My internet energies remain committed elsewhere, but I would like to at least register a couple of cranky complaints about the commentary surrounding Palin:

• To everyone asserting that the Democrats just don't get it, and that only you, the author, have a privileged insight into what makes real Americans so gosh-darn real — and they're going to love Sarah Palin! — please, shut the fuck up. You're just guessing, you out-of-touch elitist, exactly the same way that I am. Show me some polls. Even if you dismiss the fact that the early returns don't agree with your analysis, you should temper your statements with the realization that the odds of the vice presidential pick having a significant impact on the race's outcome are very, very small.
• To those using Twitter for non-humorous political analysis: you should probably stop. This applies doubly for Democrats who employ it to compliment Republican machinations in an attempt to paint themselves as bold, contrarian truth-tellers in the tradition of — what, Alan Colmes? The instantaneous, abbreviated nature of the medium makes this a tough act to pull off; you'll usually just come off sounding credulous and reactionary. The good news is that if you're reading this you're almost certainly not who I have in mind. But really: if you want to play contrarian, do it in a macroblog format. That will at least afford you enough characters to express your dumb observations in a clever-sounding way.

Whew! I sure am cantankerous this morning.

ALSO: Somewhat less emphatically, let me add that I (predictably) don't really buy the argument that going after Palin will prompt a meaningful backlash. In terms of media narratives, sure — but nobody should care about that. The depressing truth seems to be that the first mover advantage overwhelms the final result of most societal deliberations.