Several points in response to recent posts.

1. I went to the AIP web site and read their stuff. Strange! Okay, maybe you people are on to something there. I'll look at it further. I didn't realize Alaska had this sort of sentiment, like, I suppose, Quebec or Puerto Rico. Only this one reportedly has a flakier origin.

2. Did I make the same mistake in judging Bush that you think I am now making with Palin? Actually, no. I did not vote for Bush in 2000 based on the DUI charge. I thought to myself -- this guy might be an alcoholic, and I don't want that.

As I have said on prior posts, I know people who rose to the top on state basketball championship teams, and people who are PTA moms who really impress people and are encouraged to take on other, larger tasks. I have exceptionally high confidence in Sarah Palin. And equal confidence in my own ability to make judgments about people.

3. I get the point about the fruit flies. I also get the point that if I accept your description of the fruit fly research, Palin was not giving a very deep critique. But like I said, bashing ear marks happens all the time - McCain has ridiculed the black bear research and the projector system for the planetarium in Chicago. Reagen used to do it too. The argument should not be that these are ridiculous projects, but that they should go through a transparent budgeting process.

If Palin had denounced fruit fly research in the context of a NIH speech on science issues, I could understand the critique more. In the context of a boilerplate stump speech, I see it more as a throw away line. Again, this is just an explanation, not a defense. If I were Sarah, I would get rid of this line.

4. As far as *hate* and racism at rallies, I can only say that I went to one last night and saw no such thing. Was I blind to it? I don't think so. It was a basketball/hockey crowd. People were happy to see Sarah. There was no reference to "Barack Hussein Obama," or any such thing. It would not have mattered to the crowd who she was running with, or against. They were there to see her.

5. Bill Clinton. The woman's name was Juanita Brodderick. If memory serves, Lisa Myers did a show on her allegations on Dateline NBC. Briefly, Juanita alleged that Bill lured her to a hotel room in Little Rock in the 1970's, raped her, and then, as he left the room, put on his sunglasses, surveyed her wounds, and advised her to put some ice on them. She claimed she told a friend about the incident contemporaneously (which the friend confirmed). Clinton denied the allegation, confirmed his office had a daily office dairy indicating his whereabouts on the day in question, but he refused to produce the diary. The press never asked him a single question about it after the NBC broadcast. A similar written story appeared by the WSJ's Dorothy Rabinowicz. The WSJ reporter said explicitly she believed Juanita's story; if memory serves, Lisa Myers was less direct, but indicated they would have not have run it unless they had confidence in its veracity.

6. Given that Palin denies knowing anything about the rape kit story, and there is no direct evidence to contravene it, I am not willing to draw any conclusions about this incident. I would concede it says something about her management style, but without knowing more about the underlying budgeting process itself, I don't see this amounting to anything.

7. One poster asked me to concede there are racist, anti-semetic pockets in this society. Yes! Like the south side of Chicago! I was blistered in earlier posts for pointing out that America's two most famous anti-semites, Farrakhan and Jackson, hailed from the same troubled neighborhood. Right down the road from Brother Jeremiah.

As far as small white towns, of course there are remnants there of white supremacy. Like I said above, I could better accept the argument that Palin was whipping up such sentiments at her rallies, if I could see it first hand. I have been to one. She was not.

8. Speaking further of Bush, one of you posted that Bush showed bad character by not pardoning the cute-as-a-button woman on death row in Texas. Actually, I thought Bush did the right thing in at least applying the law consistently. If you don't like the death penalty, the place to fight it is in the legislature, in not having one. Not at the highly sentimentalized commutation stage.

9. On federal funding for abortions, I agree it is comparable to money for dropping bombs. If you don't like the war, vote for a peace candidate. If you don't want to pay for abortions, vote for a Hyde Amendment candidate.

I would end the war my first day in office, if I were president, because I don't believe anything we are doing there is worth another American life. But I also don't believe Obama will pull the plug on it any sooner than McCain. It's going to be a cold day for a lot of people when Obama steps in and we have Mr. Obama's Economy, Mr. Obama's Deficit, and Mr. Obama's War.

10. Faulknerjr is right. There is no exciting argument for McCain. Of course, a lot of these political challenges we face do not call for excitement. They call for practical leadership, common sense, and a good feel for the needs of the country. McCain and Palin have those things. Obama and Biden have them in lesser amounts.