Unless John McCain is very lucky, his selection of Sarah Palin to be his running mate will probably go down as the political blunder of the century. Although we will never see any, I would love to read interviews concerning the pick with Mitt Romney, Joseph Lieberman and Tim Pawlenty, all of whom spent a lot of time, effort and money seeking that position – and any one of whom would have been far more qualified.

Mr. McCain, who I respect greatly for his military history, has spent months complaining about Mr. Obama’s lack of experience, and yet he picked someone who has been governor of an “offshore state” for less than two years and before that mayor of a town with a population of 8,000.

We all know why he picked her. He thinks she is going to pull in Hillary’s 18 million votes plus all the other women voters in the country.

Such a belief – that women will vote for any woman – is an insult to Hillary, to her followers, to women in general and to the entire country.

Such a belief does not surprise me coming from someone who once repeated a joke about Chelsea Clinton that was tasteless, unfunny and worst of all-cruel to a young person.

If I were a Republican and did not want to change my allegiance to Obama, I would think about sitting this election out.

Stephen Allen

Belfast