NYT reporting itself has been somewhat disappointing lately, but I tend to go straight for the online readers’ comments to get a sense of what “ordinary” people are really thinking. The comments of course run the spectrum from elitist and smug to myopic and reactionary, but every once in awhile someone just tells it like it is. Here’s one that caught my eye:

Perhaps all the pundits can stop dancing around and get to the heart of the matter, however unkind it may be. Sarah Palin is a symbol of the aggressive ignorance that has engulfed the Republican Party. We do not need warrior cries from our leaders or to be assured that they know how to gut large animals. We need leaders — even dull ones — who are committed to fair tax regimes, the reform of social security and Medicare, and a revitalized economy. We are trillions of dollars in debt to the Chinese and Japanese and all these ignoramuses can do is whine about taxes. The Republican Party used to promote balanced budgets, now they are a collection of weirdos and infantile deadbeats who borrow like they are on cocaine. Sorry, it is time for all of us in America to grow and pay our way in life — for our houses and our government — and, in foreign affairs, maybe we might even mind our own business now and then. God told Palin to build a natural gas pipeline? Really? We need fewer politicos who think they talk to God and more who talk to us.

— Posted by Neil Gallagher