In reply to Coty Sloan's complete misconception of what my September 4 "letter to the editor" was about, let me clarify it for him. It was to ask thinking Republicans and Independents to look very closely at what was an immensely successful shot in the arm for a lack luster campaign, and the decision-making behind it.
Tim Pawlenty is a well-thought of governor among Minnesota's conservatives, no matter what his policies and vetoes have done to our public schools, infa-structure, and rising property taxes. He had been thoroughly vetted for months by the R.N.C. and in the last days seemed to top even Mitt Romney as the best V.P. choice.
I'm questioning the judgment of what had been McCain's biggest push against Obama i.e. experience.
I didn't imply Palin was mayor of D.L.- but wondered if Larry Bublotz with more years as mayor of a comparable town, population wise, could use that as real presidential experience? And yes, as Sloan says, Alaska is a "large" state but I've been there and driven sometimes dozens and dozens of miles without even seeing a mailbox. I compared population size of who Pawlenty governed as experience compared to Palin-a difference of nearly 5 years and 4 and a half million people.
But my main point was: was this McCain's decision or has someone like Karl Rove taken over? He is now one of McCain's campaign advisors, and this was one of those brilliant Karl Rove moves-change the talk from the issues to personalities. The two latest "swift boat" campaign ads from the McCain camp also ring alarm bells for me and others.
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I liked John McCain and really felt he was a man of honor-but to paraphrase a popular quote of his-perhaps he would rather lose his honor than lose an election??
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Barb Lovaasen, Vergas
