My husband has an interesting theory. He thinks McCain picked her because nobody else wanted it because they don’t expect him to win. Lieberman doesn’t want to be seen as the guy who lost two VP elections, plus may not be willing to risk burning ALL his bridges with the Democrats for a losing ticket. Mitt Romney wants to run for presdident again and doesn’t want to be the guy who lost the Primary AND the election as VP. But Palin really has nothing to lose. Most of the country doesn’t know who she is, all she has to do is spend two months campaigning, if she loses she goes back to being governor of Alaska but with more name recognition. It sort of makes sense to me. Sure there is a chance McCain will win, but not a big enough one for the people with the most to lose to risk it as his VP. Also, have you heard McCain has only met this woman once? For a short meeting about 6 months ago? Then he had one phone call with her yesterday. That is it. Sounds like a last minute desperate choice to me.

Here’s what Senator Boxer said: “The vice president is a heartbeat away from becoming president, so to choose someone with not one hour’s worth of experience on national issues is a dangerous choice. If John McCain thought that choosing Sarah Palin would attract Hillary Clinton voters, he is badly mistaken. The only similarity between her and Hillary Clinton is that they are both women. On the issues, they could not be further apart. Sen. McCain had so many other options if he wanted to put a woman on his ticket, such as Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe -– they would have been an appropriate choice compared to this dangerous choice. In addition, Sarah Palin is under investigation by the Alaska state legislature, which makes this more incomprehensible.”

The Equal Rights Amendment was first proposed in 1923. I was born in 1929, and so far have been waiting all of my life for the citizens of this nation to see the light and pass it! ” EQUALITY OF RIGHTS UNDER THE LAW SHALL NOT BE DENIED OR ABRIDGED BY THE UNITED STATES OR BY ANY STATE ON ACCOUNT OF SEX. ” That’s it! That’s the thing, the whole thing, and nothing but the thing. I wonder if any of you can see the dreadful threat it poses our nation? .

Unfortunately a black man could not serve under Patton! I believe that Obama filters his ideas and assessment of the world through white privilege. His grandmother used inflammatory language towards blacks. If his granddaddy was such a patriot why wasn’t Obama encourage to serve in ROTC or the National Guards. As far as I’m concern he knows little about black folks struggles. Just because Michelle introduced him to collard greens and Motown doesn’t get my vote!

Sarah, by Alaskan standards 8,471 may be large, but it is tiny. 13,571 is tiny. The state has less population that any large city in the US. Not one thing you mentioned here makes this woman qualified to be a heart beat away from the Presidency. And from what I have learned, this woman has never had to run against an opponent who was popular or not facing criminal charges. Biden will be a much different story.

Sarah Your input is welcome. I hope more women from Alaska join the conversation. Hang in there and good luck for your candidate.

Sarah—-Your state has less population that my very diverse city of San Francisco, with it’s crucial port, it being the HQ for many imajore US industries. And we have a Mayor who has served longer than your gov has been a mayor of a 8,500 pop city or a 606,000 state. Our Mayor, as brilliant as he is—is not VP material and neighter is Miss Congeniality. So I will certainly be doing everything in my power for her to stay there…and going to events in Alaska has NOTHING to do with be VP of the US. Give me a break.

Hey there fellow Alaskan. What’s the weather like today? Has the “Mountain dust” shown up yet? I’m a “former” Alaskan! Glad to hear from one who has the real scoop on Sarah for a change. So many rumors flying around. Bear with me, I have a few questions for you. * What’s the median income now? It was about double the rest of the country when we were there, thanks to the oil companies giving the state their “gratitude money.” * What exactly is considered “middle-class” in AK these days? * Have those good folks in Juneau decided when they are going to listen to the voters who said (4 times while we were there, I might add) “move OUR capital” nearer to us - J Q Public - yet? I personally voted twice for that! It was supposed to go just above Wasilla - somewhere near Houston, I think? * How can can you expect us in the “lower 48” to take seriously a group who would vote your Senator back in a primary, while he’s under investigation for accepting cash to double the size of his house, yet not report it as income? And that bridge! Didn’t even phase him that there was a plea, from another Senator to use that money to rebuild the bridge from Miss. to LA. (And he wasn’t from either state! Now That’s gravitas!) * And how you expect anyone from “outside” to resoundly support someone who hasn’t seen or known first hand the crushing economic disasters we’ve had down here, much of it due to Wall Street & Oil Greed? Remember Enron? * Give her her due - she did stop his “bridge to nowhere” - but what did she do with the money? Did she give back the $ to the Feds? or use it for other things in AK? And was it really moxie on her part, or just because she realized it was a ridiculous proposal to begin with? Please understand, when those of you in AK who keep sending Stephens & that other guy - forgot his name already- (both of whom have been in DC since the tundra used to freeze), we don’t exactly see what you do - in those you choose to represent you. And yes, it’s very harsh up there. But that’s more the climate than anything else, not the economy, or cutbacks by the Feds to the large cities & states. You’re lucky to have oil paying the bulk of your bills, and haven’t had half of the problems we’ve had down here. Your economy is based on Oil! We lived in Anchorage and have been to Wasilla, Fairbanks, St Mary’s, Kodiak, all up & down the Kenai, and to Valdez - before the tanker leak, and the pipeline leak (that our friend was called upon to be the engineer to fix the problem), and many other villages & towns. All are smaller than most of ours. Take Wasilla and triple it, that’s how many live where I do. Our jobs have gone overseas. Our hospitals are closing. Our insurances costs are out of sight for most of us. Our prescriptions are sending our seniors into bankruptcy - for get those under the poverty level - zip - 0 - nada for them. Our cities & infrastructure is decrepitly old, but we can’t repair them. Our schools struggle with over crowding, lack of good updated supplies, and help for teachers and students alike. Our taxes are killing the middle class and seniors, many of whom need to use our Food pantries. Our middle class is becoming poorer by the day. Our utilities are straining our pay checks. Our gas and food prices jump up every week, though lately, gas has gone down a few pennies. And our sons and daughters are in a mistaken war, loosing life and limb, with no help from the Feds for them! There’s so more, but I’ll spare you, but those are some of the things I don’t believe Sarah has much knowledge about. Having lived in AK, many of these - if not most, register on the thinking of a population that cold fit in any one of our large cities, with plenty of room to spare. So, forgive us down here in the trenches, if we’re not exactly enthusiastic supporters of someone so connected to Oil, and so disconnected to the people in the lower 48 - to represent us, either as VP, or God forbid, as President! Just because she was a mayor for a small lake town, or Governor for - how long has it been? less than 2 years? - doesn’t automatically give - anyone the best of qualifications to be in the National scene.