An amazing Sunday morning roundup

Kristof on forward-looking foreign and defense policy; Egan on whatever the f* is going on:

"Brainy cities have low divorce rates, low crime, high job creation, ethnic diversity and creative capitalism. They’re places like Pittsburgh, with its top-notch universities; Albuquerque, with its surging Latino middle class; and Denver, with its outdoor-loving young people. They grow good people in the smart cities.

But... they are disparaged as nests of latte-sipping weenies, alt-lifestyle types and “other” Americans, somehow inauthentic."

Krugman on the appeal of substance over fluff, even in politics; Dowd if you want another witty commentary on the Palin makeover; Collins is jealous of swing state voters; Warner sums up so much with one line:

"Mediocrity, after all, is the privilege of those who have arrived."

Rich reassures us that while

"there are racists in western Pennsylvania, as there are in most pockets of our country... despite the months-long drumbeat of punditry to the contrary, there are not and have never been enough racists in 2008 to flip this election."