Palin

Not to beat a dead moose or anything, but a couple of things are now coming out about her that should not be missed.

First: It turns out she spent a lot more than $150,000 on clothes, asking her campaign aides to charge the stuff to their personal credit cards. These reimbursement claims are only now coming in. She boughts tens of thousands of dollars of clothes for her husband and children as well. [Newsweek, via TPM]

Second (and more ominously): The Secret Service reported a marked rise in threats against the Obamas, at the same time as Palin was stirring her crowds to into frenzy:

The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. "Why would they try to make people hate us?" Michelle asked a top campaign aide. [Newsweek, via TPM]

This was what bothered me the most about her. Her minimal world knowledge, lack of intellectual curiousity, and her wingnut world view? We've seen all that before. Today, these are just the basic qualifications to become a Republican.

What makes her positively dangerous is her ability at the podium -- a compellingcharismatic personal presence together with an innate ability to connect to an audience and motivate them. If George Bush had only had her skills, it would have been game-over, long ago.

She is a natural-born demagogue.