[Bitwhacker]

I was really saddened to see Rick Brookhiser's shot at Sarah Palin, almost as if he didn't get the political angle at all (he went on to say also that if SP is somebody who energizes the base, then 'we' need a new base...sheesh).

I think Derbyshire is trying to be the full-time replacement for John O'Sullivan but without the civility nor the eye towards his magazine's mission (he said he and his wife would have aborted on a Down's child diagnosis).

But again, I think he revels in the non-American perspective until it becomes fringe-like opinion, and yet he adds nothing to the discussion except occasional math trivia and a Menncken-like pith...

And ANOTHER thing! I am too lazy to go back and research it, but I wonder what the NRO crew was saying during the time of the CA Recall election when Ahnuld ran...experience? Associations? Judgement? I seem to recall that Ahnuld was A-OK because he had star power, talked a good game and had a shot at winning...;-))

[Molly Pitcher]

Also Brookhiser is an historian of sorts. Veeps have come from all sorts of backgrounds and need-to attract constituencies. Nothing new there..