I listened to John McCain at the Saddleback forum Saturday night and found the simplicity and bravado of his answers foolish and childish. "I'll follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell," he thundered, as he often does when repeating this tired stump line. It always gets applause from the simple-minded.

But he should be clear: bin Laden isn't in hell (yet); he's in Pakistan. Yet after one of the Democratic debates when Barack Obama said he would strike at known Al Quida bases, even if they were in Pakistan and it meant taking out bin Laden, you, Senator, called Obama "naive" to make such bluster!

So tell us, Sen. McCain: If you are serious about getting bin Laden, why are you willing to go into hell but not into Pakistan? Which is shameless pandering, and which is a policy? Who's really full of "bluster"? And who's being "naive" to believe that the public doesn't see through your empty, tough guy act?

The country has had more than seven years of cowboy bombast, and look where it's gotten us. Apparently, for all your so-called experience, you haven't learned a darned thing, have you?

Rick Gagliardo

Pinehurst