PALIN SEEMS TO WORRY A LOT OF PEOPLE

"If ever I've seen a Trojan Horse in American politics, it's the showy but hollow package named Sarah Palin." (Joanne Draus Klein, Sun News, Cleveland Ohio) She adds: "Palin's image as a tough, modern woman vanishes in light of her outmoded beliefs. She favors teaching creationism; doubts global warming; has considered book banning; is anti-choice, -stem-cell-research and -gay-rights; and she opposes gun control. Ultimately, this lifelong NRA member keeps the incongruity of the Old Boys' Club agenda intact: Respect for life is a great notion to maximize when controlling women's reproductive rights, but should be minimized when it comes to the Iraq war (which she calls "a task that is from God") or killing animals for fun."

Biden on Palin: "So, after Joe Biden said, awesomely, that paying taxes is patriotic, Sarah Palin retorted, mendaciously, that raising taxes is "about killing jobs and hurting small businesses and making things worse." Biden's reply through Katie Couric: "How many small businessmen are making one million, four hundred thousand -- average in the top 1 percent. Give me a break. I remind my friend, John McCain, what he said -- when Bush called for war and tax cuts -- he said, it was immoral, immoral, to take a nation to war and not have anybody pay for it. I am so sick and tired of this phoniness. The truth of the matter is that we are in trouble. And the people who do not need a new tax cut should be willing, as patriotic Americans, to understand the way to get this economy back up on their feet is to give middle class taxpayers a break. We take the tax cut they're getting and we give it to the middle class." This said to Palin's ridiculing Obama in a fashion that makes one wonder just how far she can twist meaning.

Rachel Maddow looks at the numbers and finds that Palin really inspires women -- to vote for Obama. Maddow looked at some actual polls.

Based on the numbers, Maddow concluded that the "Palin effect" -- the idea that Palin's addition to the Republican ticket was a stroke of genius that would pull women, en masse, away from Democrats -- is " ... an interesting storyline ... If by interesting, you mean not at all true."

Tonight, I sat at a dinner table with a couple of staunch Republicans who think she is wonderful. I was warned by others at the table and was able to avoid that particular dialogue which I find as fruitful and productive as repeatedly bashing my head into a brick wall.

I can only hope the polls are missing the absentee ballots, the cell users, and the young independents who are always at work when the pollsters call, who are less apt to be brainwashed by the 'honest' Republicans.