Ann Althouse has a post on a recent Maureen Dowd column in which Dowd criticizes Obama as a "detached loner" whose animating spirit has "sputtered out." Her comment comparing Obama with Reagan, as I read it, is wrong; Reagan was not just being an actor when he projected empathy, thought his acting career proved to be an asset, not a liability as many originally thought.

Dowd is surprisingly positive on Palin. Overall, very interesting.