I think it's a good idea for everyone to take a deep breath and realize there's plenty of time between now and November 4 for enough voters to learn the woeful truth about McCain's Folly.

For instance, below is the link to a front-page story from the Sunday Los Angeles Times, September 7, datelined Uniontown, PA. The headline--"The Palin charm is a tough sell here"--and the subhead--"Small-town working women say economic fears trump gender"--are heartening news for those who see McCain and Palin trying to lie their way into the White House.

Here's a short excerpt:

Republican delegates and activists in the convention hall delighted in Palin's jabs at the Illinois senator, such as when she poked fun at the columned backdrop for Obama's stadium acceptance speech or mocked him as intent on "turning back the waters and healing the planet."

For many women here [in Uniontown] watching closely, though, that portion of Palin's speech was all they needed to hear.

When Palin belittled Obama's history as a community organizer on Chicago's South Side--suggesting he was a do-little activist while she, as the former mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska, had "actual responsiblities"--Sandy Ryan, 59, clicked the remote.

"That's enough of that. I switched over to 'House Hunters,'" she said with some disgust over dessert with a group of women from the senior housing complex she manages.

At the end of the article, one 23-year-old EMT, Jennifer Glisan, says, "I think Palin is a fake. She will run the economy into the ground.... I have to kill myself every day at work to earn enough to pay for gas to get there. I think Obama is sincere. I think we need a change."

Take heart then. I'm originally from Pittsburgh and now live in Los Angeles. I find it encouraging that folks in my formative neck of Penn's Woods still have the ability to call B.S. when they see it.

Here's the link. The reporters are Faye Fiore and Peter Wallsten.

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We're supposed to be encouraged by the news there are voters who think the Vice President has something to do with the economy?

Oy.

Johnny,

So let me get this straight...you have a problem with Palin taking shots at the guy who (when he thought you weren't listening) called you, a native Pennsylvanian, a person who in trying times clings to religion and guns with antipathy for others who don't share your views. Sounds he was at least partly correct.

When the presidential candidate is as old as John McCain, then, "yes". It is a real possibility that she would step into the presidential role.

"It is a real possibility that she would step into the presidential role"

And in statistical terms, that "real possibility" is what precisely?

What is McCain's life expectancy?

Wolf,

McCain wasn't expected to live past his stay at the Hanoi Hilton so I wouldn't worry...get ready for the same argument by the left when he's up for re-election at 76...lol.

Thanks for the reply, Wolf. I assume your read the LAT story. To answer your question, we are supposed to be encouraged that some of the female voters in my former home region are able to see through McCain's obvious attempt to pander to their gender and have instead realized that an Obama/Biden White House will protect their economic interests.

And given the template set by Dick Cheney, one could assume that a Vice President Palin will have some input into a McCain Administration economic plan. And then, of course, there is the succession concern.

Hi, Mazyee,

Partly correct in what way?

John

Hello again, Mayzee,

Thanks for your reply.

Like the women quoted in the LA Times story, this native Pennsylvanian refuses to be distracted by the cultural wedge issues--such as God and guns--that Republican politicians have used in the past in order to win public office.

That's what I find encouraging.

Best regards,

Westside J.

Mayzee7:

Johnny,

So let me get this straight...you have a problem with Palin taking shots at the guy who (when he thought you weren't listening) called you, a native Pennsylvanian, a person who in trying times clings to religion and guns with antipathy for others who don't share your views. Sounds he was at least partly correct.

I'm not a Pennsylvanian. I'm from a little town in northern New Jersey right across the Delaware. I don't know, maybe that means I don't get the right to speak in this case. It's not going to stop me, but I just wanted to point out that I recognize this.

My father is a small town man. He works a blue collar job (usually more than one to make ends meet), he hunts, and he's a Christian. He's also exactly what Barack Obama was talking about. When Barack Obama said that people like my father at times cling to their religion, their guns, and their antipathy of outsiders, I and most of the other people I know knew exactly what he meant. In a community like mine, there is a certain kind of masculinity that defines itself in those terms. In some ways, those are the only things men like my father have to identify themselves with. They see the world spinning out of control, they can't afford to pay their bills no matter how many jobs they work, and FOX news and many other sources tell them that those to blame are liberal elitist atheists who raise their taxes and want to take away their guns. The most elegant part of the Republican machine is the one that managed to convince men like my father that somehow Democrats like Barack Obama are to blame for their troubles.

Does this make my father a bad man? No. And I don't believe that Barack Obama ever said he was. He was describing a demographic that is resistant to the kind of change he wants to bring about in this country. The irony is, they're exactly the kind of people who need his help.

Westside Johnny,

I think we're all sick and tired of the media trying to tell Americans how we supposedly feel about Palin and McCain.

I, for one, trust news from the L.A. times, New York Times, MSNBC, and the like... to the likes of the National Enquiror or the Star.

They have totally lost credibility with the American public who has a brain in their head.

You will see the real results long after the media and the liberal poll data has been revealed!

This will be the largest hoax of denial that this country has ever seen come November!

See you then...