BARRACUDA

By Len Munsil As the husband of a bright, beautiful and talented wife who, after birthing and parenting our eight children is now earning her PhD in political science, and as the father of five bright, beautiful and talented daughters, I am stunned and somewhat outraged at the "talking points" response of some pundits and Democrats to the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin as Sen. McCain's running mate.

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I'll admit I was skeptical when Hillary Clinton's supporters claimed the Obama campaign was sexist. But I'm rethinking that after reading their petty and demeaning response to Friday's announcement:

"Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain's commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush's failed economic policies -- that's not the change we need, it's just more of the same."

And talk about classless -- this mean-spirited response to the historic selection of a woman on the national ticket came while the McCain campaign continued to air an ad in which Sen. McCain congratulates Obama on becoming the first African-American presidential nominee. In addition to seeing her accomplishments be minimized -- something professional women have had to deal with for many years -- some Obama supporters are suggesting she can't be Vice President (or presumably Governor) because she has children at home. Is that really an argument the Democrats want to make in 2008? But the most ridiculous arguments relate to her ability to deal with foreign affairs. In the first place, as the Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard, as the mother of a son who is about to be deployed to Iraq, and as the Governor of a state that deals with Russia and Canada regularly on border issues, the Republican No. 2 has far more executive and foreign policy experience than the Democrats No. 1, Sen. Obama.

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