Readers network: Readers weigh in on Sen. McCain's choice of Gov. Palin

The Olympian • Published August 30, 2008

I am ecstatic. I wasn't overly excited to vote this year but am now totally jazzed to vote for a McCain/Palin ticket. She is classy, tough and knows how to get things done. I think she is going to help McCain's bid for the presidency. She will appeal to Hillary supporters. She is a great choice as a conservative, working mother, small-town girl. I am completely thrilled. I hadn't planned to donate anything to the campaign but I will now.

Megan Casto, 30, Lacey

The choice McCain has made in Sarah Palin and the timing of the announcement, the morning after an amazing Democratic Convention, was such a typical Republican ploy. Does he really believe Sarah Palin will bring him the voters who wanted Hillary in the White House? Democrats are so much more intelligent than that. I would like to believe most voters aren't voting based on sex or skin color, we are voting for the best person for the job, and that is clearly Barack Obama and Joe Biden. McCain and his camp turn my stomach and their resemblance to Bush Jr., is becoming more and more apparent.

Penny Butler, 49, Olympia

Surely one has to question the judgment of the 72-year old John McCain in choosing Gov. Sarah Palin, who has such a thin resume and little experience, as his choice to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. She was mayor of a small, a very small (6,000 or so residents) town in Alaska and has been governor of that sparsely populated state for only a bit over a year and a half. Talk about not being ready to be president if something happened to a president McCain. Yes, she's reputed to be a social conservative, and she is female, but are those good enough reasons for choosing such an unknown, untested person to be vice president? I don't think so. In fact, this is a case of being too cleaver by half. I guess that John McCain wanted to show he's "different" and not wedded to the Bush agenda, but this choice only shows a kind of desperation in trying to one-up Barack Obama. I'm more convinced than ever that the Barack-Biden ticket is the best for the future of this country.