"Now, a late-night comic — through his own sense of being insulted, and then through being thoroughly insulting himself — has brought down two national politicians. I'm not sure exactly what this says about America, but I thought it was at least worth pointing out."

Well, I can only say that this sort of thing has been happening for years with similar consequences to politicians with far more substance and integrity than McCain and Palin. And, the late night comics, including Craig Ferguson, have lots of company - or, shall I say more culpable co-conspirators in the form of the vast majority of the media, blogosphere and punditocracy who engage in the same sort of ignorant ridicule.

What does it say about the people - of America, or of Canada, or of any other nation where this sort of behavior occurs?

It says that our democracy is threatened by an ill-informed citizenry seemingly incapable of critical thought and by the ignorance of the late night comics (ALL of them!) and, far more consequentially, by the ineptitude and incompetence that run rampant through the ranks of the media (new and traditional) and the pundit class (of all political stripes).