Conservative Eagleburger on Palin: Of Course She's Not Ready. Plus, Long Lines at the Polls.

A former Republican Secretary of State and one of John McCain's most prominent supporters offered a stunningly frank and remarkably bleak assessment of Sarah Palin's capacity to handle the presidency should such a scenario arise Lawrence Eagleburger, who served as Secretary of State under George H.W. Bush and whose endorsement is often trumpeted by McCain, said on Thursday that the Alaska governor is not only unprepared to take over the job on a moment's notice but, even after some time in office, would only amount to an "adequate" commander in chief.

"And I devoutly hope that [she] would never be tested," he added for good measure -- referring both to Palin's policy dexterity and the idea of McCain not making it through his time in office. Asked by the host whether Palin could step in during a time of crisis, Eagleburger reverted to sarcasm before leveling the harsh blow. "It is a very good question," he said, pausing a few seconds, then adding with a chuckle: "I'm being facetious here. Look, of course not."

All told, 59 percent of voters surveyed said Ms. Palin was not prepared for the job, up nine percentage points since the beginning of the month. Nearly a third of voters polled said the vice-presidential selection would be a major factor influencing their vote for president, and those voters broadly favor Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee.

And in a possible indication that the choice of Ms. Palin has hurt Mr. McCain’s image, voters said they had much more confidence in Mr. Obama to pick qualified people for his administration than they did in Mr. McCain. The indictment of Palin was all the more biting because both she and McCain have held Eagleburger up repeatedly during the past several weeks as evidence that the Republican ticket has firm standing and support within foreign policy circles.

TPJ: You combine that with McCain's age, which is 72 and the fact that the average life expectancy for a male in America is 77 years and you have a scary scenario. Especially since McCain has had health problems in the past relating to his abuse as a P.O.W. and his brushes with skin cancer. And they say that Obama is the riskier proposition!!! I will rest safe at night knowing that foreign policy veteran Joe Biden is backing up Barack Obama.

LONG LINES AT THE POLLS:

Once again we see long lines at the polls. It seems to happen every four years and you'd think that we would have done something about this all these years that we've seen this. I say this every 4 years but we need to have more polling stations opened up and an election weekend instead of just one day. Perhaps also have a national holiday on the following Monday to have a 3 day weekend to vote. I boggles my mind that we still have these issues unless those in charge don't want us all to vote. It's scandalous and embarrassing being here in America to have these problems especially when we try to tell other countries how to set up a voting system.

We say that voting is the most important right in a democracy, which is true so then why don't we have polling stations on every street corner in America?!! I know it sucks to have to wait in line but like I keep saying in my posts, waiting 4 hours is much easier when you consider what waiting 4 years would be like if John McCain and Scary Palin get into the White House.

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