I don't always agree with Maureen Dowd, but when she's right, she's right:

"Palin mockingly noted that you won’t find her invoking Mao or Saul Alinsky. She says she believes in American exceptionalism. But when it comes to the people running the country, exceptionalism is suspect; leaders should be—as Palin, O’Donnell and Angle keep saying—just like you.

"In Marilyn’s America, there were aspirations. The studios tackled literary novels rather than one-liners like He’s Just Not That Into You and navel-gazing drivel like Eat Pray Love. Walt Disney’s Fantasia paired cartoon characters with famous composers. Even Bugs Bunny did Wagner.

"But in Sarah’s America, we’ve refudiated all that."

And that's why it's so hard to beat that teabaggery; because while not everyone can be smart, cultured, informed, respectful, tactful and broad-minded, anyone at all can be a proud ignoramus.