Web Letters: Why I'd Be a Better VP than Sarah Palin

Your letter was profound, Rosanne. Please be scouting other options for those of us holding passports. This election is the most critical yet in our lifetimes. We hope your health is improving day by day. Your kindness made a difference in my life. Blessings,

Le Malone

St Bonaventure Class of '73
Camarillo, CA

I enjoyed writing this essay tremendously. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the letters here from people who, like myself, find relief from the hysteria of the current election cycle in humor and irony. However, I must take exception to Mr. Maasch of Nebraska's assertion that my father would be embarrassed by my essay, and his assumption that my father would be a supporter of Palin and McCain. Mr. Maasch knows nothing of how my father felt about me, nothing of the dozens of private conversations about politics and world affairs that my father and I had over early morning cups of coffee while watching CNN, and nothing at all about what my father would have thought of the four candidates for office in this election. On the last subject, of course, I also know nothing, since my dad has been dead for five years. I can tell you that he believed a black man would be president in my lifetime, and he said as much to me. I can also say with certainty that I knew my father a hell of a lot better than Mr. Maasch of Nebraska and I would not be so quick to put him on the McCain/Palin bus. I would love at this point to state with all the certainty that Mr. Maasch possesses that dad would be an Obama fan, but I would never be so presumptuous as to state the intentions of a dead man, even if he is my father.

Rosanne Cash

New York, NY

Rosanne, I thoroughly enjoyed your article and was laughing out loud. I am sending it to everyone I know, as I am terrified that Palin might actually become VP. You, on the other hand, I think would be great as VP. I would watch you on TV and read whatever you wrote, since you are so enjoyable! Thanks, Rosanne!

Becky Bonnette

Pflugerville, TX

While I found that little ditty quite humorous, I still wish (with all my heart) that the wealthy entertainers of the world would stop trying to tell me how to vote. Stick to what you're good at, sister! I am a big fan.

I don't mind (at all) you or any entertainer reminding me to vote and the importance of it. But gosh, I sure wish they'd stop telling me who to vote for. I don't try to tell you who to vote for. Leave that up to the media, impartial is what they are supposed to be (slanted is what they appear to be).

Just once, it would be really really great to have a side-by-side comparison of the issues done by a truly impartial person.

Still undecided Texas mother of 5,

Sharra Blair

Rainbow, TX

A most witty commentary on the reason we women should all be scared. While I believe everyone has a right to their opinions, no one has a right to my body. My biggest beef (or should I say moose steak?) with Palin is her blind faith in following the same path the Bushes started. Her dangerous tendencies towards pro-life at any cost concern me beyond measure. The election fiascos in 2000, and again, in 2004 are the main reasons I live in Europe. Brava, Rosanne. I'd vote for you any day!

Christine Louise Hohlbaum

http://diaryofamother.blogs.com
near Munich, Germany

Like so many of you, I am a longtime fan of Rosanne Cash, and I'm not surprised to see that her writing talents extend beyond her beautiful songs I, too, had the desire to leave the country when George W. Bush was re-elected in 2004. For those of us who have endured the disastrous decisions of the last eight years--and saw it coming--I posit that it is precisely because of our love of of country that we make those statements. I am extremely pro-America, and I have been saddened and disgusted watching us slide in our stature in the world. So to the Palin fan in Wasilla, while I may disagree with you politically, I have every right to call myself a member of the base of this country as you do. And it is for the progress of--and my great love for--this counry that I will cast my vote for Obama/Biden.

Mike Boyd

Washington, DC

Sitting in a small "funny country" with "funny money," I'd love to see you as VP instead of Palin. But couldn't you move ahead and go for president? Or is it too late? But you never know. I mean, just think about God's will. It could be great with a singing president instead of a fighting one.

Peter Ostergren

Stockholm, Sweden

Rosanne: You totally have my vote! And, if God forbid, you don't get elected and some idiot drops a few ballot boxes into a lake and Obama does not get elected, I look forward to being neighbors in New Zealand.

Honestly, I think my dog Tazzie would make a better vice president than Palin. And the cat agrees on this one.

hannah McKee

Nashville, TN

The Palin choice is a sad example of our strange cult of mediocrity and knee-jerk anti-"elitism."

Picture this: you just got into a car accident and you are in the ER. You are told you have a subdural hematoma and need brain surgery. As you lay in your gurney, Joe Sixpack and Jean Hockeymom show up in scrubs. He tells you: "Not to worry. We'll handle it. I'll play the doctor and she'll play the anesthesiologist. We never went to medical school and we're not very smart, but I am a fighter. I am a veteran, and I am going to whack that blood clot right out of your brain if I have to kill you." She smiles helpfully and winks at you: "You won't even feel a thing. I have five kids, can talk my way out of any tough questions and, while I never anesthetized anyone, I am very self-confident! Who needs those educated smartypants MDs who went to Harvard or Hopkins? They are wimpy elitists. We're just regular people like you, and we'll take care of you just fine!" I suspect you would be rather worried about your prospects for survival in the OR, and you would be right to demand a real doctor who has enough education and training to take care of you.

For some reason, we don't expect competence and education from our elected officials as we do from other professionals. We want brilliant doctors, rightly so. We idolize CEOs, based on the theory that they are such geniuses that even if they drive their companies into the ground, they deserve tens of millions of dollars in bonuses. Yet many of us don't find anything wrong with having "regular people" with limited knowledge and qualifications in high elected offices. We are suspicious of candidates who sound too smart, and take a liking to people who sound "folksy." This is how we came to have eight years of a breathtakingly incompetent administration, and that's the card that the McCain campaign played with Palin.

My question is: if it takes intelligence, education and knowledge to run a company or take care of your broken head, why is it acceptable that people of mediocre intelligence and education whose only talent is "political skills"--i.e., BSing their way out of substantive conversations--should be put in charge of the whole country?

It's time to realize that being president, or vice-president, or secretary of state or anything like that is not for the average Joe or Jane. It does require qualifications other than popular appeal and a knack for peppy delivery. My favorite president, Abraham Lincoln, was self-taught, but was a man of enormous intelligence, knowledge and vision, who educated himself because he realized the value of knowledge and competence, far from despising them. He famously said: "Whatever you are, be a good one." We should all want uncommonly talented persons not only in the OR or the boardroom, but above all in the White House.

Lucio Miele

Chicago, IL

Sarah Palin is my governor and was my mayor. While I respect everyone's right to an opinion and enjoyed your article, one thing kept going through my uneducated brain:"The one on the left is on the right." Yes, that's one of Rosanne's daddy's songs. While the article wasn't as vile and mean as most people in the entertainment industries, it was still condescending. I will not be told how to vote by people who haven't a clue how I live.

I am pro-choice, I think marriage should be allowed between two consenting adults and that America is the greatest country in the world. I do not believe in socialism; spreading the wealth to those behind you does not appeal to most Americans. I'm voting for McCain/Palin, and would have regardless of who he picked for VP.

Our boys and girls overseas do not need someone who has association with the likes of Ayers in the White House. This election has become a farce. If you're black and don't vote Obama, you're jealous; if you're white and don't vote Obama, you're racist. It can't just be because you're American and you love your freedoms, believe hard work should be rewarded and that people who work should be allowed to prosper. I'll keep singing Johnny Cash's song until the election's over to drown out the likes of Sandra Berhart, the two Rosies, Matt Damon and too many others to list. By the way, where can people like me run to if Obama wins? We are the base of America, and none of us have the money or means to leave like you all do.

An unqualified mother of 6,

melanie hall

Wasilla, AK

Nicely writ, Roseanne. Great minds think alike, as I wrote a similar essay over a month ago, which was published on-line and in print in my hometown newsweekly, Mountain Xpress. Here's why I think I'd be a better VP than Ms. Palin. Basically, almost any of the experienced intelligent moms I know would be better choices for America.

Anne Fitten Glenn

Asheville, NC

Couldn't agree with Ms Cash more. But she might want to reconsider where she makes her new home in case Governor Palin does win. Unfortunately for New Zealand, they are on the verge of electing a right-wing government led by a shallow demagogue of their own. Their election is on November 8, so Roseanne could well be looking at getting on another plane before she's over her jetlag. There is no safe haven from the right-wing nutbags!

Jim Welch

Sydney, Australia

You'd be welcome here in Australia, Roseanne. Don't move to New Zealand --they talk funny over there!

I must say I was staggered by your revelation that Leonard Cohen is your father!

Geoff O'Connor

Adelaide, South Australia

Ah Roseanne, you are as brilliant and funny, as you are talented vocally. My biggest regret is never having had the opportunity to see you in concert. My favorite of your albums, Interiors, is pure poetry and has been with me through good times and bad. Thanks for making me laugh.

And please come to San Francisco. You could do a great and intimate evening at Slim's.

Robin Burton

San Francisco, CA

Yay Rosanne! My vote's for you! But if you get in, I beg you, please don't say the word "maverick"!

Thanks from Minnesota! :) (Mother of 3, been out of the country, worked at same company twenty years, four-year degree, able to leap a pile of laundry and baby gate in a single bound to answer the door for the Schwanns Man, worried about gas prices and college fund for kids, and I think being the mom of two teenage daughters should really get me an honorary PHd.)

tonia forscher

Duluth, MN

Simply stated, this lady rocks! Humor aside, she makes more than several cogent points regarding the absurdity of Governor Palin's (and I don't mind calling her governor because she at least earned the title, unlike the current "president" and "vice president" Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney) attempt for our vice-presidency. Her father, in fact, would have seen the absurdity of a Palin candidacy in the very beginning. Johnny Cash may have been one who believed in conservatism, religion and his own take on what patriotism was all about; he also believed in populism and the rights of individuals to live freely from the tyranny of imposed religion. He had no problems aligning himself in song with great artists such as Pete Seeger or Bob Dylan: no shrinking liberal elements were they ever. The point is not to align Rosanne Cash as a Democrat, liberal, Republican, conservative, green, or libertarian but to recognize that she, like so many of us, sees the malfeasance of one who simply cannot cut the mustard in this ever complicated political world. And although I don't know Rosanne Cash, I suspect greatly that she may well believe that this complicated world doesn't really need to be all that complicated if people are simply honest about relationships and exchanges in all facets of life. This is where our political structure and its mechanisms have failed all of us. It is why the duopoly, as Ralph Nader says, is putting us in regression, and why Rosanne Cash may in fact be ultimately moving to New Zealand if Governor Palin gets this gig. Can anyone really blame her?

Riad Mahayni

Richmond , VA

GO, ROSANNE!!!!

Rosanne, you would, without a doubt, be a better VP than Sarah Palin and I'm betting that your father would agree. And, were he here,he would be smiling that beautiful, famous smile as he read your letter.

You letter is fantastic. Let us hear more from you, please.

Nancy Jarmin

Cashmere, WA

I'm so grateful for people with a great sense of humor during times like these.

I hope Cash is inspired to write more like this. Wouldn't it be fun to see her take on how she'd handle McCain's campaign? Clearly, they need a better strategy.

Victoria Landis

Boca Raton, FL

While fully accepting Ms. Cash's qualifications for the office of Vice President, I respectfully submit that I own a 6-year-old yellow dog who would be better qualified for the the office than Sarah Palin.

As Ms. Cash seems to have the lock on channeling Molly Ivins, I will not elaborate on Dusty's claims to office.

A. J. Martin

Nashville, TN

I would submit Johnny Cash would be proud of Rosanne's act of writing a letter to a magazine in a political season and embarassed by the content, the position taken, the premise and the venue... The Nation.

And my guess is he would vote for McCain/Palin, and would, if healthy, have traveled with Palin.

John Maasch

Lincoln, NE

I love this, but the guy on the Alaska Airlines tail doesn't look like Roseanne Cash's father! Little personal story about him. Was at a Johnny Cash concert when I was about 15 or16. Went to use the port-o-potty outside right before the show started. Came out, no one was around, and suddenly out of nowhere he came running by me to the stage--The Man in Black himself. I froze like an idiot in headlights. He extended his hand, and said, no lie, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." I let out a squeak, having lost all language facility, and almost fainted. Will never forget his graciousness as long as I live. Rosanne's father had a great influence on me, and she does him more than proud.

Kathy Spillman

Philadelphia, PA