In her column of Sept. 10, Julie Fedorchak praises the qualifications of Sarah Palin for vice president. Fedorchak touts Palin's experience as a mother of five, a PTO member, mayor of a small town, governor of Alaska and espousal of conservative views as qualities that suit her to the second-highest office in the land.

The initial popularity of the unknown Palin is based on a single speech read from a teleprompter given at a highly-orchestrated convention. Once again, we see many Americans drawn to cast a historic vote based on superficial qualities of a made-for-TV persona that they interpret as being like them.

In the first interview that the McCain campaign allowed her to give, Palin revealed a lack of understanding of world affairs that is truly shocking.. Here is a person who would be in-waiting to a 72-year-old cancer patient in the Oval Office, who says that if Israel were to launch a nuclear strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, the U.S. should not "second guess" such an action.

There are Alaskan politicians now speaking out about about Palin. A highly-regarded former Anchorage mayor and governor from 1994 to 2002, Tony Knowles, states that Palin has demonstrated a pattern of using political office to settle personal scores and gaming the system to pad her lifestyle. It is now known that by claiming Juneau as home, although she lives in Wasilla, Palin has billed the state for $17,000 a year for meals. An investigation is ongoing of her alleged abuse of office for pressuring her safety commissioner to fire her ex-brother-in-law, and she has directed $95,000 of state money to be spent on her legal defense. One Democratic consultant recently told a reporter that he wanted to remain anonymous because Alaska is a small state, and "Sarah takes names and numbers."

We would do well to closely examine the records of all candidates for high national office, and not be seduced by an unvetted, made-for-TV, telegenic "hockey mom" image.