David Frum has an interesting take on the “reformer” mentality that leads people to overstep their bounds. An excerpt:

Periodically there is an eruption of reform. The leaders of these eruptions have to be brave and charismatic. They excite intense loyalty among their followers – and provoke keen resentment among those who have enjoyed the old ways of doing business.

But it also often happens that this same bold leader has a strong messianic streak. They see no difference between themselves and their movement. They draw fierce lines between friends and enemies. They intensely resent criticism. They see no contradiction between their demand for total openness from others – and secrecy for themselves. They can be paranoid and vindictive – because after all, their enemies are enemies of the great cause.

Fascist writer Westbrook Pegler, an avowed racist who Sarah Palin approvingly quoted in her acceptance speech for the moral superiority of small town values, expressed his fervent hope about my father, Robert F. Kennedy, as he contemplated his own run for the presidency in 1965, that “some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow flies.”

It might be worth asking Governor Palin for a tally of the other favorites from her reading list.

Joe, how come Republican lies are OK? And what polls you been lookin’ at? You want to bet that McCain is at his poll zenith right now? His numbers aren’t going to go any higher. Just the opposite.

Gasman, I love the Jesus/Pontius thing & plan to borrow it, with your permission.

I never thought I’d run out of sympathy for any disaster victim but something about this quote and a nearly identical quote from another Galveston woman (I think it might have been Hallowe’en Jack’s Ms. Jones, actually) just really pissed me off.

“I didn’t eat as much because the toilets were overflowing.”

Jeez, ladies, I thought you might have held off eating because you were sharing an EMERGENCY SHELTER for WHO KNOWS HOW LONG with CHILDREN and there might not have been ENOUGH FOOD TO GO AROUND so you might want to THINK ABOUT SOMEONE BESIDES YOURSELF FOR A CHANGE. But then it wouldn’t be all about you, would it?

Remember, Jesus Christ was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a Governor.

Another poster may well chime in at any moment to declare that ‘you’re wrong’, and in so doing, that poster might feel better about things in general. Whatever.

The McCain-as-vampire picture (linked previously) was particularly striking to me, because the whole McCain campaign seems to be following the classic Hollywood summertime paperback Vampire storyline;

the guy is ancient, ancient; probably more dead than alive – and his campaign was going absolutely nowhere…right up ’til he beguiled the young, attractive, vibrant governor of Alaska, and put the bite on her!

And now, his campaign absolutely depends on the fresh blood she generously gifts to him; when he appears without her he is visibly weaker, and when he appears with her, she transfuses life into him.

Honestly, I do not know what to think of the “Troopergate” thing. Palin flatly promised to cooperate, and now the McCain Campaign just as flatly declares that no such cooperation will come to pass.

Is this an all-too-clever scheme to have the press over-react, and cruelly villify the fair Ms Palin, only to have her vindicated at the last possible moment? Or, is there really something damaging in the 1100 emails that the Palins won’t release?

And the underlying drama is, if McCain goes down in November, will Governor Palin’s political future be damned in time and eternity? Hell, if he WINS – what happens to her? Will they Agnew her out of office? THAT would be a hell of an ending – very fitting for the vampire motiff

Confused?

I’m a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight…..

* If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you’re “exotic, different.”

* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you’re a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig, Bristol, and Track, you’re a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you’re well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran ‘ s Affairs committees, you don’t have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you’re qualified to become the country’s second highest ranking executive and next in line behind a man in his eighth decade.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 daughters, all within Protestant churches, you’re not a real Christian.

If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and then left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you’re a true Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state’s school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you’re very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate laywer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family’s values don’t represent America’s.

* If your husband is nicknamed “First Dude”, with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn’t register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.