Letters: Is Irene Tynes readyto serve as vice president?

The night before John McCain proclaimed he is going to stop the partisan bickering and put "country first," Sarah Palin delivered an excellent pit-bull attack speech at the Republican convention.

Palin may be a great mother and fine councilwoman and former mayor for a small Alaska town not too different than Crescent City. Perhaps she's a good governor, too, although she's been on that job for less than two years in a state with a total population and budget smaller than the city of San Jose, so it's too early to tell.

But let's look at her position on a few real issues of this election:

The war in Iraq: Palin claimed in an interview with the Associated Press on Sept. 3 that the war in Iraq is "God's task." As I recall, Bush's Republican neocons started the war to prevent Saddam Hussein from developing weapons of mass destruction. I don't think God had anything to do with it — unless He hid Saddam's weapons.

Global warming: Palin doesn't believe global warming is our problem. She leads the charge to "drill, drill, drill," even though burning more oil will exacerbate global warming. Her gubernatorial inauguration was sponsored by BP.

Her judgment: Check out her welcoming speech on YouTube to the Alaska Independence Party. This group advocates that Alaska secede from the United States. Palin's lending of her voice to that group in any capacity raises my concern about her judgment.

Social issues: Palin doesn't support abortion in the case of rape or incest. She advocates teaching creationism in public schools and opposes sex education. She supports only abstinence-only approaches. How has that worked for her family? It certainly didn't work for me as a teen.

While Sarah Palin may be a pitbull hockey mom, having her a heartbeat away from the presidency would be like having the mayor of my hometown in line for the Oval Office. With all due respect to the mayor, is Irene Tynes ready to serve as vice president of United States?

The primary benefit Palin brings to the McCain ticket is to placate Republican partisans who led this country to the unmitigated disaster of the last eight years. As a famous Mom recently said: "No way, no how, no McCain."

Steven L. Yarbrough

Crescent City