In an interview at the Toronto Film Festival, actor Matt Damon took a couple minutes to give his negative assessment of Governor Palin.

I know, I know, he's 'just a celebrity.' But in the space of about 90 seconds he does a fine job of framing the real danger McCain's pick for VP. He explains how, not only does he know little about her, but how that's unlikely to change in the next eight weeks. He brings up Creationism in a brilliant way, and succinctly summarizes the insanity of choosing a VP who may have wanted to ban books. A Palin presidency in a nutshell: a really bad Disney movie; a terrifying possibility.

With the primary season at its tail end, and with a nominee seemingly in sight, I thought I might take this moment to describe why I support Barack Obama for president. This is my first diary here, although I've been posting for a few months now.

I fully understand the desire of many Hillary Clinton supporters to keep the dream alive (I'm a life-long Red Sox fan, and I don't mean that facetiously), and this isn't an attempt to prove Obama is better than her or even, in some metaphysical sense, more worthy. I have supported his candidacy from the getgo and, the more I've gotten to know about him, the happier I've become with my decision. So I thought I would try and explain where my support is coming from in a way that might help some see that it isn't about hero worship, feel goodism, or blind faith.

It's going to be a bit long, with strands that may seem unconnected at first, so if you're in a hurry, or don't really care all that much, you might want to move on to another diary. Otherwise, see you below.