What Frank Rich Is Writing While He Waits for His Book to Come Out

Today's BEA was much more relaxed. At times, the upper exhibit area almost seemed deserted. That's bad for the exhibitors, I suppose, but not so bad for the rest of us. With less rush and stress, there's more time for longer conversations and more relaxed browsing, and a chance to take a larger view of the show. Unfortunately, it still seemed like a fractured show that never came together for me. Maybe it's just me, because I'm juggling with family responsibilities this time around and have my attention spread too thin. I might have some sort of overview to offer in a couple of days, but we'll just play that by ear and see what happens. Right now I'm too tired to provide many more details.

What I'm not too tired for is to offer a link, via donkey o.d., to today's column by Frank Rich. He takes on the religious right, suggesting that they've been scammed by the Republican party, which continues to sell them down the river, but doesn't have much hope for Democrats, who still seem to pander hopelessly and awkwardly to the same conservative Christians. He's right--you can't get much more transparent than the poor showings Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton have offered of late, talking down gay marriage and iPods, in vying for the so-called "values" vote.