The most insulting thing that a politician can do is to compel you
to ask yourself: "What does he take me for?" Precisely this question is
provoked by the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin. I wrote not long ago
that it was not right to condescend to her just because of her
provincial roots or her piety, let alone her slight flirtatiousness,
but really her conduct since then has been a national disgrace. It
turns out that none of her early claims to political courage was
founded in fact, and it further turns out that some of the untested
rumors about her—her vindictiveness in local quarrels, her bizarre
religious and political affiliations—were very well-f...

The most insulting thing that a politician can do is to compel you
to ask yourself: "What does he take me for?" Precisely this question is
provoked by the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin. I wrote not long ago
that it was not right to condescend to her just because of her
provincial roots or her piety, let alone her slight flirtatiousness,
but really her conduct since then has been a national disgrace. It
turns out that none of her early claims to political courage was
founded in fact, and it further turns out that some of the untested
rumors about her—her vindictiveness in local quarrels, her bizarre
religious and political affiliations—were very well-founded, indeed.
Moreover, given the nasty and lowly task of stirring up the whack-job
fringe of the party's right wing and of recycling patent falsehoods
about Obama's position on Afghanistan, she has drawn upon the only
talent that she apparently possesses.

It therefore seems to me
that the Republican Party has invited not just defeat but discredit
this year, and that both its nominees for the highest offices in the
land should be decisively repudiated, along with any senators,
congressmen, and governors who endorse them