Plei, how old were your parents when they got married? They look like babies in that picture! Especially your dad.

How To Use the Bailout to Ask Your Parents For Money:

Been there, done that. Not fun.

Kathleen Parker talks about the response to her piece about Palin - and how she isn't qualified to be VEEP:

Palin's fans say they like her specifically because she's an outsider, not part of the Washington club. When she flubs during interviews, they identify with that, too. "You see the lack of polish, we applaud it," one reader wrote.

Of course, there's a difference between a lack of polish and a lack of coherence. Some of Palin's interview responses can't even be critiqued on their merits because they're so nonsensical. But even that is someone else's fault, say Palin supporters. The media make her uncomfortable.

Or, it's the fault of those slick politicos who are overmanaging her. "Let Sarah be Sarah" has become the latest rallying cry among my colleagues on the right. She'll be fine if we just leave her alone, they say. Between prayers, I might add.

omg you guys I am so exhausted. I have just a few days to finish the last two chapters of my book, and then I'm gone for a week to the symposium I've been planning for over a year.

I have so much shit to do to get ready, and DO NOT have time to be at work right now. Especially since the only thing on my plate is travel arrangements and some friggin busy work that can wait until I return from Monterey.

Some of Palin's interview responses can't even be critiqued on their merits because they're so nonsensical. But even that is someone else's fault, say Palin supporters. The media make her uncomfortable.

What I want to know is, if she's not competent enough to answer a simple question from Katie Couric, why does anyone think she's qualified to go after Al Qaeda???

Besides the fact that her actual voice might make them run screaming?

It's gotten to the point where the sight of Sarah Palin makes me feel ill.

>her gift of the glittering generality

I keep hearing this, and I just don't get it. Same as I didn't get it when people were saying it about Bush.

A lot of human communication is based on stuff other pure content. Body language, tone intonation, style, key words - signals. And if you ignore actual content she comes across very well. Imagine she was talking about a subject you know almost nothing about. She speaks decisively, like a tough Mom who loves her kids but won't a seconds nonsense from them. Until she was caught on tape speaking gibberish, she sounded bright besides. (She may combine ignorance with a bad memory and poor skills in covering these up, but still be intelligent in certain ways.) Also the resemblance to Tina Fey is definitely not a negative, and she also has general appeal to anyone with a hot-chicks-with-glasses fetish. (Who me?).

I will say that in a less extreme way, people who supported Obama with illusions that he is some sort of lefty were guilty of the same sort of decision making. I supported him as a lesser evil, without illusions. But when people are shocked, shocked at some of his choices, it is because they judged him by style and keywords and signals rather than by the actual content of his proposals and speeches. And yea, I understand the as person the differes are huge. Obama is brilliant, with decades on knowledge. Whatever her native intelligence, Palin is in practice a dumbass. But what they have in common is that lot of supporters of both judged by all sorts of dog-whistles and signals over content. That applies I think to all the candidates - certainly to Clinton.

My parents: [link]

Your dad's a handsome sonofabitch, and your mom looks a whole lot like Elizabeth Moss on Mad Men.

Timelies all!

Have a bit of a headache. Am hoping the combination of food, caffeine and Tylenol will make it go away.