It is clear why John McCain chose Sarah Palin: He hoped that Palin would give him the Clinton voters because she is a white woman. If voters are voting according to gender and race instead of according to issues, then, yes, Palin was a good choice. Gender and race have nothing to do with analysis of the facts. They are nonthinking criteria that the Republicans need. Because if the electorate thinks about the Republican record, the Republicans are in big trouble.

Republican protection of the oil industry has not helped the American people. Sarah Palin claims that the oil in her native state is clean energy.

My fifth-grade students know that oil is not clean energy. The people of Prince William Sound know that oil is not clean energy. Even if you had no human errors in the process of drilling, refining and transporting oil, even if the oil was surgically removed from the earth, you would still be faced with the problem that you can’t use the oil unless you burn it. When you burn it, you add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. My fifth-graders know this. Palin is either happy to protect her own ignorance on such topics or she is a shameless salesperson. Just what the Republicans need, because the truth is they are the party of old oil, not new clean energy. The Republicans may need Sarah Palin, but the American people don’t.

Irene Jackson

Veazie