"The 'American Idol' Candidate"...

Wow... This was unexpected, but the symmetry is delightful. Frank Rich was the New York Times' theatre critic before he transformed himself into the nation's most gifted political op-ed writer, so no-one should be surprised that Roger Ebert, the Chicago Sun-Times' venerated film critic, has today, on the seventh (!) anniversary of the 9/11 catastrophe, weighed in on the excrescent pomp and galling circumstance of the GOP side of election equation...

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I think I might be able to explain some of Sarah Palin's appeal. She's the "American Idol" candidate. Consider. What defines an "American Idol" finalist? They're good-looking, work well on television, have a sunny personality, are fierce competitors, and so talented, why, they're darned near the real thing. There's a reason "American Idol" gets such high ratings. People identify with the contestants. They think, Hey, that could be me up there on that show!

My problem is, I don't want to be up there. I don't want a vice president who is darned near good enough. I want a vice president who is better, wiser, well-traveled, has met world leaders, who three months ago had an opinion on Iraq. Someone who doesn't repeat bald- faced lies about earmarks and the Bridge to Nowhere. Someone who doesn't appoint Alaskan politicians to "study" global warming, because, hello! It has been studied.... 

Read the entire editorial here.