You've got to hand it to Dusty Rhoades. I wrote a letter hoping he would explain the political mess in Illinois, and he pre-empted me by writing a column on it the very same day my letter was in the paper.

Very lawyerly (he does practice law in Carthage), he used the "extreme vast right-wing conspiracy" shtick to explain that quagmire, but he didn't use the word "Democratic" or "Democrat" once, nada, not ever in his defense.

In fact, no one in the liberal media ever uses the word "Democrat" when describing the Democratic governor of Illinois and his friends and associates. Hmmmmm?!

Dusty did manage to crank out the words "Republican," "RNC," "conservative" and "GOP" no less than 12 times in his sparkling defense and brought up Sarah Palin twice. He even used the word "wingnut" on two occasions to describe folks who don't agree with him and his fellow travelers.

Lord, I wish I possessed his rapier wit! One thing's for sure -- Dusty is predictable! We have to come up with an endearing term for him.

Dennis Strojny

Pinewild