don’t bother us with the details

In case anyone is keeping track of where I stand as this campaign season unfolds…

Though I think she handled herself well under the circumstances, I was put off by Sarah Palin’s obvious ignorance about foreign affairs, whereas I was impressed by both John McCain and Barack Obama at the forum on national service. [Did anyone who is interested in voting on policy happen to catch that last night? or were y'all too intent on the sideshow?]

As a public service to my readers who are interested in hearing something about Sarah Palin’s actions and record as governor of Alaska, I link you to this article in today’s USA Today (America’s down-the-middle-politically national newspaper):

Palin ‘governed from the center,’ went after big oil

Palin’s agenda has been dominated by an energy policy that, in part, bears more resemblance to the one put forward by Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and other Democrats than the one backed by McCain and the GOP.

Obama supports a so-called windfall tax on oil profits; McCain opposes it. McCain also opposed repealing billions of dollars in oil tax breaks as a way of paying for renewable energy subsidies.

“If that plan sounds familiar, it’s because that was President Carter’s big idea, too,” McCain said of Obama’s windfall tax proposal in June in San Antonio.

Six months earlier in Alaska, Palin had signed a bill that increased state taxes on oil profits. The measure imposed a graduated scale, so the state’s share would go up even more when oil prices rise.

Palin dubbed her plan “Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share.” Oil company profits are taxed at a 25% base rate, up from the previous 22.5%. The tax rate rises 0.2% for each dollar the price of oil exceeds $52 per barrel.

The state’s coffers are brimming, and Palin and the Legislature this month are sending $1,200 checks to every Alaskan, on top of $2,069 each will receive as part of the annual slice of state oil and gas revenue. Palin also suspended the state’s gasoline tax for a year. Oil and gas royalties make up 85% of state revenue in Alaska, which has no income or sales tax.

The article details how she took on big oil, took on her own party, etc., in order to accomplish these feats.

Now, if only she would lose that look of intense missionary zeal, I might feel slightly more relaxed…though I doubt it.
On the other hand, there’s a hint of menace in Obama’s wide smile at times.
And when McCain paints a fake smile on his face and spits out, through gritted teeth the words my friends, I don’t want to know what’s lurking beneath.
As for Biden—well, he always looks smug and self-satisfied.