Clever, Clever, Clever

So the GOP has chosen Alaska's governor as the vice presidential nominee. Now that's clever.

Sarah Palin is the perfect answer to so many of McCain's problems....she's young, she's a Washington outsider...even a political outsider. She's a woman. If I agreed with her politics I'd probably be dancing in the streets.

I'm hoping that women who are still smarting from Hillary Clinton's fall from the political podium are smart enough to look beyond gender.

I was raked over the coals via email by a NOW official for not enthusiastically jumping on board the Clinton bandwagon during the primary. It wasn't about gender for me. Nor was it about race. I had problems with Clinton as a candidate. I found less to worry about in what I knew of Obama.

Now the Republicans have a woman on the ticket. This could make McCain's many unpalatable positions go down a lot easier. If this smart, capable woman thinks he's okay, maybe he's not as bad as we thought, huh?

Don't settle for the easy answers. Women are an important part of this nation's voting block and they need to use that power intelligently. That doesn't mean voting for one of our own simply because she's one of us. Condoleeza Rice is a smart, capable woman, too. Do you agree with her political views?

This election is about very important issues: the economy, the war, the environment, our relationship with the rest of the global community.

I don't presume to tell you what to do. But I desperately hope that no matter whether you're a woman or a man, white, red, black or any other color in the rainbow, gay, straight, rich or poor, young or old, you use your head as well as your heart. Decide where you stand on the issues and support the candidate who best represents what you believe to be the right answers.

Be clever, too.