THIS MODERN WORLD

In a just world, his role in bringing Sarah Palin to the national stage would be a millstone around William Kristol’s neck, sinking at last whatever remains of his credibility as a commentator. And the justice would be poetic — Kristol is, of course, the son of Irving Kristol, but he first came to national prominence as “Dan Quayle’s brain.” A lightweight brought him in — wouldn’t it be nice to see a lightweight usher him out …

We’ve regarded our leaders with dread and anxiety for so long, it has come to seem like the normal state of things. It has become a chronic pain, so much a part of our lives that we only really notice it when it subsides — and suddenly the relief is so overwhelming it becomes a tangible thing.

After eight years of an administration whose actions have run the gamut from stupid to venal, we will have a rational president who believes in things like, say, science. Who can string a succession of words together into a coherent sentence.

I confess, if McCain had won, my despair for this country would have been absolute. Instead, the cloud we’ve all been living under for so very long begins to lift, this morning.

The Republicans tried to win with hate and fear and division, and instead they failed. Spectacularly, definitively, repudiated in a landslide. And you know what I hope, at this moment? That Joe the Plumber becomes a widely-used symbol for all that has been wrong with America. That tv commentators invoke his name as shorthand for the politics of stupidity — “Maybe Joe the Plumber thinks we need to put all the Danish-Americans in internment camps, but no rational person agrees!” — and a heartfelt chuckle is had by all, and no more need be said, so universal is the understanding.

I very much want that to be the legacy of Joe the Plumber.

Off to the wilderness with them all. I have no doubt they’ll claw their way back eventually, but at the very least we’ve bought ourselves some breathing room, some time to try to repair the damage they’ve done to the very foundations of this country.

and it hurts. Apparently not dreaming.

Been down so long, it’s hard to know how to react. But the sense of relief, that Sarah Palin will not be an elderly man’s heartbeat from the Oval Office, is palpable.

As is the sense that we’re in an entirely new game all of the sudden.

Hard to argue now that the majority of the population aren’t “real Americans” …

Yes.

America, you’ve restored my faith in you.

“Will I Am, I want to thank you for being with us via hologram tonight.”

How do these decisions get made? Was there really no one at CNN who had ever seen the first Star Wars movie? Did no one think, hmm, I wonder if this will make us the laughingstock of one of the most important evenings in American history?