No intellectually honest person, left or right, views Sarah Palin as being remotely ready for the responsibilities of the vice presidency. Note that even Condi Rice was slow to praise her. Yes, it is sad that Palin either doesn’t realize — or has chosen to ignore, out of a misguided desire for personal advancement — that she is wildly unqualified for the job, at a time when ignorance in leadership is dangerous. She says she’s qualified to lead on foreign policy, but she couldn’t even identify and intelligently comment on the Bush Doctrine of preemption when interviewed by Charlie Gibson. So yes, the conservatives patronize as they praise — and the irony for conservatives here is that the Palin pick is one of the worst abuses of affirmative action in American history.

This is why I decided to get off the sidelines and be more active in this campaign. The dissonance in this country is deafening. How some people attack Obama for lack of experience, but find room in their general hypothesis of the importance of experience to justify their support for Palin … that is incredibly dishonest, at a time when dishonesty in government is especially dangerous.

unfortunately, i don’t think the nation’s smarter than that. i think it’s mired down in an intolerant, scared, us-vs-them mentality that – barring a truly major event – will result in a mccain/palin victory in november.

i don’t know what to make of the collective american “us” anymore (as though i ever really did). i’m mostly sad that we seem plagued by a lack of critical thought, epidemic shortsightedness, and pandering to the lowest common denominator. i suppose we have karl rove and bushco. to thank for that, although the rest of us – the so-called silent majority who have sat back and allowed it to happen – are certainly not without blame.

this is the way a once-great nation ends: not with a bang, but with lipstick on a pitbull.

I looked over your blog and it looks really good. Do you ever do link exchanges on your blog roll? If you do, I’d like to exchange links with you.

Let me know if you’re interested.

Thanks..