Letters to the editor for Tuesday, Sept. 2

I realize it is not my responsibility to defend the governor of Alaska against the superiority complexes of newspaper, radio and television pundits, but I cannot resist asking: If foreign-policy expertise is deemed necessary in a vice president, why did Fritz Mondale select Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate?

As for the unplanned pregnancy of Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter and her matrimonial intentions: If every voter who has been similarly troubled over the past 10 years or so were to vote for the McCain-Palin ticket, they will surely be sworn in as president and vice president on Jan. 20, 2009.

TED FARRINGTON, RICHFIELD

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As an undecided voter, I have been curious about John McCain. I believe that presidential candidates need to prove to the people that they are competent, strong, wise and able to make tough choices in the midst of chaos. McCain believes that Sarah Palin is his best choice as a running mate.

Does McCain think that the people of our country would vote for the Republican ticket because of Palin's gender? Just as a man needs to prove he has the qualifications to do a job, so does a woman.

This is an example of his choices, and it speaks volumes regarding his judgment.

PRINCETON, MINN.

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Some people are defining Sarah Palin as merely a soccer mom nominated for vice president. In their words, a heartbeat from the presidency. Yet, being the governor of Alaska for the past two years, she has held a position as "head of state." Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has been a junior senator for the past four years. Almost two of those years he concentrated on his campaign. He has held no executive position and has no head-of-state decisionmaking experience. None, zero, zip, nada.

CONNIE EGGERS, MONTEVIDEO, MINN.

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I was elated with the choice. What's wrong with a bright, articulate, frontier-like woman of impressible charm, someone whose behavior is congruent with what she believes and espouses? Maybe those who easily dismiss her are just being sexist.

As for inexperience, how many decisions does a governor make in a day? A senator? And, considering the public's low approval rating of Congress, maybe experience is overrated.

LEN COLSON, PLYMOUTH

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If only we had known that in his search for a running mate John McCain was looking for "a political maverick" who had experience as a suburban mayor before unexpectedly being elected governor, we could have told him about Jesse Ventura.

Secret police. Prior restraint. Journalists arrested. Demonstrations suppressed. Is this St. Paul or East Germany?

STEVE KAHN, EDINA

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Good job, war protesters. You really made Minnesota look good with your antics.

These people are leftists of the extreme kind. And yet readers of this paper defend their actions, calling it free speech. Very sad, if you ask me.

MARK DURAND JR., LONG PRAIRIE, MINN.

Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau cast the deciding vote to ban an antiwar electronic billboard from near the Capitol. Her reason and of those on the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board voting against the application was the concern for driver safety (Star Tribune, Aug. 30).

This is the same lieutenant governor who, as commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, allowed for the proliferation of electronic billboards along Minnesota's highways and freeways.

Now where is the greater safety issue? At 70 miles per hour on a freeway or 30 mph on a street near the Capitol? Since Molnau's reasoning is safety, let's get rid of those distracting billboards. Or is the issue just the same politics we have seen the last number of years?

MIKE FRATTO, ST. PAUL