Hey Mike,

I don't think you're just hopping on the Palin bashing train. I respect your opinion. We just happen to disagree, that's all. Ok ... you brought up a ton of stuff.

I'm glad to know that you watched the entire interview series also. Actually, I don't remember Palin mentioning RvW at all, but I may have missed it for some reason. It bothered me a lot the way Palin answered the newspaper question - at first ... I saw it first in a clip on the news on MSNBC (I was in an office where they had the TV on), but then I watched the entire thing and I didn't have a problem with that when I saw it in context. I wasn't real impressed with Obama's reading list either actually. Doesn't bother me, I don't judge either of them on that. I'm not sure I agree with you about the relevance, but I know a lot of other people do agree with you. Everyone has experienced a moment when your mind goes blank on an easy question ... and Palin may have had other reasons why she didn't answer that question in a way that people liked, but I assumed it was what I call "a moment" ... and if you read my comment below then you already know that I consider Alaska's proximity to Russia to be relevant. And as a matter of fact, Palin is responsible for the Alaska National Guard. I don't believe that Sen. Obama has ever been responsible for troops.

But Palin isn't running against Obama which is the thing that's been irking me lately. ;-) Too many people act like McCain will just drop dead. My parents are a little older than McCain and they run circles around me! And McCain's in better health than both of them combined. But age is a relevant factor for many, I agree. I just don't think I have the same perception as a lot of people do. The Veep's job is to cast a vote in the Senate in the event of a tie.

I trust Palin with that position because she has more than demonstrated to me that she understands the job description better than most other politicians I can think of and she has respect for our Constitutional structure. In fact, I did appreciate Couric pressing her on the issue of her feelings about abortion rights (although I thought Couric was rude). You probably remember that I'm pro-choice. And I was satisfied with Palin's answer because everybody wants to know what she would do if required to cast a tie vote over abortion rights. (Which I think has less than a "snowball's" chance of happening, btw) I thought Palin was incredibly open about expressing her own personal beliefs, but I thought she missed an opportunity to answer the "tie breaker vote" question - but I blame that mostly on the fact that Couric didn't actually come out and ask that question.

Abortion is legal in Alaska. Palin gets asked these questions a lot ... as Governor, she said that the issue should not be decided by the Governor, but by the people of Alaska. That's what I needed to know about her stance on abortion. I'm totally cool with her there.

And I'm so sorry to disagree with you again, but I've seen Palin in many other speaking engagements and interviews since then and I honestly don't think that she gets flustered when she's not on the talking points. In fact, I didn't think she did that in the Couric interview for the most part either. But I do think Palin was completely overwhelmed by the scrutiny and criticism ... and I guess I don't fault her for that. Like I said, I know a lot of people agree with you, but many sympathize with her precisely because of this treatment. Lol, seems we're still in a big stalemate in this country, huh.

I agree with you that Obama doesn't really seem to get flustered, but I've seen McCain get flustered, and Joe Biden is practically the King of Fluster! ;-) We're all human. I actually appreciate being able to see some of McCain's and Palin's imperfections. Lol, I can feel people rolling their eyes from here! ;-) But that's how I honestly feel. I am able to relate to them very well. And I have a hard time with the inconsistencies in Obama's statements ... um, since when has Obama been in favor of domestic drilling and nuclear power? I'm an anti-nuclear environmentalist personally, but Obama can't just keep saying one thing and then saying the opposite when he's in front of a different audience. There are millions of people in this country who just plain don't like that, especially considering what's going on in our Dem congress right now.

Btw, your irk is mine too. In fact, that's why I don't watch TV. McCain lost the nomination to Bush in 2000 in large part because he was out-nastied by Bush. But what irks me as much, if not more, is that I don't hear as many people up in arms about the wretched way the other side treats McCain and Palin. It makes my skin crawl, too. But the Ayers association bothers me in the plethora, as they say. Obama hasn't actually denied the connection as far as I know, but his cronies did try to bring (baseless) lawsuits against networks and TV stations who planned to air the ads. That doesn't sit well with me. Neither do the 10,000 letters of intimidation the cronies sent out threatening wealthy Republican donors with public smear if they contributed legally to McCain. Ugh! Both sides are in the same fight here. Seriously, Mike ... the negativity is why I don't watch TV. I don't defend it, but I think I'm calling it what it is when I say that BOTH sides are guilty.

And honestly, I've personally been the recipient of a lot of the hatred Obama stirs up in people ... I've been called hateful names, taunted and ridiculed more times than I could count ... usually by an angry mob ... I've been threatened and have even been accosted by an Obama supporter who was extremely threatening and persistent ... followed me and some companions all evening until finally attacking us. Had to hail a cab and get the hell out of there ... no kidding. I don't like to talk about that component of this election, so usually I don't ... same part of me that refuses to watch TV.

I'm sure you and I will find many things we agree about ... this election just isn't one of them. ;-) I'll be glad when it's over and I really appreciate everything you're doing here ... even when we disagree. It's all good ... well, except for the "crappy, crappy, crap-crap!" (Lol, that's a Bart Simpson quote!)

Thanks for being so open with me, Mike. Have a great evening!