Well, I think you know by now, Dale, I'm really no fan of dirty politics and I don't much care who the victim is. It's just bad business to me and I think it hurts us, the general public, maybe more than those it is aimed at because it cheats us out of seeing things clearly, out of doing things to better our country, and out of the dream of democracy our founding fathers had. So, don't put me in with that group. Also, you should know by now I'm not an Obama groupie and I don't think he is our "Messiah."

I'm not in denial. I know for a fact that McCain has damaged himself with this pick for many reasons. Palin is indeed a crass abomination as a selection for VP and demonstrates that John McCain is now about as relevant as Bob Dole's penis. One thing that stunned me that came out in that interview with "Charlie" Gibson last night (other than it becoming plainly obvious why the RNC wonderboys don't want Ms. Palin doing interviews) is that Gibson stated that John McCain also used the "Alaska is close to Russia" line as a qualification for why Palin is a good VP pick. I nearly fell out of my chair, Dale, and I was not smoking or drinking last night, I swear!

No, I don't think the attacks on Palin have been vicious and certainly not the ones you pointed me to at factcheck. In fact, I find the "attacks" on Palin pretty tame compared to the insanity of trying to paint Obama as a terrorist because he knows Bill Ayers. The outrageous fabrications that he is a Muslim. The attempts to make him out to be a follower of Louis Farrakhan. All of these things designed to frighten the white folk away from voting for him. The endless tape loop of Rev. Wright we have been subjected to in an effort to make us think Obama is a crazy, uppity, whitey hating black dude. The nasty campaign commercial (approved by John McCain) that shows a photo of a smirking Obama looking downward as it claims his one great "education accomplishment" was approving sex education for kids in kindergarten, which is an outright lie and disgusting to boot because it trys to paint Obama as a sexual predator of children.

What I know is John McCain has flushed his reputation down the toilet with where he has taken this campaign and Palin was just one more intentional turd he left floating in the bowl.

I know nasty when I hear it and nasty is a joke like:

"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno!" - John McCain June 1998 (part of McCain's address at a Republican dinner)

Hell, I don't even like the Clintons and that one made me wince a bit. This is direct from the mouth of the guy running for president. So, he can do that and then claim that the kids are off limits? Not to mention as Smorley pointed out Palin is waving the kids around like a flag. It was part of the strategy in choosing her. They picked Palin because she has "Wal-Mart Mommy" appeal. Hey, don't shoot the messenger here, this is their strategy not mine.

Palin is not a nice person and she is certainly not the "wonder mommy" the RNC wants to sell her as. Is the money coming in, perhaps it is, but watch that fundraising stuff carefully because that's part of their hard sell and campaigns blow it up to try to paint a good picture of themselves. Also, guess who wants to donate now, the Christian Conservatives (Rove's favorite fruit tree to shake) because now they have a reason to vote for this ticket and declare war on "liberals" (aka "terrorists") again. Palin is their "savior" that will end all the "liberal" baby killing. Great, that's the kind of campaign we need now, right?

McCain has shown he lied to us all about not making this a dirty campaign, that it would not be about race or gender or culture wars and now he has delivered just that.

I don't live in an echo chamber. I don't talk just to hear myself speak and I don't hate Republicans or conservatives. I'm not sitting here typing this in my Obama pajamas. I make a lot of jokes here about Palin and that is basically because I think it's hilarious McCain did this. Sure, it's not funny in a lot of ways too but I say he shot himself in the foot with this. I never hated McCain and I still don't but whatever he was before this, the respect he once had from a lot of people...well he sold it cheap for a wacko from Alaska and he sold it to the same people that destroyed him when he ran against Bush in 2000. In a way that makes his story a very weird and sick tragedy.

Hey, you know I respect your opinion, Dale, and I'm serious when I say I just don't get what there is to like about Palin as VP. I certainly think it shows McCain has lost his way and many people that are close to McCain have been saying the same thing. She is an invention, like Dubya, a good ol' gal in this case that has been chosen in part exactly because she is a complete goofball. Rove knows she's an easy target for ridicule and they love that because they can turn it against the Democrats. This is what they want the campaign to be about, name calling and values voters...ignore the issues and make it a culture war...the nice mommy against the nasty name callers.

Really, what is there to like about Sarah Palin as Vice President?