Sarah Barracuda

Matt Damon staggers into Sean Penn territory with a rant asking whether Palin believes dinosaurs walked the Earth 4000 years ago. Apparently Matt Damon believes that anyone who votes Republican is a "young earth" creationist.

It always strikes me as remarkable when these Hollywood types begin to offer their opinions on politics without even bothering to conceal their contempt for the other side. Who knows? Maybe he's made enough cash and wants to get out of the movie business. Still, he's definitely very upset about Governor Palin's level of experience, though he doesn't seem to feel a similar level of concern regarding Senator Obama's more or less equivalent level of experience.

Not exactly David Eisenhower and Julie Nixon

For me, it's Bristol's huge, (.50 calibre!?) revolver that makes the photo. The kids' casual comfort with firearms is, I'm sure, hugely jarring to lefties, but that revolver is the cherry on top.

Sarah Palin and her ever-expanding brood represent an embrace of rustic Americana to a degree the Republican Party hasn't seen since Calvin Coolidge. And there's a visceral quality about the family that is almost Jacksonian. If the GOP wins in November, and the Palins become some kind of enduring unKennedy clan, you can be sure that academics will be gnashing their teeth for decades trying to figure them out.

Fashion prediction for winter 2009: flannel makes a comeback!

Update: So I'm hearing from some folks that the girl is not Bristol, but is instead Levi Johnston's sister. (She's got her hair in her face; I can't tell.) If true, that pretty much defeats the whole point of the post, but with luck maybe a photo will turn up showing Bristol packing heat, too. On the upside, no one has contradicted me on my estimation that she's holding a .50 cal revolver, which is awesome.