Pennsylvania

I think McCain has to take some blame for the ugliness his campaign has stirred up in the past few desperate weeks of his campaign, but who is really surprised that some Americans are reacting so poorly to Barack?

Many of us aspire to be better and bigger than the sum of our prejudices and the boundaries of our experience, but for some of us, those prejudices are intertwined with values, identity and tradition. We who aspire to something nobler need to remember that we launch these aspirations from our earthly plane, while swirling around us are the fetid waters of ignorance.

Pennsylvania. One wonders how she keeps her head above those waters.