So, since we're all doomed to failure, I'm looking forward to living in a country where women will be forced to carry the child of their rapist to term; where books will banned; science will be shunned -- it conflicts with the Bible after all, and is elitist; deregulation will ensure that everyone receives a fair shake, except when it doesn't; witchcraft will be rooted out and persecuted; and foreign policy will be guided by the mighty will of God, all with a wink and nod and an agrammatical homily.

Sarah Palin is the worst of all worlds: an ignorant, incurious person who is proud of what they don't know. The idea that this should somehow be a role model to Americans is appalling; the idea that people of similar disposition champion her is unsurprising.

I'm beginning to wonder if we shouldn't focus our attention less on the intellectual and moral dissonance that is represented in Sarah Palin and more on what we can do to fix it. I too enjoy all our vainglory. But the absurdity to be found in the fact that there are people who believe that to have a quality education is detrimental to a person's judgment, let alone to believe in a 7000 year old earth, is far less comical when, with a bit of compassion, we realize what a sad reality it is with which they must cope. I come from a background of christian conservatism, and while now I can't help but both rage and mock, I feel simultaneously sad, and despair for these people who while meaning well deal so poorly with their fellow. What do I do?! How do I help? Not with feelings of superiority, however justified. Perhaps my youth demands answers that aren't available. Why aren't conservatives more disgusted? Why do they suddenly claim feminism while ignoring a woman's rights? It is easy to recognize that a person is ill. Much less easy to identify their malady and heal them. There must be a reason we shouldn't give up on their ignorance.

Amazing that after 8 years of the Bush administration - where only the last 2 began any kind of change of power - our 'libs' have enough power to bring the economy to the abyss of economic doom.

Sorry, 'darlin,' (so cute when you & Sarah drop your g's - just makes you so down home & folksy) - but you & your party is carrying the blame for this disaster. And you deserve every moment of the blame now heaped upon you. You deserve your bitter loss, & the loss of the American people's trust. You can through your Yorkie in Lipstick at us - but things are so damned scary right now that all her 'adorableness' points her right to her rightful career as letter-turner, or better still, Fox News anchor.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I have been so sick of reading that Palin "cleared the bar", she ""exceeded the low expectations", therefore she won. Has anybody not noticed that she has no depth about any of these issues? Her understanding seems limited to memorizing her talking points. This is based not on one interview, but on everything she says and does. You can go back to her debates in Alaska. Palin appears to be a nice (i think that could be debatable too, maybe nice like a shark) woman who did a reasonable job as governor. The issues she dealt with were limited and she appears to have spent her entire life not all that interested about what is happening outside of her world. And they want her to be a heartbeat from the presidency. I am aghast at this possibility. Surely there are some Republicans that actually care if their candidate has any qualifications whatsoever for the job??? I thought country first was their whole point. Clearly, it is not. How pathetic, but mostly, how scary.

... puzzling over the whole Sarah Palin phenomena... not Sarah Palin, herself, but the Palinization of our culture. How did this happen? When did 'qualified' become simply what you can get away with?

Anybody remember Robert Pirsig's exploration of the metaphysics of quality? In "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," Pirsig points out that the Greeks did not distinguish between 'quality' and 'truth.' And he argues that, to truly experience quality, one must embrace both logic and -- for lack of a better word -- 'being-ness.'

He said the tendency is to experience the world through one filter or the other. Either you're an analytical engineer type or an intuitive artist type (or, if you're a Republican, a visceral superstitious type).

My dad (who worked and occasionally socialized with Pirsig) liked to tell me that self-doubt was a sign of intellectual health. Conversely the kind of dogmatic certitude that Bush and, now Palin, substitute for real thought, must be a sign of intellectual disease. (cross-posted at jaebrysonblog.blogspot.com)

This is an excerpt from Time Magazine, 1970:

As the Senate last week began its long-awaited floor debate on President Nixon's latest choice for the Supreme Court, opponents and at least a few supporters of the nominee seemed agreed on one point: Judge G. Harrold Carswell is a mediocre choice. Far from denying it, Carswell's advocates almost claimed mediocrity as his prime qualification.

"Does it not seem that we have had enough of those upsidedown, corkscrew thinkers?" Louisiana's Russell Long asked. "Would it not appear that it might be well to take a B student or a C student who was able to think straight, compared to one of those A students who are capable of the kind of thinking that winds up getting a 100% increase in crime in this country?" After Roman Hruska finished with it, the argument even had a certain logic—if somewhat upside down and corkscrewed. "There are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers," said the Nebraska Republican. "They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they? We can't have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos." [See, anyone who's smart must be an elitist and thus not to be trusted, from the Republican point of view anyway. Despite the infinite complication of today's world, they naively believe that common sense is all you need, even in the top jobs. Look for them to adopt that strategy in heart surgeons soon.]