No, seriously:

Ouch:
Smith: Now that the election is over, Carl, tell us more about those reports of infighting between Palin and McCain staffers.
Cameron: I wish I could have told you more at the time but all of it was put off the record until after …

I agree with you on the “quality” of Palin's voice…it drove me crazy, too. I am sure Nellie Melba's voice was “angelic,” especially when compared to Sarah's

Dorian

The fact the rest of the nation nods in approval is nauseating.

Especially the second Center For Inquiry recommendation…that V.P. nominees perhaps should be vetted and selected by the people…not by a politically calculating “maverick.”

Thanks

Dorian

It became a spin of her “average” Americanism versus the “elite,” (which was predictable of course.)

But what did it for me was actually watching her, in her unlikely moments of exposure (even scripted) that seemed to be insulting, and disgusting. Salon called her the “Sexy Puritan,” Limbaugh was drooling all over himself about how “hot” she was; she became a tabloid sensation. The head-tilt, winking moments just didn't give me starbursts. It scared the s__t out of me to think this person could, in the words of Sam Harris, “stumble” into national leadership easier than she had stumbled into politics in a small scenic town in Alaska.

I received a mailing from Center For Inquiry that proposed something I think would make a lot of sense for the whole political process: I include the quote from my e-mail from them here:

“Finally, we recommend two reforms of the electoral system.

First, the election just concluded consumed two years, tremendous energy, and unprecedented levels of funding. We recommend that a special commission be appointed by the president in consultation with Congress to move beyond the grueling state-by-state primary system, perhaps to regional primaries and a shortened electoral process.

Second, we recommend that vice-presidential candidates be selected by regional primaries and political conventions, not simply chosen by the presidential nominee. Three twentieth-century presidents died in office (William McKinley, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy) and were succeeded by their vice presidents. Although we think that Obama’s selection of Joseph Biden was a sensible choice, John McCain’s selection of the unqualified Sarah Palin was not. Clearly the present process is insufficient. In our view, the vice president should be selected by the public through the primary process rather than being the sole and autocratic choice of the candidate. Let the people decide!”