'And the White House will be adorned by a downright moron'
Considering the circus-like atmosphere of the Republican convention, I couldn't help but think of H.L. Mencken. Here's Mencken on the nature of national elections:

... All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.

The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

Peggy Noonan alluded to the same thing by noting what a "fabulous freak of a campaign" we've had this year. Michael Savage, who I rarely agree with, was hilariously fuming last night about the "hacks" and "garbage" both parties were serving up, calling both Democrats and Republicans "political cross-dressers" over the Palin-pregnancy flap. Good stuff. ... Speaking of Peggy Noonan, she appears to have expressed her true feelings about Palin when she thought the mike was off. I'll accept her explanation that her "it's over" remark wasn't a reference to the Palin pick's impact on the McCain campaign. But this Noonan line about Palin is rather straight-forward: "The most qualified? No! I think they went for this -- excuse me-- political bullshit about narratives." ... She confirms my contention, expressed below, that many Republicans, deep down, know they're trying to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse on the Palin pick. ... Modern Republican Hack Playbook Rule No. 2: Blame the media for Republican blunders. What's Rule No. 1? Defend Republican blunders at all costs. ... Speaking of Noonan again, Reader No. 1 writes in about my post immediately below:

... I think your choices of the Will and Noonan columns were superb. Here's my take on the real breakthrough insights in Noonan's article (BF emphasis added):

"And when you forget you're a Bubblehead you get in trouble, you misjudge things. For one thing, you assume evangelical Christians will be appalled and left agitated by the circumstances of Mrs. Palin's daughter. But modern American evangelicals are among the last people who'd judge her harshly. It is the left that is about to go crazy with Puritan judgments; it is the right that is about to show what mellow looks like. Religious conservatives know something's wrong with us, that man's a mess. They are not left dazed by the latest applications of this fact. "This just in – there's a lot of sinning going on out there" is not a headline they'd understand to be news."

Actually, I've argued in recent years that the hard-core left and right are just mirror images of each other. Looks like they've switched mirrors on this issue. But they're still mirror images. ...  ¶ 7:16 AM