I must express my amazement at the Sarah Palin issue. She has some good points -- she injects what seems like an actual dose of real life into politics. The issues facing parents of juggling work and family, teens, and special needs children. And not to be sexist (but it probably is), she brings that perspective that only a woman could have on those things. We never ask these questions of men. Additionally, I have to say that when she was announced as McCain's running mate I shuddered to imagine the imminent articles about her clothing choices and how she paired them with her shoes and I haven't seen one yet. My faith in humanity edges upward.

That said, why is she suddenly *the* hot topic of the campaign? Coverage of McCain and Obama -- who are the actual candidates for president (along with about 30 people the media is too busy to mention, but that's for another post) -- has suddenly disappeared. Three of the top five e-mailed articles listed on the Slate page were devoted to her, and two of the five most read articles were.

I realize that says more about Slate's readers than about Slate, but I am still baffled by it. I worry that it is reflective of our American dislike of actually discussing the issues. Our economic woes, the national debt, the uninsured, energy shortages, nuclear proliferation, the fact that all the money I pay to Social Security will be used to finance the boomer's retirements, etc. These are difficult and knotty issues, with complex answers that can cause more problems than they solve. Is that the real reason? Sarah Palin is simple by comparison. Easy negatives, easy positives, easy to read about. My faith in humanity edges downward.