THE BELL CURVE:

There is something grimly hilarious about the level of attention being paid to Sarah Palin.

Recently, for example, the Los Angeles Times devoted several columns to the evolution of the wink and the confusing messages it delivers, accompanied by a picture of Palin winking.

This throughout the closing days of a political campaign being waged in the midst of an economic crisis that threatens all of our livelihoods and two nagging endless wars, one of which should never have been fought and the other which should have been fought a lot sooner.

So here I am adding to the hilarity. In my generation, a wink was either a sexual come-on or a message that what is being discussed isn’t all that important so relax and play the game with me.

Thus, maybe consciously or otherwise, Palin’s greatest asset may be offering a temporary release from the realities of the fix we’re in.

The downside of that possibility is that she has, by now, memorized the proper answers — generously supplied by McCain’s PR people — to every question she might be asked.

This leaves her to talk between winks — as she did in Newport Beach two weeks ago — about such matters as “our opponent (being) someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he is palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.”

While Palin has been carrying this message about the country, the man, now retired in California, who prosecuted the “terrorist” in question — currently a college professor in Chicago named William Ayers — surfaced to say he was “amazed and outraged” that Obama was being linked to Ayers’ alleged terrorist activities, which occurred when Obama was a child.

And in a follow-up interview with the Times, the former prosecutor (William Ibershof) added: “It seemed manifestly unfair to tar Sen. Obama with this association. He had known Ayers during a period he was named Citizen of the Year in Chicago.”

Those are the kind of facts that never get to the audiences, leaving only innuendo like “palling around,” which Palin is offering with a gleeful wink. She isn’t alone, of course.

The weapon of choice in this uncivil campaign seems, on both sides, to be innuendo. So why, then, focus on Palin? Because her apologists want it both ways, as illustrated in a recent letter to the Pilot headed “Attacks on Palin could offend all women.”

Her handlers want to turn Palin loose to do the hatchet work while they protest the heat she is taking and use it as an excuse for trying to protect her from tough questioning.

I ran a quick survey of my women friends — part of the “sisterhood” referred to in the Forum letter — that included some who support Palin politically. None of them said they were “offended” by her treatment.

All of them were angered and dismayed at the highly personal darts fired at Palin but made it clear they found similar charges — some of them coming from Palin — leveled at the other candidates just as objectionable.

It wasn’t the sisterhood that I heard but individuals appalled at the personal attacks on all of the candidates. They didn’t want special treatment. What they wanted for the women deeply involved in high stakes politics was a level playing field.

Palin came into this contest with her dukes up. From the moment she was introduced as McCain’s running mate at the Republican convention she has been firing fusillades of criticism, some highly personal, at Obama. She can hardly expect a different set of rules in response. Hillary Clinton didn’t. And there weren’t cadres of staff people running interference for her as they have for Palin.

I think the country will be enormously relieved when this election is over and all our energies can be turned to the critical problems we face as a nation. It has been a crummy campaign, far too long and too personal and driven, on both sides, by vast sums of money.

Sarah Palin’s introduction to this dance can be seen as everything from a breath of fresh air to an insult to voters’ intelligence.

In the final analysis, she needs to be projected and examined as a possible president of the United States.

Even though Dick Cheney redefined it, this is still the primary role of the vice president. It’s a test Palin needs to pass — not just for the sisterhood but for all of us.

Another positive step has just been taken in the fight to hold the line at John Wayne Airport. Costa Mesa has agreed to share the tab with Newport Beach for the battle ahead, and there will be regular meetings between the two cities to address airport problems and plans.

The most encouraging aspect of this agreement is its timing. It will be seven years before the current cap on air traffic out of JWA expires, but rather than using this as an excuse for delaying action there is a welcome sense of urgency in this new partnership.

It will also include a strong effort to bring other cities impacted by the noise from JWA into a united front for taking our case to the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

I’m happy to be sharing the noise on my patio with my new partners in Costa Mesa. It may not be less noisy, but at least I can feel like we’re in this together.

JOSEPH N. BELL lives in Newport Beach. His column runs Thursdays.