!

Call it The Palin Problem. It’s huge.

Bob Herbert writes a terrific assessment of The Problem–that she’s only an exclamation mark–in the New York Times op-ed Palin’s Alternate Universe. E. J. Dionne Jr., too, writes about her in a Washington Post op-ed Hockey Mom on Thin Ice, and claims that McCain has lied about seeking advice from her in the past.

My friend DZV says that she’s doing exactly what she is supposed to be doing: distracting attention away from McCain.

I wouldn’t be so concerned if I didn’t think that the McCain-Palin ticket has a chance, but after eight years of George Bush, I have no reason to believe that American voters in general have anything but intellectual dullness on the brain.

That’s the real problem.