How ironic that reading this Salon article was repeatedly interrupted by inescapable flashing ads and streaming video. Is there a better example of what Jacoby calls ''the Internet's perpetual promise of pointless distraction?"

Joan, thank you for your insight here and on TV. I agree with you that 'anything Palin' is relevant. It not only addresses the decision making of John McCain and his campain, but also speaks to that "silent majority'' that is so fascinated by her bravado and, as you say, ''artifice.'' It appears McCain and Palin are hellbent on scaring people, and they've succeeded, not only with their followers. I, too, am fearful of the hatred they have incited and how they have divided this country. Barack Obama will not only have to run this country and repair eight years of Bush damage, he's going to have to heal the rift, the hearts and minds of a nation whose emotions have been exploited by a ruthless, and ironically, seemingly God-less GOP campaign by those who claim the loudest that God is exclusively on their side.

OMG! This attitude is so sexist and racist and immature that I couldn't even finish the article. But I've read enough to know this writer has singlehandedly returned women and black women especially to the 1950s, if not the 1850s. I only hope most African-American women are more sophisticated and think more of themselves than Ms Kaplan appears to think of herself, let alone the next First Lady. This article belongs in "Hustler."

Did Salon PAY for this racist/sexist drivel?

Elsewhere in the article, Ms Noonan references 'her neighborhood, Lexington Avenue' on Manhattan's Upper East Side. A bellwether for the nation's economy? Congratulations, Lexington Ave, you're the new Peoria. Noonan's parochial, uninformed analysis is why Barack Obama will be sworn in as the next president of the United States. The Repubbies still don't ''get it.''