For those of you who don't know, Mrs. Haff is actually a registered Independent. Up until the conventions this year, she was on the fence as to who she would vote for in the election. Since the conventions, the Palin pick for VP, and following the race more closely as the day draws near, she has swung firmly into the McCain camp. So Milbarge and I thought it would be an intersting exercise to ask some questions about how she sees the election. I'm starting out with the initial questions. Milbarge, if he's so inclined, will probly use the initial questions and answers to craft his own set of questions. And here we go.

1. You loved the Sarah Palin pick by McCain. What is it about her that got you so excited? Has anything in the weeks following the pick changed your thoughts about her?

Is it not obvious? She's a former beauty queen with guns! To be completely honest, I like her general philosophy. While I don't agree with 100% of her views on personal issues, such as abortion, I do agree with her and really like her fiscal approach. She also doesn't strike me as the type to be bullied and I think she can hold her own. I have a lot of respct for her.

2. Aside from the Palin pick, what was it that you saw/heard at the conventions that made up your mind?

Less Government. I like less government. Revising the welfare system, the tax breaks. Yes, I said TAX BREAKS! McCain would bumb up the childcare credit from 3,000 to 7,000 per child. That's AWESOME. Above all, you can't doubt or question McCain's love for Country. He is an American through and through and will stand up for this Country and keep it safe. I don't think you can say the same for Obama. At least I can't say that about him and I credit that to my ability to filter through the media, I actually read and do my homework.

3. As a causual follower of the election (at least until recently), what is your view on the medias treatment of the candidates? Balanced? Mildly skewed? Overtly biased?

Can you say threat? If Palin were the next Dan Quale, the media woudln't be all over her trying to pick her apart. It's almost like watching a clique in High School. The media supports and is primarily Deomcratic and make no apologies for interjecting their point of view at every opportunity. The media is by far from neutral and exercise no objectiveity. Obama is going to be elected and the thanks goes to our "objective' media. And when he is, you will hear a nation crying for a Red Congress. The next two years though...hold on to your ankles baby.

4. What do you think are each candidates best qualities? What worries you about them?

Best qualities: McCain, it's obvious, love of Country. I truly believe he has nothing but the best intentions and hope for the American people. He has YEARS of experience. He's qualified for the job. What worries me about him is his age and I don't agree with his social views (e.g. gay marriage) Obama: That man has some charisma. He knows exactly what to tell you and how he's going to fight for you, but he never really says HOW. What scares me about him, I don't think he has American's or America's best interest at heart. I don't think he is who he says he is. The interview with George S.,"my muslim faith", I've never said in my life my muslim faith, by accident of course.

5. What issues are most important to you in this election? Economy. National Security. Abortion. Gun Rights. Candidate character. Gay Marriage. Health Care costs/reform. Etc. Of your top issues, which candidate do you think would be best on each of them?

The Economy is my biggest concern. Obama has a hand in our current crisis and the fact that gets NO play pisses me off. National Security, Gun Rights and Candidate character are also big on my list. I am certainly against health care. Obama is promises tax releif, hello, health insurance for all. Reality check, your taxes aren't going to go down. I couldn't disagree more with the bailout. I think it's BS and should have played out in the market, like Enron in 2003. National Security is a big one, and keeping my guns. The President's job should be so much more than if I'm allowed to keep my guns. I really think Abortion and Gay Marriage have no place in politics. Who am I to tell my neighbor, you can't get an abortion? It's not my body, it's hers. I know I don't want people making decisions about my body for me. And I also don't think I have any right to tell two people who love each other they can't get married. these are things that I feel strongly shouldn't waste the tax payers money being argued. Much like baseball investigations, etc.

6. Is there anything that could be reported by the media in these last few weeks that would make you change your vote? Either positive about Obama/Biden or negative about McCain/Palin.

No. I know enough about Obama to know I'm not voting for him, period.

7. Every election, people inevitablly say it's the most important election in our lifetime. Do you believe that about this election?

Yes I do believe it. This time we actually have a candidate that I don't hold in the highest regard concerning character. It's one thing to be a criminal, it's different when the president elect that may be the devil is desguise.

8. Not considering the current situation and slate of candidates, what do you consider to be the ideal make-up of government. Democratic Congress - Democratic President? Republican Congress - Republican President? Democratic Congress - Republican President? Republican Congress - Democratic President?

I think it's always good to have a mix of both. That way you don't get too much of one side. Keeps it balanced. In this case though, with Obama in office, I would want a Red congress.

9. Stealing a question from Milbarge's post below, do you think that given the economic situation that the next President will face that it would be better for McCain to not win the election? If he does lose, do you expect Palin to run in 2012?

They will either be plagued with the nightmare that is our financial situation or casted as hero's who managed to guide us through the storm. The polls obviously say that Obama is in the lead. Given all his "programs" there is no way we will get out of this mess while also funding those. So I think this will end up being Obama's albatross and he'll go down with the ship. Especially if in 2 years people aren't feeling the releif. American's aren't so forgiving when it comes to their pocket book. That's change they can see and feel.

10. Much has been made of experience in this election. Given the complexity of issues that the President faces today, do you believe that it is still possible to have a "citizen President"? Can someone with little-to-no government/world experience but having good character and judgement successfully handle everything the job of the President has come to encompass?

You don't hear a word about Obama's experience. 143 days at Congress doesn't sound like a lot of experience to me. You also have people screaming that Palin doesn't have any experience. To that you can at least say she's a governor. And for those democrats who say that isn't enough, being a community leader isn't enough and Governor was good enough to get your boy Bill elected. So I really think it's a wash on the experience issues. I would love to see a "citizen President" but that citizen would need to have some global experience. I don't think good Character and Judgement are enough.

BONUS ROUND!
What do you think about the bailout? Which candidate (if either) do you think has a good plan for managing the current situation?

Not Obama. I'm so against this bailout...so against it. Fannie Mae is a government sponsored entity regulated by Congress. They buy mortgages from other companies, and the tax payers cover there losses, and they get to keep their profits. In 1998 banks begine to loosen the requirements thanks to Clinton. Executives at Fannie get HUGE benefits if they meet their loan targets. Clinton appointed two guys from his administration to run Fannie, Franklin Raines and Jamie Garelick. In 2003 Bush supported an oversight committee to clean up Fannie, but it was derailed by the democrats. REP Melvyn Watt (D-NC) Committee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit said, "I don't see much other than weaking the bargaining power poorer families to get affordable housing"

From 1994 - 2004 Raines earns $100 MILLION in bonuses. Garelick earns $75 MILLION in bonuses. In 2005 Fannie pays out MILLIONS to members of both parties. However, who go the most out of that payout? Sen. Chris Dodd and Sen. Barrack Obama.

In 2005 McCain would like to sponsor the Federal Housing Ent. Regularity Reform Act and it also gets derailed. Here is a quote from McCain in 2005 "If congress does not act, American Taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie and Freddie pose to the housing market, the overall financial system and the econony as a whole"

Given that, I don't trust Obama to navigate us out of this mess he helped to create.

I'm bemused by the several conservative commentators I've seen who are dealing with the current presidential polling by trying to convince themselves that some time in the political wilderness will be good for the GOP. I'm not sure how much stock I put in their analysis, though. These are the folks who, whenever conservatives do badly, see the solution as being more conservative. And these are the folks who put Newt Gingrich on their GOP 2012 shortlists. So, caveat emptor.

What I wonder is how long it will be before Sarah Palin fans, like Sebastian and Mrs. Haff, for example, start to suggest that John McCain losing this year will be a net positive, because (a) the next president will face a difficult economic crisis, making the presidency look like less of a prize every day; (b) lashing Palin to that sinking ship could ruin her chances of running in 2016 (assuming McCain seeks a second term); and (c) losing would give Palin four years to carp at the administration as an outsider, and sets her up nicely to run in 2012. There have been half-joking suggestions that the GOP flip the ticket ever since the convention. But under this theory, it would actually be better for Barack Obama to win this year so Palin can send McCain out to pasture.

I tend to think that there's no real reason Palin would necessarily be the front-runner in 2012, any more than Joe Liberman was the Democratic front-runner in 2004. And the loss could be devastating enough that her candidacy would look about as likely as Geraldine Ferraro in 1988 or Jack Kemp in 2000. But Palin fans might be looking for any silver lining they can find. If they are convinced that Palin is the future of the GOP, will they ultimately decide it's better for her, and the Republican Party, that McCain take one for the team in 2008?

I believe, come November 4, most Palin fans will still be on board. But a "for your own good" decision not to vote isn't outside the realm of possibility. And notice how well it allows them to brush off a landslide -- they can just p'shaw and say that Obama won by so much because Palin supporters wanted to hand Obama that crap sandwich and set her up for 2012. Clever.

The recent rumor in that region where the political and entertainment worlds overlap is that Sarah Palin is thinking about dropping in on "Saturday Night Live." In the same way that Hillary Clinton showed up next to Amy Poehler doing an impression of Clinton, Palin would presumably meet up with Tina Fey's brilliant impression of the Governor. Here are a couple of ideas for how they could use Palin:

Palin sits at a table with two serious looking dudes in suits and shades. In front of them is a stage, so the set looks like "American Idol" or the like. We see a lineup of Palin look-alikes, including Fey, new "SNL" cast member Casey Wilson, former cast member Rachel Dratch, Megan Mullaly, whoever. Palin announces that the Secret Service always picks a decoy for the elected officials it protects -- they got the idea from the movie "Dave" -- and she thanks them all for coming for the tryout. She then puts the wannabe-Palins through a series of increasingly difficult and humiliating exercises. In the last round, the finalist, Fey, has to run a gauntlet like those police training ranges where targets pop up out of nowhere and you have a split second to decide whether to shoot or not.

Palin says Fey will be hit with the kind of surprises that could crop up at any moment on the campaign trail. Fey marches stealthily, armed with a shotgun. Palin calls out the targets as they appear: "Moose!" Bang! "Osama bin Laden!" Bang! "Crying baby!" no bang -- whew! "Follow-up question from the gotcha media!" Bang! Bang! Bang!

Or...

We see Fey as Palin giving an address from behind a podium. In the middle of the speech, Palin comes into the picture, dressed as Fey: jeans, hair down, Fey's glasses, Emmy in hand. The two size each other up for a while as the applause dies down. Fey, appearing flustered, breaks character and asks, "Uh, Governor Palin, why are you here? What are you doing?"

Palin, grinning, says that she figured that if Fey thought it was so fun and easy to be her, well, Palin would just decide to be Fey for a while. "I mean, how hard could it be? It's not like you're the Governor or anything!" Fey, insulted, snaps back into Palin character and says, "Okie-dokie! If you want to play it that way, gosh darn it, then bring it on, pitbull!"

Palin-as-Fey hip-checks Fey-as-Palin out of the way and starts giving her Fey performance: "I'd just like to thank the liberal Emmy voters for giving me this award even though no one watches my show! I call it 'my little bailout'! And thanks for recognizing that you don't have to be pretty to succeed in America, even though it sure does help! And especially, thanks for never questioning whether I could write and star in two weekly tv shows even though I have a young child at home!"

Just then, Alec Baldwin jumps in the picture, looking angry and frazzled. He appears momentarily confused at seeing Fey and Palin together. He gets in Palin's face and starts yelling at her: "Tina, this week's '30 Rock' script is a piece of crap! You make me look like an ass! You have insulted me for the last time, you thoughtless little pig! We're going upstairs, and I'm locking us in my office until this script is perfect, and I don't care if it takes all night!"

With that, Baldwin grabs Palin's arm, and as he starts to pull her off-stage, she gets a frantic look in her eyes and screams at Fey, "Tina! No! I wanna switch back! I wanna switch back! Aaahhhh!" Fey, smiling smugly, turns to the camera, winks, and says, "Live from New York...."

Someone needs to invent a computer keyboard with a back that slides or pops off, so you can shake out the dust and crumbs like a toaster.

Somebody get on that, thanks.