believe as they do, that God will send you to Hell to suffer foreve and ever.

If not, they you are selective about which religious nonsense you find objectionable and hold people to account for.

"Consequently, there must be something wrong with the character of people who use tobacco."

I was going to vote for him, because he will get us out of the war, lower taxes on middle class and give affordable health care to all.

But now that I know he has a character flaw of smoking, I will give up all of those things and vote instead for a guy who married a who got all of her money because her dad sold beer.

I am trying to be ironic here, I do have the greatest of respect for John McCain, but I just don't want us to stay in this war.

Analysis of tobacco use by Robert. What does he have to say about people who launch preemptive wars on sovereign countries?

The letter writer (Tonia) is obviously not going to vote for Obama, but fails to sway me off my vote. Guess we'll cancel each other out this November!

re: joe moe

You need to read the letter again, and something will become painfully obvious. There is nothing there of the type of news that one might find in the national or local media (or "drive-by media" as one might say). They don't talk about these things, in the manner of the letter writer. That is the tone and discourse of conservative talk-radio hosts. I would think that would be obvious to anyone. She didn't form these opinions in a vacuum. Where do you think she got this info? NBC? CBS? Who else would point to smoking as a reason not to vote for someone? Explain it to me, 'cause me just dumb un-thinky liberal. I just call them like I see them, and this type of letter (i.e. regurgitated talking points) appears often enough on these pages that yes, it has become a source of annoyance to me. It's not a fallacy of logic (do you even know what that means? Because it really doesn't apply.), it's all there in front of you.

Let the "evidence-based debate" continue!

Alright, then notice the omissions. John McCain, is "very proud to have Pastor John Hagee’s support."

Hagee has stated that Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves by rebelling against God and that the Holocaust was God's way of forcing Jews to move to Israel where, Hagee predicts according to his interpretation of Biblical scripture, they will be mostly killed in the apocalyptic Mideast conflict Hagee's new lobbying group seems to be working to provoke and which John Hagee believes to be a necessary precondition for the "Rapture" that will lift Christians, but not Jews, bodily into Heaven to enjoy physical immortality amidst paradise.

Why doesn't Fox News, Rush or the Deseret News report these hate fulled words?

Joe moe is just another sad Limbaugh freak who believes Limbaugh speaks for him.

Funny thing is, that when asked what it is that is being conserved, neo-reds bait-and-switch and start babbling about what great Americans they are and that you are not. And that's it! Nothing else!

So great in fact that they voted in the monstrous group that is running the country in the ground today.

@Anonymous 2:05.

I was impressed with most of the people who responded to my thoughts, though we still disagree for the most part. Until I got to your letter. You are a continuation of the problem.

A) I never listen to Rush Limbaugh. I never have.

B) Obviously, the word "conservative" and is used in different ways. The political term is one thing, resource use is another. I agree that political conservatives need to do more to address the realities of the energy problem and to take better care of the Earth. Many political conservatives are also coming around to that idea.

C) Is the monstrous group you are referring to the Bush administration or the Democratic congresses we have "enjoyed" for the vast majority if my lifespan? I do not excuse the obvious errors of the Bush administration, most especially how they prosecuted the war in Iraq; do you excuse the policies of the Democrats that have moved us ever closer to a welfare state, demonized those who earn financial success (except themselves) to, condoned the liberal "morality" gutting our communities, who are good at walking softly but chronically don't understand how to wield the big stick...