Biden may make some gaffes, but his experience and knowledge about national and foreign affairs is solid. He's traveled extensively, met with many world leaders, and performed well during the Democratic debates.

If McCain didn't vet Palin properly before picking her– and chose her solely for her gender and ideology don't you think voters need to know if she's unversed in national/foreign affairs?? I find the idea of her succeeding McCain (if the worst were to happen) extremely worrisome.

I remember when he made the gaffes about Delaware Indians running 7-11's and called Obama the first clean cut, articulate African American to run for the presidency— and he was skewered on cable news for days.

Maybe it's because his past, although questionable for some personal connections, is not as shady as taking 100,000 in '80s US dollars ( which is something like half a million in 08 dollars) from Charles Keating.

You cannot swing a dead cat in Washington without hitting someone who has a “shady past”- just look at all the Beltway bandits that get regurgitated on the Hill at each administration. They're like day laborers waiting for the next truck to pull up.
Rezko was not a criminal when Obama knew him and had dealings with him. Ex post facto accusations are illegal. Obama was a child when Ayers was in the Weathermen. Try again.

I was turned off by his flip on his earlier responsible tax position. I was even more troubled by his kissing Falwell's ring. As a result, instead of coming into this election as a supporter, I was purely on the fence but inclined to like McCain and a winnable vote for him.

What I have seen throughout this campaign has caused me to question whether the entire thing I liked about him to begin with was pure spin and that we are now seeing the reality. The reality is certainly not someone who appears able to reach out, bring people together and move us through these very troubled waters.

But to return to my initial point, McCain, as has become ever more obvious, is a creation of a news media gullible to reasonably shrewd marketing on his part in spite of, and perhaps counter-intuitively, because of his obvious history.

The problem is his POW story trumps any serious examination of the reality of his life. This after all is a guy who, even though graduating at the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy was able to garner a seat in Navy flight school. That is, well, unusual, to put it mildly. But to help put it in context, you must remember his father was an admiral, and his father's father was an admiral as well as WWII legend – and both graduated from the Academy.

His issues at the Academy were academic certainly, but more worrisome in Naval Aviation culture, behavioral. A huge red flag for anyone who would aspire to a seat in Navy attack aircraft. He went on to crash two aircraft and collide with a set of power lines without crashing during those early days as a self-described partier. Again – would he have been allowed to continue flying given those facts were he not “who” he was? I know the Navy, and the answer is absolutely not. I won't address the additional aircraft loss in the “Forrestal disaster” (not his fault) nor his getting shot down over Viet Nam which led to his imprisonment. It is also I think, extremely important to note that during his captivity the conditions he faced, as well as the choices he made with regard to early release, were in keeping with every other American prisoner in that hellhole, and the honor code they as a group adhered to (and which I can't imagine myself living through).

Since then, his history in marriage, scandal, and supposed rehabilitation at the hand of the news media are all easily decoded. I don't mean this post as a smear – it is mostly courageously admitted to by the Senator in his own books, but as a former supporter, his own actions and behavior as a whole have forced me to take stock and reconsider my respect for him, and his candidacy for the highest office in the land.