As a long time member of the NRA, a group that opposes any sort of gun control, what would you, as a mother, say to mothers of children who have been killed by guns in places like Virginia Tech and Columbine or the ones whose children have been killed by random gunshots? Do you agree that background searches for people with prior felonies or a history of mental illness should be banned? Do you also agree,as your organization does, that it should be illegal to trace where bullets came from? What is your opinion of AK 47 rifles and the expandable bullets that even police are against? I know the NRA says that guns don't kill people, only people kill other people. Just how much do you agree with the organization you're a longtime member of? One more thing, your husband was a member for many years of an Alaskan secessionist group, a group whose convention you spoke at. What if these people want to use guns to help them succeed from the USA. What would you do about that?

Salon Editors:

I was going to comment on the article, but notice I would have to do so after what appears to be 20 postings from someone called Obamaisbraindead. Apparently this poster feels that everyone is so brain dead that he has to make his point 20 times for us to understand him, or he is so brain dead that he doesn't even know he's doing this. Whatever the reason, can't salon limit the postings from one individual about one topic, so we're not forced to scroll through this drivel to get to get to something besides one person's rants.

It's great that all these Palin lovers feel she's one of them. Palin, is a longtime member of the NRA and supporter of the right to bear arms, including assault weapons. Will they still feel Palin's one of them if they, or one of their loved ones, is the victim of a shooter with one of these guns, the ownership of which Palin supports.

I've been following the stories about Palin fairly carefully over the last couple of weeks. I've realized that people who like her and plan on voting for her because she's "like them", will do so, no matter what evidence may be revealed and by which source. Even if there is video proof of her actually saying something, her supporters either will say it's taken out of context, it's a lie or it's an attempt to somehow diminish this woman. It's the Democrats who are "elitist""mocking" or whatever. How easy it is to overlook that Palin's running mate, who we can assume will at least be the President on January 20, 2009, if they are elected has 7 homes and Palin herself wears glasses that cost $375, about twice as much as I paid for my own glasses. Isn't that just a tiny bit elitist? (Oh I forget. These are just "lies" and "innuendos" like everything else about Palin/McCain) When these Palin supporters are left without a job, a home and health insurance, thanks to the continuation of the failed Bush policies, perhaps they think they can move into the White House, or go out and hunt moose after their 8 hour emergency room visit, the only health care they'll be able to afford.

I'm tired of hearing about women who like Sarah Palin because she is a mother just like them. Just because she is a mother doesn't make her a good mother, let alone fit to be a heart beat away from the job as President of the United States. Hillary Clinton fit more of what I would consider a good mother. She protected her daughter Chelsea from too much publicity in the years when she was in the White House, and Chelsea ended up at Oxford and now a productive member of society.

In contrast, Palin parades out her own daughter to show how her abstinence only policy was a failure and we're supposed to commend her for this. She lied to the Alaskan troops, including her own son and other mothers' sons, telling them how they were going to Iraq to fight those people who attacked us on 9/11, even though this claim has long since been debunked. And she said on the Charlie Gibson interview that she supports people's rights to own AK47 rifles. Too bad for the mothers of children who were killed by rifles at Columbine, Virginia Tech and inner city drive by shootings.

It's mothers like this that give motherhood a bad name.