A new USA Today/Gallup poll (post resignation presser-by-the-lake) shows a whopping 71% of Republicans polled say they would vote for Palin in 2012!  Also scary, 51% of Independents polled say they would not vote for her.  For President!  Even now!  I swear, I despair.

I have watched Fox News online here and there since her resignation; it so interesting to try to figure out the minds of her supporters like Matalin, Coulter, Kristol, et.al.  Ross Douthat's piece 

   http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/06/opinion/06ross.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss   

about Palin bemoaning the fact that "democracy can't beat out meritocracy" (elitism) sent chills up my spine.  Thousands of people have refuted it, so I won't try here.  But what has sickened me in the debates over her qualifications to be President are the people who claim she is smart.  On cable news, and indeed in the town I live, it keeps occurring to me that it is true:  a stupid person cannot tell if another person is smart or not.  The corollary is that they can't tell if a another person is ignorant or not, either.  There are simply no reference points for them to know which things should be known, which don't matter, and which answers or facts are true, or at least close to the truth.

Which President was it who allegedly "demystified the Presidency"?  And what did it mean?  That there is such a large number of Americans who might believe that "anyone can grow up to be President" has appeal, and the ring of truth.  But that "just anyone can be President" if we might like their looks, or mavericky-ness, or sound and talk like us is a frightening trend.

Talk me down at will here...