complicit in playing along with a Republican ploy to get people to say exactly what you just said.

Sure, she's female.
She's got kids.
She's married.
She's got a special-needs child, under a year old.
She's got a teen daughter pregnant out of wedlock.

So? Nothing there to fault. Some things that her response to could prove telling, character-wise, over time, but on balance that's not so very different than a lot of women, some of them admirable (cf Texas governor Ann Richards, against whom the smears included 'she's a lesbian' during Rove's first 'big' campaign for W).

She's John McCain's running mate.
She's anti-choice.
She's John McCain's running mate.
She's demonstrably abused her office in service of personal vendettas.
She's John McCain's running mate.
She's so green Obama has more experience in governance.
She's John McCain's running mate.Her record on the environment is awful.
She's John McCain's running mate.
Her "energy expertise" is a sham.
And she's John McCain's running mate.

John Sidney McCain III, should he win, will be the oldest President ever sworn in.

Younger men were incapacitated during their terms.
I've lifted these examples from wikipedia:

* May 1790 President George Washington was temporarily debilitated due to a severe case of influenza.
* 1813 President James Madison suffered from a high fever and delirium.
* 1818 President James Monroe was temporarily incapacitated with malaria.
* During the 1868 impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. Though he was ultimately acquitted, some argue he should not have been permitted to exercise his constitutional authorities during this time.
* During the summer of 1881, following the July 2 shooting of President James Garfield by Charles Guiteau. Though Garfield would live 80 days after the shooting, most of this time was spent under heavy sedation and he was incapable of discharging presidential duties.
* In 1884-1885, when Garfield's successor, Chester A. Arthur, was suffering the effects of the Bright's disease that would take his life less than two years after leaving office.
* On June 13 and July 17, 1893, respectively, when President Grover Cleveland underwent two operations to remove (and repair damage from) a rather significantly sized cancerous tumor from his upper jaw.
* September, 1901. Following the shooting of President William McKinley in Buffalo, New York by Leon Czolgosz on September 6, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was summoned to Buffalo, but no action was taken to permit him to discharge McKinley's duties during his final days.
* May 1909 President William Howard Taft fell ill with influenza and simultaneously suffered a family tragedy (his wife had suffered a stroke).
* President Woodrow Wilson suffered a slight stroke on September 25, 1919. On October 2 it was followed by a massive, debilitating stroke which left him partially paralyzed and completely incapacitated. Rather than to transfer Presidential authority to Vice President Thomas Riley Marshall, Wilson's condition was hidden (to the extent that he was physically isolated) from the Vice President, the Cabinet, Congress and the public for most of the remainder of his second term. Many feel that First Lady Edith Bolling Galt Wilson was the de facto President, as she controlled access to Wilson and spoke on his behalf.
* Throughout the period from late 1943 until President Franklin Roosevelt's death on April 12, 1945. Roosevelt reportedly suffered from various life-threatening ailments, including malignant melanoma, hypertensive cardiomyopathy, severe high blood pressure, congestive heart failure and stroke-related symptoms (to which he would eventually succumb).
* During the mid-point of Dwight Eisenhower's presidency there were three instances where the President was disabled. The first occurred in September, 1955 when Eisenhower suffered a heart attack while on vacation. On June 8, 1956 he was hospitalized for a bowel obstruction that ultimately required surgery and incapacitated him for six days. Then on November 25, 1957, Eisenhower suffered a mild stroke that caused him to be hospitalized for three days. In each case, Vice President Richard Nixon did carry out some of Eisenhower's informal presidential responsibilities, but full presidential authority (such as signing bills into law, for example) remained solely with Eisenhower.
* In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson had a gallbladder operation.

Other stuff can happen too, and has -- most recently to GOP presidents, mostly.

For instance, Ronald Reagan didn't just get shot, which required a 12-day hospital stay during which he was never considered incapacitated for purposes of Presidential succession, he had surgery. In fact, during his hospital stay following surgery on his colon, the first example of the "acting President" occurred. See wikipedia again:

On July 13, 1985, Reagan underwent surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital to remove cancerous polyps from his colon. This caused the first-ever invocation of the acting president clause of the 25th Amendment.[171] The surgery lasted just under three hours and was successful.[172] Reagan resumed the powers of the presidency later that day.[173] In August of that year, he underwent an operation to remove skin cancer cells from his nose.[174] In October, additional skin cancer cells that were detected on his nose were removed.[175]

Two years later, on January 5, Reagan underwent surgery for an enlarged prostate which caused further worries about his health. No cancerous growths were found, however, and he was not sedated during the operation.[176] In July of that year, aged 76, he underwent a third skin cancer operation on his nose.[177]

Earlier in his presidency, Reagan started wearing a custom, technologically-advanced hearing aid, first in his right ear[178] and later in his left as well.[179] His decision to go public with his wearing the small, audio-amplifying device boosted their sales.[180]

So yeah.

I'd be just as adamant that Todd Palin, or Mitt Romney, was unfit to step up for McCain.

It's not about the female part. Heck, there are women in the Democratic party (Brazile, for one!) I could NEVER support as VP, let alone President. Similarly, there are women I'd be DELIGHTED to vote for (Hillary, Elizabeth Edwards).

It's about the REPUBLICAN part in general, and more specifically it's about the "conservative, Christian" GOP base and their fervid delight with her.

I hope I have made my stand on this issue clear. The plumbing isn't the thing that concerns me; it's the mentality.

1 John 4:18

If so, according to your own definition, am I dishonest?

I understand your reasoning; I just don't agree with it. That's something entirely different from being honest. I just can't figure out what you would have t "guess" at my views, and my reasoning; after all, I've posted on them frequently enough, and thought I was expressing them clearly enough so that nobody would have to "guess" why I held them.

[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.