The XX Factor: What women really think.

Apologies. Of Course Blago Isn't Funny. Not Even a Tiny Bit.

Melinda, Emily, Jack, of course you are all right. Of course Blago’s misbehavior is quite horrifying, and at the same time, not yet proven to be illegal. It's appalling to think that Blago may have perverted the Illinois Senate race and may have implicated Jesse Jr. If this were happening in my state, I would be utterly glum. I am duly chastened. Please accept my apologies at having been so unseemly gleeful about Blago’s comic-novel over-the-top misbehavior. I may be more affected than I realized from the cabin fever that comes with having been alone at home sick for a week (and out of both orange juice and ginger ale!). Or maybe my reaction to the Blago news was just relief—after a week of listening to public radio while drifting in and out of sleep—at getting to hear about something other than world financial apocalypse, something that seems easily punished?

Unlike me, Gail Collins today hit exactly the right note of bemused (and, yes, dismayed) schadenfreude, so let me defer to her. No more laughing from me. And to rehabilitate myself, I promise to post next on something about which I can be serious.

So Tell Me, Jesse, How You See Your Role in Turning around the Problems Facing This Great Land