Not a column, nothing as historical as my Open Letter article, but some things to say.

I saw most of the Democratic Convention. Pretty good theater. Neither terribly impressed nor terribly mortified. The speeches in terms of delivery rate an A, but this is not what's really important.

Advisory: I am a pro-gun, pro-gay rights registered Democrat with strong libertarian streak. So if you're accustomed to liberal or conservative, you will shake your heads over me. Yes, Ron Paul Democrats do exist.

Let's talk Vice Presidents. Joe Biden. Democrats seem fairly satisfied, Republicans in general are mortfied. My belief. It was a good pick for Obama. Biden shores up a foreign policy deficiency that Obama needing shoring up on. Plus Biden is a "regular guy". He is capable of picking up some of the Appalachian areas that Obama seemed to lose to Hillary Clinton. No, I don't like it that neither one are good on the Second Amendment. I particularly don't like it that Biden sponsored VAWA. However, most gunners have to realize that one, the Constitution is more than the Second Amendment... those other articles matter, too, and two, on most gun control LIKELY TO ACTUALLY COME TO THE TABLE, McCain is just as bad as Obama and Biden. So Obama and Biden should be viewed on other issues, IMO.

Now about Sarah Palin. Actually, the Democrats are totally mortified. The Republicans that I have talked to are not, and are actually fairly positive. There are a few Republicans of libertarian bent that swear that Sarah is one of them. To date, I've not seen evidence of that. Some chide the choice, but honestly, look at the field. What does McCain have to choose from. Here, in Palin, McCain gets to satiate the Huckabee crowd and the other evangelicals, to whom experience matters not one whit as long as you are pro-life, pro-gun, and believe in JEEEEEEEEEEEEZUS. He throws a bone to the gunners. And her claim to fame is supposed to be as a "Reformer": I think that might just be a wee bit premature.

Now, who do Democrats have to thank for the Palin pick? They can look to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Obama has similar limited experience to Palin. And then there's Hillary. The worst resume among elected Democratic women, who first got her Senate job because she was the King's Consort and really for no other reason. Although most of them won't admit it, a lot of people supported Clinton either out of feminine symapthy, or because they thought she was hot. No, I do not share that opinion of Hillary's hotness, but I have heard it expressed over and over and over again, and I suppose if you'e an 80 year old geezer, one of her main constituent bases, she's probably not that bad. But I've heard it from some younger people as well. I don't believe for a second it's because she's extraordinarily experienced. She ain't. Plus, the "PUMA" caucus, all those Hillaryites who can't stand Barack Obama... well, they opened this door. McCain just called their bluff, if that's all it is.

Which brings me back to another reason I think the Palin pick happened. The Hottie Factor. Coming from a 72 year old man with a 50ish second wife, one has to wonder if being an attractive 44 year old woman and ex beauty queen didn't factor into the equation. I mean, after all, he could have picked Liddy Dole. Not really bad looking for a woman her age, but then I don't think McCain wanted to keep company with a 60 something for the next four years.

All of this aside, the fact still remains. The big problem with the Republican ticket is not the bottom, it's the top. John McCain is a lying sack of shit. I can speak authoritatively about that as an Arizona resident, and the more I look into him, the less I like him. If I had had 10% of Cindy McCain's dough, I would have run against the son of a bitch in 2004, and maybe beaten him for all I know, and this would not be an issue. Voting for a McCain-Palin ticket would be doing a Pat Robertson: by that I mean, I would be voting for the ticket, praying in earnest to God for the death of John McCain in about February 2009, so beauty queen Sarah could step up. IF I decided she was a Ron Paul Republican. Something I've yet to see any evidence of, by the way, I must underscore.

BTW, I consider lack of experience in Washington a plus, not a minus, for both Obama and Palin.

So I'm still undecided on the pick. Not that my Arizona vote matters. I still lean to Obama-Biden, but Sarah has an opportunity to sell me, and I'll give her her shot. Here's a tip to Sarah... if you're REALLY a Ron Paul Republican, you'll go to the Paulite convention in Minnesota this week and I'm sure they'll give you the floor. You sell them, you may sell me.