Current candidates confuse American voters with too many words.
The resulting "group-thinking" tends to discourage common sense; which is (when used) a fundamental function of individuals--calling naturally upon their "higher" faculties of "reason and understanding." (These are essentially non-verbal and personal.) A human herd typically operates though with popular verbalizations.

Witness the political conventions of 2008. Collective frenzy softens every mind. Voters are readied to believe whatever they are told. That has happened more broadly as too many Americans become susceptible to the varieties of demagogic propaganda: political, religious and "commercial" (slick, sly and sleazy).

 Traditionally tough-minded common sense--bred by the harsh frontier--wanes as our old skeptical Pragmatism is replaced by small-minded ideologies and rhetoric. Too many Americans now tend to believe utter nonsense (told by politicians, pundits, preachers  and hucksters). They then go forth with "glassy eyes" to vote, bray and generally buy every preposterous "bill of goods."

 Wake up, folks! We are descended from tough pioneers. We insult their heritage by acting like gullible sheep. That reactive type of personality has too long been "blessed" to run the world (as true-believing but typically unqualified "authoritarians" inevitably compete ambitiously for power over the masses).

 Now though a more mature style of proactive personality is evidently required to take the helm of advancing civilization; as the world turns upside-down. Perhaps the enigmatic BIBLE anticipated (symbolically) a critical time in history; when the "sheep" would be separated from the "goats." Savvy citizenship will arguably require everyone to think henceforth, individually; as king or queen of oneself.

Hypothesis: The more individualistic "goats" have slowly cleaned up their act (through eons of rather irresponsible non-conformity) enough to assume an appointed role as carriers of human destiny.

 A pathetically pandering John McCain is patently projecting; in perhaps the most preposterous campaign play in history. This deeply disappointing candidate dishonestly expects most voters to believe his small-minded take on Barack Obama's recent witicism about "lipstick on a pig."

This phrase is commonly used (notably by "Republicans" themselves). Supposedly though, Obama's timely usage represents a "disrespectful" attack upon the McCain camp (which has ironically been the more negative of the two). Will the sheep win the vote next November with such "playground" parsings-of-words?

The danger is that thin-skinned Americans have indeed become vulnerable to such bickering twists on colloquial language: taking their critical cues from the domination of human consciousness  by  a "left-brain" regime-of-rhetoric now popular at-large.