And the Award for best "Why does America Hate America?" Sob Fest goes to

Jay Nordlinger:

Then there is continuing amazement over the sheer hatred that Palin has aroused: “I am almost 60 and come from Massachusetts. In all my years, I have never seen anything like this, and don’t want to see it ever again. I have a friend who is both feminist and left-leaning. I asked her why they hate Palin so much. She said, ‘Because she’s had it all: family, career. And she did it without a man like Bill Clinton helping her. She did it on her own.’”

I have said it before: Hillary Clinton’s husband was president of the United States. Sarah Palin’s works the night shift in an oil field. Who is the feminist hero? Bien sûr.

I myself have a tale to relate. More... An episode left me kind of shaken, honestly. Last week, I was talking to a friend of mine — a very warm and humane woman. We’ve been friends for years. I had been away, and we hadn’t talked politics — but then, we never do. We never had. She’s a liberal, of course — virtually everyone here in NYC is. And I never, ever bring up politics (with pretty much anyone — not worth the trouble) (and, of course, I do it professionally).

But she said to me, out of the blue, “What do you think of Sarah Palin?” And while I was drawing breath to answer, she said, “I hate her.”

That kind of took my breath away — because this friend of mine is no hater. But she said it with firm, horrible conviction. She said it with true emotion in her eyes. Frankly, I was too taken aback to reply, other than to say, “Well, my feeling is the exact opposite.”

I can see how you might disagree with Governor Palin — she’s a conservative, after all. I can see how you might find her unprepared even for the vice-presidency. But hate? Hate a woman who rose from a modest background to be governor of her state? Who is obviously a warm, civic-minded, talented mother of five?

Hate?

It must be abortion, religion, and culture. If she were pro-choice, went to a mainline church (only on Christmas and Easter), and didn’t hunt, she’d be okay. At least less attacked. But then, she wouldn’t be herself, would she?

I consider myself a very patriotic person, and I have been teased or damned all my life for my pro-American views — particularly in academic settings. But, I’m sorry, this is, in many ways, a sick country.

Look, Jay, I'll spell it out for you. You put the world's least intelligent, least prepared, least ready small town hustler up for the VP slot because you thought she could "turn the world on with her smile" and then you found that da pipple thought the job was kinda important and that choosing someone so monumentally stupid was dangerous. And *that's* proof that the country is sick? The rest of us take it as proof that the country isn't as stupid as you thought they were. If a Doctor as stupid as Sarah Palin came at me proposing to perform open heart surgery you'd bet I'd be angry. And if people like you stood around and told me I'd better go under the knife with this bimbo and like it because she rolls around and speaks in tongues, or has a husband who "works the night shift" I'd come to hate her, you, and the horse you rode in on. Because the Vice Presidency isn't a popularity contest its a god damned job.