Obama's use of a teleprompter doesn't relate to he rnotes, I agree, and for the record, teleprompter-in-chief jokes always give me a good laugh, especially him having one for the sixth grade class. But no, I don't view it as a sign of being unfit for office and never have, same as Bush's vomiting habits, Ford's ability to trip everywhere, or W's tedency to invent new words... good for a laugh, so was Palin's hand. Look Joel, you know she didn't have that on there as some sort of reminder what her position on taxes is, it was reminder to discuss her position. You know that, I know you know that, you're too smart not to, why do you keep insisting this is some sign of mass stupidity on her part? Like I said, I know Kepler's Laws, but I could easily forget to raise them when planned, say 25 minutes into a lecture, because I got side-tracked talking about Tycho's fraky false noses, that's a good example, it always went down well with the students and I like to raise matters of interest to spark interest and enthusiasm, but sometimes I'd go on a little long, needed a reminder to get back to the physics and not the amusing history stories around it. Why can't this be similiar?



Raising the daughter issue?



Trouble remembering to bring up, not trouble remembering. I'm pretty committed to being pro-lige and pro 2nd amendment, if I were chatting on stage while running for office, I might still want a little note to remind me to bring it up.



Well, I know you're from Texas and Hutchinson's from Texas, and I know Plain's from Alaska, it wasn't exactly hard to narrow it down



The highways are there in no small part for military vehicles to go down, but we don't take tracked vehicles on the road (we put them on a semi trailer) except in emergencies because they seriously rip up the pavement. I've driven or been driven in military vehicles (wheeled) on highways, through tollbooths, etc dozens, maybe hundreds of times.

I hear you on the double tax aspect, but we have a few toll roads in Ohio, and I regularly use the I-90 NY stretch from PA to buffalo. It's arguable if it's really a double tax because what you're really paying for is a long stretch of very well maintained road with little local traffic in the way, where normally you can speed like a bat out of hell without fear of getting a ticket. ANyway, toll roads aren't really a rep or dem issue, IMO, strictly state level, I don't really get involved with those much outside of my own stomping grounds.



Preservatives in vaccines aren't just there to keep the stuff around longer, they also keep bacteria and microorganisms from growing in it, this is rather important. Besides, Thermosil is like 30-100 ppm of a vaccine, which is usually only around half a gram anyway, how much damage so you think a fifteen micrograms of a mercury is gonna do. The worst case, most conservative figure for mercury poisoning says you can take about that much a month entirely safely for your whole life, and realistically, for a healthy person, it's way higher.



On the market for 1 day is safe enough, since it's not allowe don the market until the FDA has checked it throughly. If you don't think it's safe for mass distribution, your beef's with the FDA, not the people advocating it's use. And frankly, they are overly cautious these days, long trials save lives... and kill them because they can't get access to it yet.



Really? That surprises me, I wouldn't have thought they'd care (By the way Joel, I am religious and right wing) I understand condoms or birth control being viewed that way, but I don't tihnk you need to have sex to get cervical cancer. Of course, tramping around certainly increases the risk. Anyway, handing someone a bike helmet may or may not be an encouragement to make them use their bicycle, or encouragement to do dumb stuff on it. I stay out of this stuff, because I really do agree with both sides. I know if I had kids I would tell them about all the options, and I would let them know they can by condoms at the store, and I would want my daughter to get a HPV shot. And I would not want some stranger doing it, because I'd expect to know my kids and know how to phrase things to get the safety point across not accidentally give them open license to do stuff they really want to do. Gotta trust the parents, if both of them are too nervous or indifferent to bring it up or arrange to have it brought up, then the kid probably has more issues than just safe sex originating from their home life.



I'll be happy with either one, to be honest. Any GOP elected out of Texas is as likely to be a RINO as I am to sprout horns and wings. Even a texas democrat's like a moderate republican anywhere else.



Yeah, but Palin didn't run for VP nomination, McCain selected her, and people don't worry about the VP like they do POTUS



Hey, you ain't on my side, I defend her from attack, but I want her gone. She'd be ruinous as a cadnidate, and yeah, she's no worse off than Hillary was coming into things, but reforming someone's image takes time and money, I like to start with genuine boyscouts who also have charisma, prefarbly with solid moderate-yet-conservative images.



I like him. I think he could win too. But if I had to run anyone right now, it would be one of the current governors from the midwest. Our GOP governors tend to be fairly popular, slightly right of center, and very non-threatening. Perfect POTUS material.



Well, the people who fear the 'religious right' tend to have a bizarre blind spot on LDS and islam, don't seem to realize they are at least as social conservative as the default protestant. So I doubt it would be a big rallying cry for the left.



No, direct senate-to-POTUS conversion is pretty rare, usually they go senate-VP-POTUS or Senate-cabinet-POTUS. I'm also pretty sure Eisenhower never was a senator or governor, Not too mention Washington or Adams, Hoover was Cabinet, he never served in the sante or as a governor, Taft never governed a state, never a senator, he did serve as providsional governor of cuba for two weeks, not sure that counts. Actually I think Harrison was the last person to go from senate directly to POTUS besides Kennedy and Obama, and that doesn't really count because he had been out of the senate for two years. General Arthur was never a governor or senator, he went from being QM-general during the cvil war to VP. Garfield was a house rep, not a senator. Grant never served in the senate or as governor. Lincoln was house. Pierce, #14, was senate, he left 11 years before becoming president though, so what, Obama, Kennedy, Harrison, Pierce, four out of the last 30 direct senate to POTUS? Fillmore was house, Taylor was a general, never governed or was a senator. Polk was house, not senate. Then there's John Quincy Adams, straight from senate to POTUS.

So, without exception? Three out of 44 presidents went from senate directly to POTUS, virtuallly everyone else was either VP, governor, cabinet, house, or a general prior to being POTUS. Only 16 of the presidents have ever served in the senate at all. 12 have beens generals, only 12 haven't served in the military. Currently sitting Senators run a lot, but most don't get the nomination and few (3 out of the whole lot) get elected and none got re-elected - so I stand by my statement, senate is not a good route to POTUS



Considering Gravel ended up running libertarian, not sure he counts, and no, I don't consider FLOTUS a qualifier, I don't discard experiences and duties from then, but it doens't really count. I also said 'parallel', i.e. 7 years doesn't trump 6 years in book, they are 'parallel'. And again, the context is that senate does not typically get translated as 'executive experience' by either the pundits or the voters. That leaves Gov. Richardson. 1, 1 dude. A single guy who has any experience running more than his personal staff or a campaign, you maybe get Vilsack too but I ususually feel someone ought to stay in till after the first primary to count. We had Huckabee, Romney, Guilianni, Gilmore, Tommy Thompson, and McCain, because I consider being a senior military officer pretty good executive experience when tacked on to thirty years in the senate. That's six, six people whose executive experience meets or exceeds any single one of the Dem nominees.