Palin mentions this "critical crossroad", and she is right about that. Then she blows right on through it, offering more drilling and absolutely nothing else. My beef isn't actually with the drilling - if it was part of a real overall strategy to transition off oil onto alternatives I could go for that. My complaint is the "comprehensive" energy policy she wants to enact is just more of what we already are doing. Look at what she says in the "manifesto" link in the original article:

What will it take for Congress to enact comprehensive energy policy that includes increased domestic production of oil and gas, renewable and alternative energy, and conservation?

Then the rest of her letter talks of one and only one thing - drilling in Alaska. The point being made is that her plan isn't a comprehensive plan because it only includes one thing, and that is keep doing what we have been doing all along. That policy needs to be updated to account for things like facts and reality. From the first page on the National Petroleum Council website (http://www.npc.org/):

The United States is the largest participant in the global energy system—the largest consumer, the second largest producer of coal and natural gas, and the largest importer and third largest producer of oil.

So suppose we drill Alaska until it looks like a big hunk of swiss cheese, and become the SECOND largest producer of oil, and import less so that we become the SECOND largest importer of oil. Sounds like progress, right? But where does that leave us? Still dependent on oil. It might be good for Alaska, but that is not a comprehensive energy policy.

If McCain knew about the pregnancy and he thought Palin was still a good choice he is suffering from dementia.

If only the Palin family knew and she is so ambitious that she would not disclose it to the campaign, she is absolutely unfit for office.

You're braver than me furtail, I don't think I could keep any faith alive if I was canvassing. Sadly it is not just one area. Here in Colorado, the wife of my local liquor store owner was aghast at the DNC press coverage - "he's not even American", and "look at those cocoa babies". My jaw dropped, I was just floored by such overt ignorance and racism. She is well spoken, so I think she actually is college educated. I actually had her pegged as a liberal, guess we were both wrong about each other.

I think Obama has the right tack, focus primarily on the good things his administration will do for the country, and less on the freak show of McCain's candidacy. When the gaffes are pertinent to actual policy, go after them like a pitbull, but be careful not to get so personal. Us liberals all are having a good laugh at the missteps McCain makes, but again the people who matter are the swinger voters. How do they see it?

I never actually claimed to be either, just voicing my opinion - bad grammar and all.

Getting out the vote that is. I think that is the most likely factor to sway the election outcome either way. The die hards are of course locked in, so whichever campaign has the best ground operation has the edge. That makes me hopeful for Obama's chances, he really worked hard on that during the primaries.

@ T. Suarez - No harm done, that "swingers" typo was to good to pass by.

I saw the CNN folks reassuring Campbell Brown that she was not too tough on that Tucker fellow from McCain's campaign. WTF? He couldn't provide a single example of a decision Palin had made regarding Alaska National Guard (ANG) deployments, but tried to assert that just the fact that she is a governor means she had made decisions regarding the ANG that imbued her with military decision-making capabilities!?! Total bullsh!t. Governors aren't managing anything about their respective states' national guard units wrt their duties in Iraq or Afghanistan.

So when the spin doctors can't even field an obvious question, it is the press' fault! And to punish them for asking hard questions, McCain cancels his interview. F*ing candyass wants to be handled with kid gloves. I thought he was supossed to be some kind of POW tough guy who was ready to protect us and go toe-to-toe with scary people in the world. NOT! He is scared of reporters.

They've got to be just hoping they get the chance to go against a beauty pageant contestant. These guys have zero respect for women to begin with, and only a woman with a serious record would make them think twice. Palin is not that woman, maybe in 10 more years she might be.

Republicans always play on the people's fear, so I say time for 'what goes around comes around'. I actually do think they would be emboldened if the worse case scenario came to pass, so even if she could muster exactly the right response, things would still suck.

I didn't actually get the audio (nor close captioning) for Cindy McCain's speech since I was only watching at the gym, but I agree - she looked pretty damn medicated to me too. It looks like she actually has done some real, humanitarian things, but for some reason I can't peg she doesn't come off as being a kind, sincere person to me. She looks like Leona Helmsley to me.

This man does not project the air of someone up to the job. Honestly he seems tired and out of shape.