Sarah Palin. The U.S. has had many duds in the White House. There have been fools (Millard Fillmore), fledglings (Barack Obama), modestly intelligent (Andrew Johnson), fiendishly calculating (Franklin Pierce), mostly accidental John Tyler) and tellingly awkward (Richard Nixon). Never, though, have we had one with a combination of such characteristics. This gal is a chip off the Schwarzenegger bungle. Have we arrived at that end of the road where we carry on-the-makes into silly celebrity, then into silly wealth, then into heavily somber authority?
--TOM TIEDE