I suppose we should discuss HANDGATE. Did former Alaska governor Sarah Palin write something on her hand to help her remember her answer to a pre-screened question during this weekend's Tea Party convention? Is it a big deal? Can we resist making teleprompter comparisons? I don't know. I still think the idea that Sarah Palin will be president is a completely overblown fear of folks who, either out of frustration or a general contempt for the intelligence of the American electorate, somehow believe that we would ever vote for someone so manifestly unfit for the office. On the other hand, you look at recent history, and, well, you can sort of see what they're worried about. Ta-Nehisi Coates says that this is "what happens when you turn conservatism into nothing more than the white populist id."

What you have here is a party being eaten alive by the hate that they stoked for decades, dumbasses who think the essence of "Real America" is stupidity and ignorance, who'd sooner have a president who packs a cheat-sheet to a tea party, than a Indonesian/socialist/nigger/Muslim. Soon we'll know if they're right.