Sarah Palin is a self-described “pit-bull.” John McCain is a self-described “straight-talker.” Are those accurate descriptions? What does it really say about them?

First, the Democrats made history by nominating a person of color to the Presidency. The Republicans tried to do the same, by nominating Sarah Palin. I congratulate McCain for nominating a woman for Vice President, something the Democrats did more than a decade ago, but do you think they could have chosen someone better than a self-described “pit-bull.”

The interesting thing is not her style; after all, she was a sports journalist, but that she doesn’t “walk her talk.” Like her daughter, she too was pregnant when she married, but she eloped rather than be pushed into a shotgun wedding by her folks. As mayor of a small suburb of Anchorage, smaller than either Cambridge or North Branch, she eagerly went after federal money, so-called earmarks, but then after first supporting now indicted Senator Ted Stevens for his “bridge to no-where” project, she opposed it. In the same vein, she criticized corrupt politicians in Alaska, but she is under investigation for illegally trying to fire a state trooper, not to mention her defense of the same Senator Stevens against calls for his resignation.

It makes you really wonder about McCain’s judgment when he selects her after one meeting with her and without fully investigating her. She certainly doesn’t represent good family values, nor does Sarah’s husband, who was arrested for a DUI, not to mention her lack of accomplishments or experience. In her speech, she blasted the Democratic ticket for their lack of executive experience; I think she said it was “zero,” the same could apply to McCain. But does anyone think Palin, a Pat Buchanan Republican, would make a better President than McCain? Does anyone think her Catholic turned fundamentalist is more pro-family than McCain’s change from Episcopalian to Baptist, not to mention her behavior?

Second, it is laudable to know that McCain is a straight-talker, if not a straight shooter. I applaud him for claiming to be an independent and trying to distance himself from the record of George Bush. I totally agree with him that we need change, a change we can believe in. Is McCain really moving in a different direction than Bush? He is talking about the same strategies that has resulted in the highest unemployment in our state in 35 years, the same approach to trade that has weaken the dollar, created unemployment in Mexico and Central America, and the resulting rush of undocumented workers here, that same “war without end” approach to diplomacy that is bankrupting our nation and has resulted in the death of more than 4,000 American soldiers, the same approach to our oil addiction, only trying to substitute domestic oil for foreign oil rather than investing in renewal energy sources, and so and on. We hear the same broken record of “no new taxes,” but really it is all about shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to the middle class and neglecting our infrastructure so that bridges fall down and schools fail to educate our children. The gap between the rich and the poor, the number of people in poverty, the number of uninsured or those whose health benefits have been cut have increased, while McCain and Palin get the best health care available at tax payer expense.

Finally, is McCain any better than Palin? McCain cheated on his first wife. Used connections (Senator John Warner) to get positions for which he was not qualified. Moved to Arizona, a state he had never lived in, to run for a safe Republican open seat in Congress. While there he applied for a marriage license while still married to his first wife, albeit separated. He used the family wealth and connections of his new wife to help him get elected.

Then there was Senator John McCain entanglement with convicted banker Charles Keating. In his early days as a freshman senator, McCain was known for accepting contributions from Charles Keating Jr., flying to the banker's home in the Bahamas on company planes and taking up Keating's cause with U.S. financial regulators as they investigated him. Interestingly, he is the old Senator that was indicted that is still in the U.S. Senate. After that experience, he became a so-called reformer. However, his actions even at the RNC, suggest that he is still in bed with lobbyists and special interests.

The real tragedy is that neither McCain nor Palin addressed the bread and butter issues of American people; issues like lack of health care, racism, protection of the environment, the home mortgage crisis, the declining real wages of workers, and so on. Obama said he would cut taxes on 95% of Americans, the middle class (and eliminate the Bush temporary tax cuts for the rich). McCain said he would raise taxes on Americans, but he was referring to his base, the rich. Isn’t it interesting that most of the delegates to RNC were white millionaires? There were only about 50 delegates of color represented, a significant drop from previous Republican conventions. So whom does McCain really represent?

And what about the war in Iraq? Never once did he apology for Bush’s lie that got us into this war. He talked about the success of the surge, but not the $79 billion dollar surplus of the Iraqi government has while we pump billions into their economy and cut necessary programs at home. He talked about getting tough with Russia (rekindling the flames of the cold war), but not about the war in Afghanistan and the failure of this government to capture Bin Laden or defeat Al-Qaeda there. He talked about his gunboat diplomacy, but not rebuilding our tarnished image throughout the world.

In closing, I am not claiming the “liberal” approaches are better than “conservative” approaches, only that there is a disconnect between what the McCain-Palin ticket talk and their walk.

Bush has done considerable harm to the Republican Party. Unfortunately, I believe this ticket will not only do more harm to their Party, they will make our country less safe, more divided, create a bigger gap between the rich and the poor, and our educational system, our infrastructure (including our nation’s bridges) and the environment will also suffer. We can and should do better by voting for Obama.