Good Reads

The NY Times has two and a half good columns today.

Bob Herbert writes about Palin's Alternative Universe. It really is terrifying that she is as popular as she is. I like down home folks as much as the next person, but competence is nice, too.

Gail Collins writes,

The people boosting Palin’s [debate] triumph were not celebrating because she demonstrated that she is qualified to be president if something ever happened to John McCain. They were cheering her success in covering up her lack of knowledge about the things she would have to deal with if she wound up running the country.

Best line from Charles M. Blow's column today:

I expected Sarah Palin to perform well in Thursday’s debate, so I wanted to watch it with the most conservative crowd I could find. (In truth, after her horrendous performance with Katie Couric, anything short of her head spinning around and spewing vomit would have been considered an improvement.)