Judith Warner writes about “No Ordinary Woman,” and says Sarah Palin is a woman who is able to be promoted on the kinds of attributes that were once the exclusive province of unremarkable white men. I think by “unremarkable” she’s being polite and not saying “ignorant.” She does have lovely manners. Mr. Friedman ponders “If Larry and Sergey Asked for a Loan….” and suggests we can only grow our way out of this crisis — with more innovation and entrepreneurship, which create new businesses and better jobs. Mr. Egan writes about “The Party of Yesterday,” and says Republicans have been insinuating for years that some of the brightest, most productive communities in the United States are fake American. Mr. Kristof, in “The Endorsement From Hell,” says the endorsement of John McCain by a Web site linked to Al Qaeda isn’t a surprise. Four more years of blindness to nuance in the Muslim world is an excellent recruiting tool.

Warner, Friedman, Egan and Kristof

Part II contains Dowd, Brooks, Collins, Krugman and Rich. MoDo writes about “A Makeover With an Ugly Gloss,” and says with the McCain campaign running on an “average Joe” theme, aides costumed their Eliza Doolittle for a ball when she should have been dressing for a bailout. Bobo, poor thing, admits his side is “Ceding the Center.” He whines that John McCain would be an outstanding president. But he never escaped the straightjacket of a party that is ailing and a conservatism that is behind the times. Never escaped it? Bobo, sweetie, he hurled himself into their arms, pandering like crazy, to get their votes. Tool… Ms. Collins has the “Blue State Blues.” She thinks she wants her ballot to be important. She wants to get Republican robo-calls and have college students coming to her door with helpful leaflets. Having been in Ohio during one campaign I can assure her that she really doesn’t want to live through that. Mr. Krugman says we are “Desperately Seeking Seriousness,” and that as the economic scene has darkened, Americans have rediscovered the virtue of seriousness. And this has worked to Barack Obama’s advantage. Mr. Rich writes “In Defense of White Americans.” He says white Americans are not remotely the bigots the G.O.P. would have us believe. Just because a campaign trades in racism doesn’t mean that the country is racist.

Dowd, Brooks, Collins, Krugman and Rich

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are all ready, and to give you strength to wade through all of that I’ve got chocolate croissants I scored at the bakery yesterday, as well as some plain ones for the folks who don’t care for chocolate first thing in the morning. Have a grand day.

We had tons of rain, thunder, lightening, last night but the storm has passed and it’s supposed to be nice day. Foggy right now, however.