I am so flabbergasted by John McCain’s choice as running mate, I keep tripping over myself, trying to organize my thoughts into a coherent post. So instead, I am posting this e-mail I received from MoveOn.org. It is coherent and hits on every point I wanted to make:

[Friday] was John McCain’s 72nd birthday. If elected, he’d be the oldest president ever inaugurated. And after months of slamming Barack Obama for “inexperience,” here’s who John McCain has chosen to be one heartbeat away from the presidency: a right-wing religious conservative with no foreign policy experience, who until recently was mayor of a town of 9,000 people.

Huh?

Who is Sarah Palin? Here’s some basic background:

• She was elected Alaska’s governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no foreign policy experience.
• Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.
• She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000.
• Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools.
• She’s doesn’t think humans are the cause of climate change.
• She’s solidly in line with John McCain’s “Big Oil first” energy policy. She’s pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won’t be ready for years. She also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species—she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.
• How closely did John McCain vet this choice? He met Sarah Palin once at a meeting. They spoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about being vice-president. Then he offered her the position.

This is information the American people need to see. Please take a moment to forward this email to your friends and family.

We also asked Alaska MoveOn members what the rest of us should know about their governor. The response was striking. Here’s a sample:

She is really just a mayor from a small town outside Anchorage who has been a governor for only 1.5 years, and has ZERO national and international experience. I shudder to think that she could be the person taking that 3AM call on the White House hotline, and the one who could potentially be charged with leading the US in the volatile international scene that exists today. —Rose M., Fairbanks, AK

She is VERY, VERY conservative, and far from perfect. She’s a hunter and fisherwoman, but votes against the environment again and again. She ran on ethics reform, but is currently under investigation for several charges involving hiring and firing of state officials. She has NO experience beyond Alaska. —Christine B., Denali Park, AK

As an Alaskan and a feminist, I am beyond words at this announcement. Palin is not a feminist, and she is not the reformer she claims to be. —Karen L., Anchorage, AK

Alaskans, collectively, are just as stunned as the rest of the nation. She is doing well running our State, but is totally inexperienced on the national level, and very much unequipped to run the nation, if it came to that. She is as far right as one can get, which has already been communicated on the news. In our office of thirty employees (dems, republicans, and nonpartisans), not one person feels she is ready for the V.P. position.—Sherry C., Anchorage, AK

She’s vehemently anti-choice and doesn’t care about protecting our natural resources, even though she has worked as a fisherman. McCain chose her to pick up the Hillary voters, but Palin is no Hillary. —Marina L., Juneau, AK

I think she’s far too inexperienced to be in this position. I’m all for a woman in the White House, but not one who hasn’t done anything to deserve it. There are far many other women who have worked their way up and have much more experience that would have been better choices. This is a patronizing decision on John McCain’s part- and insulting to females everywhere that he would assume he’ll get our vote by putting “A Woman” in that position.—Jennifer M., Anchorage, AK

So Governor Palin is a staunch anti-choice religious conservative. She’s a global warming denyer who shares John McCain’s commitment to Big Oil. And she’s dramatically inexperienced.

In picking Sarah Palin, John McCain has made the religious right very happy. And he’s made a very dangerous decision for our country.

In the next few days, many Americans will be wondering what McCain’s vice-presidential choice means. Please pass this information along to your friends and family.

My only other comment would be this: How much more patronizing can you get? Does McCain and his “organization” truly believe that by putting a fascist beauty queen on his ticket that he’ll get those of us who supported Hillary?

I am voting for Barack Obama. While I was a staunch Hillary Clinton supporter, I live in the present, not the past. And I do not, whatever the Republicans may believe, vote with my ovaries.

There. I said it out loud.

I rarely discuss politics with my friends. It was always one of those rules of etiquette about conversation: you don’t discuss religion, politics, and ….. damn. There’s a third thing, and I can’t remember what it is. Well, it’s time I take my stand and stand behind it. I mean, people I hardly know (like the guy at the credit union on the corner) ask my opinion and I’m not shy about telling them. I just don’t want to piss off my friends — politicians come and go, but your friends are your friends. Right? But there it is. Silent no longer.

I don’t claim to be the most politically savvy person on the planet. No, really. If I were, I would have worked for more winners than losers, when I did that sort of thing, rather than the opposite. On the other hand…

Eight years ago, when “W” ran for President, I said to anyone who would listen, “If Bush makes it to the White House, mark my words, we’ll be back in Iraq. He will find some excuse for us to send the military back there to clean up what his Daddy wasn’t able to finish.” I did. I said that. I have witnesses.

Four years ago, when I heard Barack Obama speak at the Democratic National Convention, I fell in love. I said to anyone who would listen, “That man will make a fine President someday. Give him 8 years to get the right experience as Hillary Clinton’s Vice President, and he will be a force to reckon with.” Note I said “Vice President” to Hillary Clinton’s President. I wanted to run out and get a bumper sticker saying “Clinton/Obama ’08″. Four years ago. And you know what? Bandwagons aside, I still feel that way.

Apologies to those of my friends who have fallen in love with the rhetoric, but I don’t believe Obama is ready to be President. One term as a senator from Chicago does not give him the experience or exposure to lead our country at this rocky period in our history. He can dream and envision Utopia all he likes, but he is not ready for the White House. He’s a hellva great orator and wordsmith, but I’m afraid he’s mistaken the starry eyes and Clinton-haters for grass-roots support.

If he becomes the Democratic nominee, I will vote for him, because I am – if nothing else – a staunch, dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. I know plenty of others who will vote for a Republican for the first time in their lives or just stay home.

Not because he’s black, but because of that You Tube video of his “crazy uncle” pastor aligning himself with Louis Farrakhan, making all those anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks, and saying that this country brought 9/11 on itself because of its alignment with Israel. The line “Not God Bless America, But God Damn America” plays really well in the Borscht Belt.

Obama refuses to disavow the pastor, saying “Oh, he’s just really conservative.” Oh, yeah, and he wasn’t at the church the day that sermon was given. That’s probably true. But that video was pro. That wasn’t recorded on a cellphone spontaneously. And I posit this to you: That man performed the Obamas’ marriage ceremony and baptized their kids. They have been members of his congregation for over 20 years. So, do we suppose that this was the first and only time these views were heard from his pulpit? He just woke up that particular morning and had an epiphany? I can’t buy that. And while I do believe that you don’t have to buy everything your minister is selling, if you’re planning on running to be the next President of the United States, why are you keeping up your subscription? I’m sorry, but that’s just naive.

I truly believe that if Obama becomes the nominee, we’ll have at least 4 years of McCain. I’m not an age-ist or anything, but Ronald Reagan was younger when he took office than McCain is now, and I keep seeing that photo of Reagan nodding off during a Cabinet meeting, then revealing after he was out of office that he had Alzheimer’s. I know, I know. I can’t help it. But even people who are older than he is, that I talk to feel that way.

MJ and I both voted for Hillary Clinton. She’s already had 8 years in the White House and won’t need a tutorial. Also, if you remember, the last time the U.S. was in strong economic condition was during a Clinton’s presidency. (What is it with these Republicans, man? They preach fiscal responsibility, but name one Republican President in the last 50 years that didn’t run this country into a deficit and/or recession. Geez!) A woman in the White House! We can do that now.

I still say Clinton / Obama in ’08. Go team!