I have just had the single most shocking phone conversation in all my life with my mother, the very picture of a Red State Republican, who says she's backing... Obama.

I was like, "O-who-ba?"

"Obama," she said.

"The Muslim?" I asked.

"Well," she said, "that's what they were saying, but apparently he's not."

"Just to confirm," I said.  "We are talking about Barack Hussein Osama, right?"

"O-bahhh-ma," she corrected me.

"The one the, um, Chappaquiddick guy — I always forget his name..."

"Ted Kennedy," she said.  (She hates "the Chappaquiddick guy.")

"Yeah, Ted Kennedy.  The one he just endorsed."

"Yes," she confirmed.  "Barack Obama."  

I was speechless.

"I like him," she said. "I think he's got some good ideas."

Finally, I had to ask: "Who am I talking to? And what have you done with my mother?"