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"When I first read Fairlie's column about the convention, it seemed overheated. Then I watched Sarah Palin speak. Fairlie's disgust at the GOP's impulse toward small-minded demagoguery anticipated the day when it would reach its fullest expression—when the movement would have no farther to fall."

Apparently there is still some space yet to fall. This fall I often thought of what an America of Limabaughesque/ Palin thinking would look like? Truly a horrifying proposition. There would be no tolerance for but one line of thinking.

You say that is happening now? I challenge that by saying we would love to hear some responsible talk from Republicans about now. It just isn't out there. Attacks and slander are not policies. Jindal, the wonder boy witthe new ideas is already dead as a candidate in '12. And the rest of the field is full of stale, old, moldy thought. Especially Sarah Palin. Her new ideas involve using simplistic thinking for complicated problems. Something akin to asking a first grader to lead a statistics class.

Blame Reagan? I blame Reagan for a lot of this mess. He wanted a deregulated market, he dropped tax rates on the wealthiest Americans to levels previously unthought. He waged an extremely expensive arms race with the Soviets. Which expedited their collapse and assisted in our own eventual economic mess. But we still have the Russian Bear, more compact and just as dangerous as before. We have spent around a trillion dollars on Star Wars only to end up with a system that may stop a single warhead but has no capability against multiple launches. His deficits were also deceiving because they don't include the cuts in social programs that occurred for which we will long pay a price. And don't forget Iran-Contra where a portion of the country basically argued that ethics do not matter in the pursuit of national security. A precursor to todays torture debate.

But Reagan made many feel good. He had immense persuasive power. They usually were not his own words but he could certainly deliver them to maximum effect. He was the re-birth of GOP delusion post-Watergate. Sometimes we forget to which party that scandal belonged. And Reagan would be a key reason. He was romantic figure that needs to be de-romanticized in retrospect. Yes, despite the beliefs of many Republicans we must look back to see the roots of our failures. And do so honestly.

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