With Stevens now officially out (congratulations to Mark Begich), the chances of Sarah Palin continuing to grace the news pages as she had to this point are significantly diminished.  Buh bye, Sarah … it’s been real.

Lieberman has been forgiven … in a move that seems at once practical and deep … and that leaves me having to figure out what to do with all my still-festering anger at smarmy Joe.  Apparently Obama weighed in and, as Lee Stranahan points out, is following through on his promise to change the “old” politics.  As I said – it’s magnanimous, and also kinda crafty, IMHO.

Meanwhile, in the shock and awe category, we read that Barack Obama is taking flack from many quarters for his arguably elitist decision to speak in complete sentences.  Fears that he would do this were confirmed by his interview on 60 Minutes this past Sunday.  HollyCornblog, CharlieHopbrew and I watched together, and it’s hard to describe the horror we felt, as Obama went on and on, making the rest of us look like idiots.  Do we really want a President who makes us feel bad?  Badly?  Badder?  (You get my drift.)

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it “alienating” to have a president who speaks English as if it were his first language.

“Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement,” says Mr. Logsdon. “If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist.”

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, “Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate — we get it, stop showing off.”

Finally, as I savor my trip off-line last week, here’s a photo of HollyCornblog, CharlieHopBrew, and ZoeyCornblog-Hopbrew surveying their dominion!  😉