There's a low rumble coming from the belly of the Republican party. The promoted stereotype of conservative women is that they only come in one model. Were I to write an advertisement the commonly regarded cliche, it would read something like this:

The next two months will decide the fate of the conservative movement, and also, the Republican party, which is currently suffering from a personality disorder. If I had to give an answer right now as to whether or not I think the conservative ascension to its former prominence is a guarantee, I must honestly answer: I don't know. If I had to make a guesstimate based upon the past several weeks, I'd lean towards no. It's a reason why I'm careful in separating the titles "conservative movement" and Republican party: they are not the same.

By the time dusk fell on the evening of November 4th, the GOP party looked at their Reaganite ideal of a "shining city on a hill" now dust under their feet. History was made, in more ways than one.

I am so glad that Michael Barone finally explained this all to me, because I really wasn't sure why I disliked Sarah Palin so much. Apparently, I just resented her for having had a baby that I - being a pro-choice zealot and all - would have aborted. Maybe if she'd been more willing to kill her baby, I would have liked her more. Because, you know, I just can't trust any woman who would pass up the opportunity to terminate a pregnancy. Terminating pregnancies is AWESOME.

As I convalesced this weekend from Day 9 of a terrible cold that just won't let go, the Thin Air Summit took place in Denver. Thanks to Twitter, I almost feel like I was there. I was tweet-reading in real-time. But you don't need to be there in the moment. A quick search for #tas08 on Twitter and you find a ton of posts. Tweets on sessions, tweets on insights, tweets on new acquaintances....

Halleluljah! The 2008 election is almost over. It's been exciting, inspiring, historic and incredibly contentious. Soon we won't be hearing anymore about John "Mr. Grumpy Puss" McCain and Barack "Mr. Tax and Spend" Obama or Sarah "We're Mavericks" Palin or Joe "I"m From Scranton" Biden. But before we move on to the next act in this political drama, let's take a look back from a media standpoint. In a campaign year when many Americans got their news from the internet: YouTube, Facebook, campaign websites and hundreds of blogs on the internet that helped shape public opinion and motivate voters, it would be a mistake to forget the power the mainstream media (MSM) still holds over shaping a candidate's image. Here are some Election 2008 MSM highs and lows.

Around this time of year, I often expect to see spooky decorations for Halloween. Hanged figures are not cool in general but what is never acceptable is hanged figures that represent political candidates. While hanging an effigy is technically protected political speech, it is also marred by the very ugly history of violence perpetrated against people of color and women who transgressed against prescribed social roles and were maimed and killed for it. The outcry over hanged effigies of Barack Obama and Sarah Palin is loud, appropriate, and necessary.

I saw it mentioned earlier and thought...hmm...this is something that I'm uniquely qualified to comment on that I'm not commenting on. What is this? Who is better to address the supposed $150K Saks bill than the woman who only wishes she could spend enough time in Saks to rack up $150K? Believe you me, its not easy. To get to that amount of money, you'd have to spend a lot of time on the selling floor, or at least an hour in the Marc Jacobs purse boutique, or...and this is a pipe dream so I'll just be out with it...ten minutes with an Hermes Birkin bag.

Last week I went to Chicago for work; the dress code was "business casual," which is always a bit cryptic, but which in this case meant specifically no jeans.  While I found the prohibition on jeans delightful -- I genuinely believe that Casual Friday will be the downfall of Western civilization -- I was also a little bit panicked, because my own wardrobe is substantially more casual than business, and my workday look quite often relies on a good pair of dark-rinse, mid-rise jeans paired with a tailored shirt or jacket, even for "business" type functions. 

When you say “socialism,” several things come to mind. The first are the most famous socialists of them all, Germany’s National Socialist party of yore, the goose-stepping Nazis who carved a deep wound into the fleshy world psyche. The second is Mussolini. I also think of the current Spanish government. Then I think of my cruel first grade teacher who once caught me with a bag of candy corn that I brought to school as a lunch snack (that I paid for with my own money). She made me distribute it evenly to every kid in my class “to be fair.”

And now for some uplifting news. Louisiana Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, has lost his position as vice chairman of the House health care committee in that state's legislature. In September, the Louisiana statesman unofficially proposed paying welfare mothers $1,000 to undergo sterilization as a solution to poverty. He further proposed giving incentives to "well-educated" citizens to broaden the state's tax base, suggesting that both "positive" and "negative" eugenics would save America.

You've seen the SNL election parodies and sketches: Tina Fey as Sarah Palin thanking elementary school students for helping her prepare for her debate with Joe Biden; Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden saying he'd take a bullet for his good friend John McCain...but McCain is "mentally unstable;" Even the real Joe Biden cracked up at that one.  Then there's the SNL town hall meeting debate where Chris Parnell as Tom Brokaw keeps hilariously cutting off the candidates to save time.