People are hanging on the "bitter" comment as if it meant something. The part that really seemed to turn people off around here was the comment about "clinging to religion" as if that were a bad thing. [Don't shoot the messenger here; I think he was, at least in part, correct.] However, insinuating that peoples' faith is a product of their fear, no matter how accurate, is guaranteed to be highly offensive. Some things are better left unsaid, or implied.

Also, your comparison with the current leadership likely won't hold water since the opposition isn't them but rather a theoretical McCain administration. No one could reasonably expect McCain to walk the same line with regard to torture as has Bush. For obvious reasons.

I'll agree that making a huge issue out of Obama's comments is out of proportion with some of the abuses carried out by the current administration.

First rule of politics: do not ever, under any circumstances, condescend. Don't even think about kinda-sorta appearing have a notion to condescend. The people who live away from the Northeast corridor and California are already very sensitive to such.