Beverly, you are absolutely right. It is rather devastating. To me, the President of our country best be hyper-educated, well-spoken, and be a hell of a lot smarter than I am. I don't want my uncle Tinky (no lie) in the White House!

From the newspaper coverage of the weekend's book festival:

John T. Edge, Clyde Edgerton and John Egerton sat to the side of the pulpit in the Decatur Presbyterian Church sanctuary and with humor talked about food, funerals and family.

The only question from the audience was their opinion on moose stew, a reference to the presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Edge responded with a story about his son, who was 4 at the time and with a baby sitter outside a local pharmacy. The boy, screaming, threw himself to the ground and refused to go inside.

“Turns out it was Cheney’s Pharmacy and my son was thinking Dick Cheney was inside and would get him,” Edge said.

This is a very long day. I have missed lots and lots of buses, and then I missed the 6:34 bus because I misread it as 6:44. Now the next bus isn't until 7:42, which means I will get home around nine. I am hungry, my cat is going to be hungry, and I was kinda hoping to do some laundry tonight! But 9:00 pm is , like, my bedtime!

Beverly is totally correct in that, what she posts is how the Republican party has pitched and positioned themselves for at least the last 8 years. I'm not sure how the Democrats exactly let that happen, why they never fought hard on that front.

W is from a family of several generations of wealth who went to Ivy League Univ. and has never had to worry about money or the future in most of the ways that "one of us" would.

I can't speak to the 4 nominees this year, but just from how he speaks, McCain does not have the automatic connection with people the way W did/does.

I saw a Flying Spaghetti Monster metal thingy on the back of a minivan tonight. Like the fish/Darwin fish things, but, you know, Pastafarian.

I saw a Flying Spaghetti Monster metal thingy on the back of a minivan tonight. Like the fish/Darwin fish things, but, you know, Pastafarian.

Gotta love the college towns. And I so need one of those.

Barb: [link]

The woman dressed as the Flying Spaghetti Monster was at Dragoncon again this year. As was a woman dressed as Jayne's hat. Not wearing Jayne's hat -- her entire outfit was a giant hat.

As was a woman dressed as Jayne's hat. Not wearing Jayne's hat -- her entire outfit was a giant hat.

This woman lives in my apartment complex. Last year she was at Dragoncon as the ship Serenity. Before that she wore a spot-on recreation of Kaylee's Shindig dress. She and her sister are semi-professional theatrical costumers.

Remember how yesterday night, CNN's Campbell Brown asked McCain flack Tucker "Anchorman" Bounds a simple question, then chortled and smiled at the sight of Bounds struggling to not answer her? Well, John McCain remembers! And as punishment for CNN daring to impose some level of journalistic rigor, McCain has abruptly canceled a scheduled appearance on Larry King Live tonight. Via TPM:

Wolf Blitzer just reported that the campaign has canceled a scheduled interview with Larry King due to an unfriendly segment last night on CNN -- the segment we flagged last night where the network's Campbell Brown grilled McCain spokesperson Tucker bounds over Sarah Palin's lack of foreign policy experience.

...

Blitzer said the McCain campaign complained that Campbell Brown's grilling of Tucker Bounds over Sarah Palin's lack of foreign policy experience was "over the line."

Yeah, it is over the line to ask critical questions of a Republican candidate....

McCain Goes Vindictive On CNN, Cancels Larry King Live Appearance