I think that people just don’t know anything about this person – and she would be in a position of great power if they won. So they are doing digging and all these things keep on coming up – I think its good to get information, but it is a fine line against just being crazy about it and making it personal. I think its important to know who she is and what she stands for – and from what I see so far – she’s not what I want running the country (but that’s just me!)

About Palin … Republicans are smart. Very smart. Much smarter, in my opinion, than Democrats when it comes to organizing a party and winning votes from new groups of people because of what you said. They bring up Democratic scandals and people see that. They care! It may be stupid to care about something so petty as to who’s having sex with whom or who’s divorcing whom or so on, but people do care. When a Republican scandal crops up, the Democrats say nothing.

That said, you’re not going crazy. A lot of people don’t like Palin and so there’s a lot of stuff cropping up about her. It’s partly that you’re more aware of this election as well. I think people are getting really, really heated about about this election, especially considering the person elected will be president for 4 years.

Here’s a good article if you’re wondering about the reasons: http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12032126

I’m staying far away from all this. I signed up for an account on reddit JUST so I could turn the Politics section off. Someday I’ll make a post about which candidate I like better, but for now I’m staying well away.

People are calling all this out because if elected, Palin will be one failed heartbeat away from the presidency and she is no more suited for it than my high school principal.

People are calling this out because the media is inconsistent in calling this out. Because McCain has begun branding all questions about her lack of experience “sexist”. Because he took Palin on soley so that he could bat against Obama for a “first in the whitehouse” and thinks that America’s women are stupid enough to believe that any woman in the white house will protect women’s rights and be an advocate for women everywhere.

That hasn’t been true with Bush, and it won’t be with McCain/Palin. Read this article.

When Palin gets questioned, I welcome the questions about her (lack of) experience and readiness for the job. Anything that is relevant to her qualifications, or how she isn’t, is valuable to know. It’s our duty to be informed about candidates.

Did you know she’s not being subpoenaed in the Alaskan state trooper trial because they say it would be “disrespectful” to a VP candidate? That sort of thing is not acceptable.

By all means we should stay away from digs that target her family and those close to her, but by accepting VP candidacy, she accepted this level of scrutiny.

One of the things I’ve admired about Obama throughout his campaign is his constant redirection away from the personal and family issues, and toward the real issues. It is a shame that we don’t spend our time during presidential elections really talking about what matters, as they do in most parts of the world.

Exciting that it’s your first presidential election!