As I have said before, Glenn, we have to take back control of at least one of the major networks. This is a job more vital, more satisfying, and more necessary for the health of the nation even than the elimination of the Blue Dog Democrats.

Damn. She's gorgeous. The camera LOVES her. Here, honey, I've got a picture of her you can take to the salon. See if they can match the cut and color. Stop by Lenscrafters and swap your contacts for some porn star frames. If you looked like her, you'd get men. Rich men. Every man I know wants to drill her here, drill her now.

Yup yup, that's offensive. But it's more politically useful than telling the world Ms. Palin is intelligent.

Where'd the radio show go?

Where'd the radio show go?

It will resume on its regular schedule Monday. It was really hard -- much harder than I anticipated -- to do it while traveling to Denver and Minneapolis, especially with the coverage of the parties and protests and videos and the like.

It sounds like the VP debate will be the only chance to put her in a tough spot. If Biden tosses around a few East Timors, Tzazikistans and Miami 5s, Won't the Gov have to respond in kind? Or will the MSM moderator drop foreign affairs from the debate?

In fact, if the debate format isn't totally neutered, how can she look competent across from Joe Biden? Will that be enough?

The same dynamic was on display when Bush debated Kerry in 2004, and it will also be true of the Palin-Biden debate. Everyone thought Kerry was going to handle Bush like a rhetorical rag doll, so when Bush did better than terribly, he looked like he had done well.

This cycle repeats again and again with the media, and I'm never quite sure if they realize it and do it purely for ratings, or if they are genuinely blinded by their own high opinion of themselves. Probably a little of both. But that's how it goes - they portray a future event as paramount, a potential "game changer," everyone watches and the opposite of what's expected happens, everyone is amazed(!), setting up the drama for the next all-important event, which is similarly teed up with a new set of expectations and meanings.

What I am wondering, however, is whether the locust storm of controversies and myth-undermining facts now following Palin around might operate as its own force. I'm having trouble gauging the saturation of these stories, or their likely effect. Will the media genuinely follow these stories and widely report damaging facts about Palin's record in Alaska, or her bizarro position on religion and government?

Let's hope that journalists' sensibilities are offended by Palin's absence enough that they actually do some investigating and reporting. Or, they could just stare at their shoes and continue the self-referential debate with themselves about whether the coverage of Palin has been too "sexist" or "liberal."

Biden was actually a little shrewd when he claimed that he was expecting her to be a formidable debate partner.

Little things like that might be part of the solution.

to whatever a public figure says permeates every political level and every media level, from the rookie leagues covering town council meetings and county reeve pronouncements to the bigs, network face time with senators, presidents and wanna be presidents.

My question is why?

Is it a lack of knowledge on the part of the media to the point that no matter how outrageous the claim is no one seems to have the basic facts at their finger tips to ask a probing follow up question which may elicit an enlightening answer. Maybe, the hiring practices seem more geared to good teeth and suitable bone structure than a quick wit and an alert mind.

Is it out of concern that the audience would be lost in an exchange of rigorous questions and and challenges of baseless assertions, that anything more than a 10 second sound bite or a string of platitudes being too intellectually challenging. I find the contempt for the public at large underlying that premise insulting.

However I think that the most probable reason is that the media, specifically big corporate media, regardless of it's partisan slant (which in the United States is two points very close together on the right side of the ideological spectrum)does not work for the public, rather it works for the status quo. Why? Because the status quo works so well for them.

In fact, if the debate format isn't totally neutered, how can she look competent across from Joe Biden? Will that be enough?

You know what my guess is? The McCain campaign, being run by some truly diabolical weasels, will probably give Palin a "gadget play" to use that will create a splashy soundbite and humiliate Biden in some way. They do love themselves some liberal humiliation.

Something like this - by way of responding to a question, preferably on foreign policy, she will redirect the topic to a question she poses directly to Biden. It will be a question designed to be somehow relevant yet unlikely for him to know, with the expectation that he will flub and she will look like she conquered him. Won't necessarily be something exactly like that, but I can absolutely imagine her handlers - rather than trying to brief her on every possible thing - giving her just enough tricks and prefabricated rhetorical flourishes to "exceed expectations" and perhaps embarrass the ostensible foreign policy master.

And the moment will be in every single video clip for the next week on constant rotation, supposedly emblematic of something deep and exciting.

If journalists were smart enough to ask tough questions and no-escape follow-up questions, they'd be litigators. The money is better.

Iran is a gathering threat, should we bomb them now or later?

Now that the surge is working ...

Some people question your daughters pregnancy. Do they hate babies?

How will you handle Russia's unwarranted aggression toward Georgia?

As a reformer, how will you keep the liberals from tax and spending us into the poor house?