A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

We've heard a lot of stories about the phenomenon. I presume that it refers to this:

The presidential campaign got a little too hot for two Portland men who were arrest early Saturday morning, Oct. 11, and charged with burning a John McCain campaign sign in Southeast Portland.

Portland Fire and Rescue investigators said the two men made a Molotov cocktail and threw it at the sign in the 7900 block of Southeast 17th Avenue.

And this:

Vandals spray-painted the words "Republican means slavery" on the door of the York County GOP campaign headquarters overnight Friday.

Party volunteers called police after discovering the message when they arrived at the office on Rock Hill's Oakland Avenue. The vandals also stole about 45 candidate signs from the front yard and spray-painted over a banner that carried a picture of Republican presidential nominee John McCain. Their messages included lettering and symbols sometimes used by gangs.

None of the people responsible for these outrages and obscenities can be said to be representative of the Democratic Party or of the Obama campaign. Distinctions need to be made.

Too bad they weren't made when a few rotten apples at McCain rallies were used to tar the entire campaign and the Republican Party as a whole.