Not so big on Sarah Palin

I was hopeful when John McCain introduced Sarah Palin as his running mate (of course, there was that cynical side of me that thought he was doing it solely for the female vote). She is young, up-and-coming, probably the new face of the Republican Party.

Now, however, I'm incredibly turned off by her. I felt her acceptance speech at the RNP Convention was a high point - even though it was sarcastic and somewhat mean-spirited, and it's been downhill from there.

She comes off as dense, uncurious (is that a word?), and incredibly unprepared for the potential of being the most powerful leader in the world. She came off incredibly poorly in the few interviews she's had with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. And the claim of "gotcha" reporting is crap - these types of questions are asked of and expected to be answered by people running for public office. If she can't answer a question directly, succinctly and clearly, what hope is there for us in the future if she's across the negotiating table wiht world leaders?

I watched the VP debate this past Thursday and felt that she undid some of the damage she had caused herself over the past couple of weeks. She had answers, she knew some facts, but she had this snarky little attitude and she was a little bit rote. "John McCain and I are mavericks; under John McCain and I we will bring change." Say it with me - maverick, change, middle class, maverick, change, maverick, maverick...

I really felt that she came off as "I'm going to insult you to your face, but I'm going to do it saying 'Darn it' and 'You betcha' with a smile and a wink and it'll be okay cuz I'm female and I have a little accent." That doesn't fly with me. She's asking to be trusted with a lot of power, but she's not asking us to do it based upon her readiness or intellect - just based upon her ability to connect with persona Joe Six-Pack. Who is that? Does this person really exist? I doubt he's the person that she thinks he is.

She's pushing me towards Barack Obama's camp. I'm concerned about some things with Obama, but at this point, I feel better about him and Joe Biden than I do about John McCain and Sarah Palin. This really is the election of choosing between the lesser of two evils, unfortunately for the citizenry of the United States of America.