"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

Fox News covers Republicans eating their young, as the McCain campaign tries to kill off Palin's future.

May they succeed...

Few who knew Palin in college remember her.

I mean, none of us were all that brainy when we were HS graduates. But come on! Planning to go all the way from Alaska to Hawai'i for college and never stop to consider what the weather might be like? Not think about how in the tropics maybe it rains a lot, and most of the time it's going to be warm? What a freakin' maroon!

from Newsweek

"Do we want leaders who are everyday folks, or do we want leaders who understand everyday folks? Therein lies an enormous difference, one that could decide the presidential election and, if McCain and Palin were to win, shape the governance of the nation."

The article goes on to talk about elitism.

"A key argument for Palin, in essence, is this: Washington and Wall Street are serving their own interests rather than those of the broad whole of the country, and the moment requires a vice president who will, Cincinnatus-like, help a new president come to the rescue. The problem with the argument is that Cincinnatus knew things. Palin sometimes seems an odd combination of Chauncey Gardiner from "Being There" and Marge from "Fargo."

Is this an elitist point of view? Perhaps, though it seems only reasonable and patriotic to hold candidates for high office to high standards. Elitism in this sense is not about educational or class credentials, not about where you went to school or whether you use "summer" as a verb. It is, rather, about the pursuit of excellence no matter where you started out in life. Jackson, Lincoln, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Clinton were born to ordinary families, but they spent their lives doing extraordinary things, demonstrating an interest in, and a curiosity about, the world around them. This is much less evident in Palin's case."

Me, I'd like a president who is smart, experienced, adaptable, and listens to other people, can put himself or herself in others' shoes. There seems to be a dangerously simple-minded confusion between the idea that our elected officials represent us (act for us, since we can't have 300 million people voting on every decision of government) and the idea that elected officials should be representative of us (should have the same distribution of ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual preference, and, by implication, intelligence and skill as the population). I DON'T want a government that is representative. I want the best and the brightest, and failing that I want at least people with broad experience and significant intelligence.

And, moreover, I want leaders who will listen to their advisors, even if those people tell them things they don't want to hear. Apart from Palin's disturbing religious tendencies and her inexperience, one of the things that bothers me a great deal about her is her seeming propensity to fire people who bring her bad news or tell her she can't or shouldn't do what she wants to do. That seems to be dangerous and small-minded.

Yes, I want a president with a bold, progressive vision and the eloquence to describe it stirringly. But I would be willing to settle for a president who is smart and can handle complex issues, and whose character I trust even if I disagree with her or his positions. McCain fails the trust test on a basic level, though I believe him to be a very smart man. Palin is neither smart nor trustworthy.

I see Andrew Sulivan has already picked up on this one.

"I have had a strong and a long relationship on national security, I've been involved in every national crisis that this nation has faced since Beirut, I understand the issues, I understand and appreciate the enormity of the challenge we face from radical Islamic extremism," the Senator declared. "I am prepared. I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn't a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn't a governor for a short period of time."

Who was speaking? John McCain...

peaceful_fox was asking where all the old-time Republicans had got to.

There's one left, apparently.

The Hill: Palin speech fails with independents.

NPR's Morning Edition did a great story this morning, lining up the truth against the lies, half-truths, and evasions already coming out of VP-nominee Palin's mouth. Particularly damning was audio of her addressing an Alaskan business group in which she applauds the state's congressional delegation for all the earmarks they are bringing to Alaska, with a special shout out for Don Young. So much for reform! Also documented are her efforts to bring millions of federal dollars to the small town of which she was mayor ($27 million for a town of about 5,000 residents, *twenty* times the national average of federal spending). They also point out that while Palin supported the Gravina Island Bridge, she made a public announcement canceling the bridge once it became a national laughingstock...but did NOT return the federal funds that Alaska had received for it, and continued work on preparations for the bridge (such as an approach road).

This woman is not only a liar, she's a barefaced and STUPID liar (why lies about things in the public record?) Only time will tell whether voters will listen more to her lies than to the truth. Any politician who sets herself up as an opponent of the free press, who uses her office to pursue personal vendettas, who says one thing and does the opposite, who defies the legal investigations of the legislature into her misdoings...well, she fits right in in the Republican Party.

I was thinking that the Obama campaign probably didn't need any more help at this point. Not a chance. I'm going to see how much we can afford to send them, and investigate whether I can volunteer to do campaign stuff without getting into trouble at work.

EDIT: A friend of a friend had the trenchant observation that Palin is rather reminiscent of Dolores Umbridge. In looks, no; in manner and general effect, absolutely spot on, IMO.

Also ganked from friends:

Palin says Iraq war a 'task from God'.

Palin tried to force the state of Alaska to pay people to shoot wolves from helicopters

Palin cut funding for programs to support unwed mothers

a whole host of other heinous policy stands

Rev. Karl on her ties to Dominionist plans (an "agenda"? :-) to turn the US into a Christian Right theocracy.

or just go direct to this article on Daily Kos

snolan links to these critiques of Palin's looseness with the truth

CBS news fact-checking Palin's speech
SameFact fact-check

The hits just keep on coming...