Reading these posts makes me very angry. You haters are insulting the Obama-Biden ticket with your mindless hate rants. Senator Obama and Senator Biden have stated many times their respect and admiration for Governor Palin. If you are at such odds with Senator Obama, then please take your ugly support to someone else. Your bigotry is not wanted.

First off, this election doesn't immediately concern me as I am not American so these propos are from an outsider.

Now I watched Palin's VP nomination acceptance speech rather unimpressed and then followed her repeated stumbles during various interviews on television. She seemed incoherent, uninformed and rather pleased about this (it supposedly makes her more like a 'real person').

On Thursday night, up here Canada, we were treated to two debates (our English language debate for our federal election and your VP debate). I watched both, interested in the issues brought up in the first one and curious to see how badly Palin would do in the VP one.

She amazed me with her mediocrity and her attitude towards Senator Biden (imagine if Obama had done the same to McCain, Mr. Experience himself). Can I call you Joe? Then there were the facial ticks, the winking and eyelash batting. Where did she think she was? Who was she trying to flirt with? The entire male population of America? The icing on the cake was all the verbal ticks in her speech. Somehow 'folksy' means saying 'betcha' 'say it ain't so' and various other filler garbage that has no place in a DEBATE. In a debate you want to be able to speak properly.

As to what she said, I could make neither head nor tail of it. All of sounded rehearsed. She actually had the moxy to refuse to answer debate questions (one wonders why you show up to participate in a debate if you don't plan on answering the questions posed by the debate). The rehearsed nature of her responses didn't keep them from not making any sense. She seemed to spew out a series of failed circular arguments. Key words tumbled forth with little context and even relation to one another. What is scariest is that some people thought she won and somehow everyone thinks she got through it okay. This is what is considered 'okay' in American political discourse today? Candidates running to possibly become the so-called leader of the so-called free world doesn't even have to string together intelligible sentences in order to try to answer direct questions? What sort of democracy is this? When did the land of opportunity and self improvement turn its back on a base level of intellect and knowledge? How did she ever get elected governor?

Oh and just in case you think this is some sort of anti-feminist attack, I'm a woman.

Ironically, I am reading right now "Just How Stupid Are We?" by Rick Shenkman and then watched the debate last Saturday night. The confluence of the two is almost too much for me, I find I need extra coffee to get through my day.

At the same time, I read Charles Krauthamer's lastest post, who is a very conserative writer, that makes some blasts of Obama but finishes with a quote from Oliver Holmes about FDR saying that he had a second rate intelligence but a first rate temperment and that temperment helped a lot getting through the Great Depression and WW II. He then says that Obama has a first rate intelligence and a first rate temperment.

The thrust of this essay is that intelligence does not significantly matter with conservatives. It is the trust of the book also. Supporters can make up things to say that she has more experience than Barak Obama but I wonder do they seriously think that she has a "first rate intellience"? Do they really care? Does the fact that she has a fifth rate or lower intellience make her more attractive to them?

Just how stupid are we?

ROYALSAN, YOU HAVE EXPOSED YOURSELF AS A PERSON CRAMMED FULL OF HATE. "BLESS YOUR HEART" BUT THE COMPLETE ERADICATION OF YOUR ILK WHO SWALLOW AND REGURGITATE THE VITRIOLIC BILGE OF LIMBAUGH, O'REILLY AND FELLOW TRAVELERS WOULD MAKE THE WORLD A FAR FAR BETTER PLACE.

Obama won the primary AND he is qualified, not because. McCain may have been qualified by some criteria but his adherence to the bankrupt foolishness, which is the policies of Bush et al, trumps that and renders him unqualified. Remember, George W. Bush is a callow frat boy cheerleader who is continuing his legendary record of failure. Palin has not had experience that qualifies her to be VP let alone POTUS but she would be a great cheerleader. Her lack of qualification is evident because what qualifying experience she may have had, she has evidently not profited from. Witness her vapid rhetoric. Why would she hide her wisdom under a bushel basket like that? I guess jebldmm hasn't heard that, for the Republican machine, the election isn't about issues, it's about character. I rest my case.

Absolutely agree with you. Although not American, I live on earth so I'm very concerned at the prospect of this woman being a heartbeat away form the presidency.

There are around twenty five cities in the US that have larger populations than Alaska. Her experience is minimal.

I would wish her all the good fortune in the world if she'd just stay in Alaska doing what she's doing & not be trying for a position that she's not ready for.

I think many of us could relate to the earlier post about getting a job that was way over your head. Talking your way through an interview & laying on the BS only to find yourself successful. Then the trouble starts.

I liked the summary from @dmeeks' comment here;

"This is all part of the Republican machine, and yes, it can prop up a dead monkey for its leader, as one reader put it. It doesn't matter who is at the top of the pyramid. It's the base of the pyramid that matters, and their base is still very stable...even if George Bush backfired on them a bit. It doesn't matter. The machine just keeps on going, like some sinister energizer bunny."

Which of the other Republican VP candidates could do more to invigorate-turnout their base than Palin?

With the election back on a reality track (thanks to finance sector consolidation), its all about turnout now. The campaigns have equalized on the personality-experience fronts. It will likely be the tech - connect strategies behind these machines that will determine outcome.

Viguerie database driven machinve vs. social network Mashup. Good anaologies for economic approaches as well.

For an interesting take on the road forward check out this from Viguerie. http://tinyurl.com/4umeor