In a memorable news analysis of the first Gore-Bradley debate (headlined "Surprise Possibility: A Dignified Democratic Race"), the New York Time's Adam Clymer inadvertently demonstrates how fine the distinction can be between "thoughtfulness" and fatuousness.
"In what may have been the most thoughtful comment of the evening," Clymer analyzes, "the former Senator [Bradley] cited the last President of the Soviet Union. He said Mikhail S. Gorbachev 'saw that the world must change and had the courage to make that change.'"
How deep.