A note to all by Anne Kilkenny Dear friends, So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . . Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in common: their gender and their good looks. :) You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts with my name and email address attached, but please do not post it on any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . . Thanks, Anne [ Note by web_admin: This was already posted on Washington Independent comments area and was meant by the author to be read by many, but readers need sourcing. The NY Times has talked with Anne since. ] ABOUT SARAH PALIN I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city. She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe". It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months. She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby. She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym. She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit. Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans. Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters. She's smart. Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents. During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign. Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents. The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing. While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once. These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city. As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state. In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs. She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them. While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day. Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below). As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated” her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support. She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness. Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her. When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit, exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined). As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to. As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance--but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork”. She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative. Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her. As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum. Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as threatened species. McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she. However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it. CLAIM VS FACT •“Hockey mom”: true for a few years •“PTA mom”: true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since •“NRA supporter”: absolutely true •social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional). •pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it. •“Pro-life”: mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation •“Experienced”: Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000. •political maverick: not at all •gutsy: absolutely! •open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions. •has a developed philosophy of public policy: no •”a Greenie”: no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR. •fiscal conservative: not by my definition! •pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards. •pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents •pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla’s history. •pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union. WHY AM I WRITING THIS? First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations. Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings. Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that’s life. Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship. Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable. CAVEATS I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are swamped. So I can't verify my numbers. You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s. Anne Kilkenny August 31, 2008

McCain has never vetted Palin and it's irresponsible to mislead the Am. people into the charrade. McCain's track record of irresponsibility has been hidden. Did you know he lost five aircraft while in the Navy? And he broke both arms and a leg while ejecting from the crash (not in the POW camps as he is misleading the public)? Before you respond, do some research and see how the POW groups in America rank him...hopefully truthout.org can help expose these exaggerations...

As my mother used to say of older men and younger women..."There's no fool like an old fool"

We're writing about the cynicism of McCain's choice of Palin over at the CA NOW blog: http://www.canow.org/canoworg/2008/08/mccains-vp-choi.html

McCain's choice of Palin was a desperate, impulsive, last-minute pick because got backed into a corner. The base would not tolerate Leiberman; Pawlenty, Portman and the other male shortlisters excited no one, and Romney was quickly painted with the 'too many houses to relate to everyday Americans' thing. Carly Fiorino had very public liabilities, Meg Whitman was clearly not in the picture, which is also weird because I have an impression of her as quite wholesome. And I think the rest either turned him down, were pro-choice or lacked the pizzaz of Palin. I really thought McCain would overlook the wealth ticket argument because Romney is a junk yard dog on a campaign trail. Despite the fact that the prospect of Romney as VP appeals to McCain like a four-year case of painful rectal itch, I'll bet you McCain picks him if Palin gets dropped or bails. I figure he just rolled up all the benefits in his head -- Hard core conservative values, in complete lockstep with Christian Right, colorful bio to accompany introduction at convention, plausible claim to energy cred and babe factor -- and just pulled the trigger. In a way, it was a smart thing because he was running out of attack topics and was just looking like mean old whore. The kind of president I want is a smart one with a couple of decent guiding principles he sticks to; who has his ducks in a row, looks down the road, reaches out and doesn't get backed into ideological corners in the first place.

As governor of the largest state in the United States she has a population of only 64.61% of the total population of the smallest state... And yet can't teach the moral values in her family of 7 (unwed pregnant daughter). There goes pResident Bushes abstinence only stance! She is over qualified.. I call for a no vote!

It's absolutely absurd to think that Hilary supporters will vote the gop ticket because of the choice of Vp. A right wing religious fanatic, gun nut, and anti-choice crusader? Not blooky likely. Truly a new record for cynicism in politics. But at least we have heard the end of the inexperience issue re Obama. Ms. Palin is clearly unqualified for the top job or even #2, in fact the most unqualified candidate since, well, you know.

Palintology

John McCain is thought by many to be something of a dinosaur, both for his age and his politics. But the old fossil surprised everyone – including himself – by choosing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Veteran political observers were stunned, not only because McCain chose a woman, but because she is all but unknown. If a recent poll showed 23% or respondents have never heard of Joe Biden, surely 100% per cent have never heard of Palin.

I won’t bother with an in-depth examination of her resume; you can look it up for yourself; it’s a very short read. Suffice it to say she is no Hillary Clinton. Her only meaningful political experience is as governor of Alaska for less than two years. She has no national or international political experience – though Steve Doocy, commentator on Fox “News” begs to disagree:

“But the other thing about her, she does know about international relations because she is right up there in Alaska right next door to Russia.”

Well, that assessment proves Doocy is fairly unbalanced.

Other apologists called McCain’s decision an act of courage, an attempt to force a mostly misogynistic Republican Party into the 21st Century. But the decision seems much more an act born of desperation rather than courage.

An act of courage would have been to select someone like Joe Lieberman, he who voted as a Democrat before he voted as an Independent before he voted as a Republican. But it is hard to imagine hard-line Republicans putting someone in line to be the next President who is a Jew and a Democrat (sort of).

An act of courage would have been to select Condoleeza Rice, a woman who is qualified for the job. But that would have sent much of the Rabid Right scurrying for their Klan robes.

Surely, McCain’s preferred running mate was former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, a longtime friend and political ally. The other logical option was Mitt Romney, even though he and McCain are reputed to be far from friends. But both of these men are an anathema to the Religious Right, Ridge for his pro-choice views, and Romney for his Mormon faith. McCain concluded it wouldn’t do to further alienate the Religious Right, which is the base of the 21st Century Republican Party. With Palin, a pro-life, pro-gun evangelical, McCain hoped to energize the base – which is far from fond of him.

It remains to be seen if his choice will appease the base. The Religious Right tends to hold to an even more archaic view about the sexes than the Republican Party. I can tell you that even in my relatively enlightened Presbyterian church here in the buckle of the Bible-Belt the congregation will not abide a woman as a minister. How then, pray tell, will evangelicals vote for one as Vice-President?

All this further begs the question why McCain made such a risky decision?

For starters, Palin is a forty-something, former beauty queen who will add a little sex appeal. Certainly, McCain considered that an asset when George H.W. Bush chose Dan Quayle as his running mate. McCain was quoted as saying, “I can’t believe a guy that handsome wouldn’t have some impact.”

The selection of Palin was also a blatant pitch to disaffected female Hillary Clinton supporters. But that may very well backfire with feminist Democrats for several reasons, not the least of which is Palin’s hard-line views on abortion – she is reportedly opposed to it for any reason, including rape and incest.

Another reason this choice may backfire with this group is that by choosing someone so obviously unqualified and inexperienced, McCain is endangering the future of all women in Presidential politics. If Palin bombs badly, she not only embarrasses herself, but she provides fodder for political dinosaurs – McCain included – who will blame “the woman” for his defeat, rather than blame the man who chose so rashly and so poorly.

Rashly and poorly – how else can you describe making such a monumental decision based on two very brief telephone conversations with Palin? What was the hurry? McCain was clearly desperate to steal the headlines from the Democrats after their highly successful convention.

To put the kindest face on it, by making such a risky choice of, McCain may have been trying to reinforce his reputation – or merely following his instincts – as a maverick. If so, his choice does not speak well about his decision-making. The fact that he would choose to put someone so utterly unprepared and so obviously unqualified a heartbeat away from the Presidency ought to frighten anyone away from voting for John McCain.

©2008 Tom Cordle

Correction to Posting on Media coverage regarding Palin on Polar Bears: On 8-30-08, NPR ran a lengthy segment on Palin's polar bear denial position.

McCain’s "choice" of Palen was obviously orchestrated by Rove to negate the negative impression the religious right zealots have of McCain. As incapable of rational thought as they are, the zealot right has to realize that McCain flip-flopping on so many positions as he has in order to pander for their votes would have to indicate he would be capable of disregarding his current "rethinking" towards those he once considered to be "agents of intolerance" but whose votes he seeks now after the election. No person capable of intelligent thought could ever accept the rationality of appointing a vice presidential running mate who has only met the presidential candidate in person only once and who has absolutely no serious credentials for the office! This is a serious affront not only to women, but to every rational person! It has been really hilarious to see the Republican talking heads trying to justify McCain's choice this Sunday morning. Even Fred Thompson was obviously stretched trying to do it and he is skilled as an actor reciting a script! The only people who will "buy" this as anything but insane are the religious right nutballs! Speaking of religious right nutballs, Guy Stewart of Dobson's Focus on the Family who became somewhat “famous” for his video on the Focus on the Family Website calling for his loonies to pray for rain in Denver to rain-out Obama's acceptance speech can be seen at the following link. The video has been removed from the Focus website but has been preserved for posterity on youtube! www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJY0NuBC7vo Do you think maybe god, annoyed at such trivial and possibly malicious prayers has chosen to send Gustav to interfere with the Republican convention instead? Does god need a GPS and a calendar or was it a purposeful choice - in other words, could it be taken that god is a Democrat?

Fill in the blank: Condosleeza Rice is to George Bush as ___________ is to John McCain

If Palin draws the Hillary women, I'M HAVING A SEX CHANGE OPERATION as I will be ashamed to be one. That women would be swayed by this obvious act of subsequence by the choice of this women, WHO IS A TOTAL DANGER TO ALL OF INTELLIGENCE is an insult, and all women should be acting like they have PMS all on the same day. HIT THE ROAD McBUSH/PALIN.

McCain's VP pick will definitely rally the Christian right. In fact, it has even given me religion: All I hear inside my head, again and again, is OH---MY--- GOD. It shakes me to my roots to imagine this beauty queen runner-up ---a mother of five, including a special needs baby (and who says there won't be more on the way since birth control is not her belief)---could very easily be our next Commander-in-Chief. Of course, let us not forget that she must be far brighter and more competent than G.W., so McCain could have simply promised her that there would always be the secret and well-practiced government of Cheney and Rove behind the scenes. Not to worry. No way would these controllers ever allow such a woman to take charge, so absolutely no dangerat all. In fact, why wait for a disaster when she'll have a plate full of distractions with all her kids anyway. No doubt, they'd be employed from day one. On a more hopeful note on the other hand, it also seems so desperate that perhaps McCain did indeed do this totally on his own. I can imagine him realizing he didn't have a chance after the excitement of the Democratic Convention, hence deciding on a "crap shoot" to go down in history with a boom and a bang, with a babe on his arm, his "maverick" status in place, thumbing his nose at the system. More I look at it, the more I think he needs to be checked for Altzheimers.

Wonder how Cindy Moneybags McSame is going to view her charming husband's VP choice... the young, fresh-faced, precious-pretty Sarah Palin makes poor old Cindy look like the dog's dinner. That's something Cindy probably isn't used to..... and we are all aware of how very, very important a woman's physical beauty is to John-boy's happiness. Well, the thought processes of an aging jet-setter 'maverick' are tortuous, to be sure. I'm just not positive whether he was going with his brains or his, err, 'gut' reaction here. Good thing Cindy had him sign a pre-nup.

Insane McCain and Plain Jane Palin. There's no comparison. The choice is clear. The team you can trust to mess everything else up even more than it is and add a few things while they're at it. Please!

Don't be misled by "she took on big oil." She favors drilling in ANWAR. She wants to give big oil a lot more places to drill and John McCain has just received a lot of money from the petroleum interests. A McCain administration would not be interested in wind, solar, or alternative fuels -- no matter what they tell you now.

With the choice of presumptive Republican nominee for President John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin -- it's worth a ponder (and oldNavy above got me thinking): just what is the Republican Party right now -- who is its leader? President Bush? Or is it John McCain? Imagine if our government were Parliamentary system -- and Republicans had a majority in Congress, which of course they don't -- there is no way Bush would still be Prime Minister/President. His own party would have taken him down ages ago, probably after Katrina in 2005. And it's difficult to believe that the Republicans would have chosen McCain as their leader then or now. McCain calls himself a maverick not the leader of many. But in our system, McCain won the primaries so he is also the presumptive leader of the party. But that will change immediately -- assuming that McCain loses the election. So who is going to be the leader of the republican party? Actually who would want it? What does it stand for: pre-emptive war, budget deficits, debt increase, declining dollar, reduced privacy rights, growth in gov't bureaucracy, globalization, free trade, outsourcing, private contracting military duties, politicization of the DOJ, etc etc. Most Republicans wouldn't agree with any of these facts on the ground as a guiding political philosophy. It's just possible that the stalwarts of the Republican Party want Bush out of office as much as the Democrats do. Regarding Sarah Palin herself I am glad that another crack in ceiling has been hit. Of course she's bad on women's issues and people who care about won't vote for her, she is still a woman -- which sort of makes the whole subject stupid. In contrast to these fools, Barack Obama is a breath of fresh air indeed.

McCain's objective is to get elected; Obama has a two fold objective, get elected and governing. Bush got elected and then began vacationing which has gone on for eight years. Pandering to the religious right is more important than what will occur once the votes are counted and the the job performance phase begins. Obama is ready to go from day one; McCain heads to Sedona and lets Steve Schmidt handle the details as he and his Rovian minions have been doing for the past couple of months.

Obama vs OldBomber. The choice is clear. Return to sanity, or more of the same, only nuttier, meaner and scarier.

Is anybody else as terrified as I am of Sarah becoming the leader of the free world? Pahlin has a stellar record as beauty queen, religious zealot, PTA leader, Mayor of a really small hamlet, and governor of a state that is a no-brainer to govern. Meanwhile, she has 5 kids and a special needs infant who is not even 5 months old yet! I am terrified that she will be one heartbeat away from being put in the position of leader of the free world! Be very afraid! I just watched CNN interview a McCain spokesman about Pahlin. He was going on and on about how popular she is in Alaska. Well, guess what? Alaska residents pay NO taxes! The oil revenues pay for all infrastructure etc, that the Fed subsides don’t pay. It was easy for her to say no to the bridge to nowhere when it became unpopular, after she first supported it. And, to top it off, she refunded $1200 to each man woman and child in Alaska this year because they had such a surplus! No wonder she wants to drill in the Caribou habitat! They don’t bring in any oil revenue at all! I am terrified that she will be one heartbeat away from being put in the position of leader of the free world! Be very afraid!

A few other points that need to be mentioned.... first, if Palin is so strongly anti-abortion, why did she have amniocentesis done during her last pregnancy? The purpose is to diagnose fetal abnormalities, but if she wouldn't consider an abortion under any circumstances (and, of course, wants no other women to be able to choose to have an abortion under any circumstances), why do the procedure at all? There's a small risk that the procedure itself will harm or kill the fetus, so there's no logic to this at all. Second, if she's such a devout Christian, as is claimed, why did she and her husband marry in a civil ceremony? Seems out of character. Finally, the state of Alaska gets about 85% of its revenue from taxes on oil companies, and they've got enough of a surplus that each Alaskan gets $1000 back from the state each year! How much help would this experience be to her in coping with the VERY different national economic picture?!

She's no Hillary Clinton! This is an exciting pick, John Boy has been cooked in whale oil! Barrack/Biden are truly the common sense choice. I want even tempers, and worldwide respect.

Controlled by Aliens? Senator McShame has followed his many recent blunders with a really big one--his choice of Gov. Palin as Next-In-Line To The Throne. The Manchurian Candidate, original version, should be required viewing for all registered Voters. Gov. Palin is an awful choice, not because she is a Woman, but because she apparently hates the environment and loves Big Oil and Big Guns. Me?I am leaving the Gene Pool...

This choice proves that McCain is reckless and irresponsible, which is a terrifying harbinger of his performance as Commander-in-Chief. I always thought the Party had a big hand in decisions like this but obviously not in this case. McCain will have hell to pay w/ the Republican establishment for making a unilateral and ill-conceived decision. Maybe even the Wall Street bankers will start fearing for their billions and vote for the more stable, smarter choice of Obama. Think about it...

Why not a Britney Spear in the ticket? Or any other former paegent model? Produce and raise five kid, I doubt Ms. Paulin had a time to read one book. Oh Gosh!