"Why can't Sarah Palin talk to the press?"

That must be the dumbest question in politics today. The media (and the Dems who buy into this line) are playing straight into the Republican hand. Palin has years of experience combatting the press in Alaska. In any interview, she is going to come out "on top" (in the same sense that her snarky nomination speech was a "home run").

No; what the Dems (and any media figures who will listen) ought to do is: ignore Sarah Palin the person altogether. Pay no attention to her biography, her persona; draw no attention to what she is doing or saying now. Instead, run stories only on Sarah Palin the political operative. What policies did she actually enact as mayor and as governor? That, and nothing else about her, is relevant.

When the GOP machine politicians decide, at some point that is convenient to them, to "allow" the media (in the form of Brit Hume or some such) to "interview" Palin, the Democrats should have first prepared the way not by focusing on her alleged inexperience (that plays into her hand by lowering expectations) and certainly not by harping on her family (that only builds sympathy for her and focuses on her biography, which is irrelevant to what she will do in office). Instead, focus on, and pound her on, her life-long quest to grab federal dollars for herself and her constituents, and on the bloat in the Alaska state government under her alleged leadership.

On the one hand: your calculations are based on your 30-watt laptop. Calculations using a 350-watt (or 500-watt) desktop "gamer" system would give you far higher numbers.

On the other hand: all these calculations assume that, absent the online reading, your computer would be OFF. The truth is that lots of computer owners and users (a majority?) leave their computers on all day, sometimes all day and night, whether they are using them or not. You certainly won't save energy if you print out a document and then leave the computer on while you read it.

Twelve months of sleeplessness... And then, one day, you realize that it's all over, and that you have caught up on your sleep! Just in time to celebrate your "baby's" 22nd birthday!

Keep up the good work, Keef, and try to con the new grandparents into doing baby care long enough to catch a nap now and then!

Far be it from me -- please! -- to defend Palin, but in one detail she is right and both Gibson and Koppelman are manifestly wrong. Gibson quotes her as saying: "Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God."

What she actually said (check out the millions of youtube versions) was: "Let us pray that our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God." Grammatically speaking, you can't even get from A to B; Palin's quote is in the subjunctive, and Gibson transmutes it into a declarative.

As Palin quite correctly points out to Gibson, her prayer is a direct paraphrase of Lincoln's famous admonition: "let us not pray that God is on our side but that we are on God's side." Or, in secular terms: "let's hope we are doing the right thing."

There is plenty to dislike about Palin's politics -- including her exclusivist definition of good, evil, and Christianity -- without misquoting her and making things up. Stick to the facts, a little bit at least.

Best of all: emphasize the points in her record, such as taking a government per diem to live at home, that make her base queasy and potentially turn undecideds against her. Avoid the stuff like this that will emphasize the cluelessness of the media and of Democrats and make them rally to her side.

And if you really can't tell the difference, ask someone who can.

This ad is fine as far as it goes, which is nowhere that the Obama campaign and every Democratic campaign for the past half century or more hasn't gone already.

To break new ground, Obama has to start hitting McCain hard on his "health plan," which centers on treating employer-sponsored health insurance as taxable income. When I told my brother about it, he was speechless. Yet virtually no one in the media or on the campaign trail even mentions it! There is an op-ed in the NYT today by Bob Herbert that finally broaches the topic.

Obama, please make an ad -- and a whole series of campaign speeches -- that focus on calling McCain's plan what it is: the McCain Health Tax! When Americans hear about it (and they won't hear if from the media if you don't bring it up), they will really start to ask questions about that guy and where his best interests lie.