![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_NSbdziIt0Tk/SOKKIXvISLI/AAAAAAAABpQ/IV_PaskvC0M/s400/oakies.jpg)
I gave them one of my last two cans of beans and all the best wishes I could muster.
Making small thing grand and grand things small.
"The measure needs 218 votes for passage. Democrats voted 141 to 94 in favor of the plan, while Republicans voted 65 to 133 against. That left the measure with 206 votes for and 227 against." --CNN
FADE IN
Sara Palin to adoring group of actors hand selected by Team McCain: "It's been an honor and a priviledge to stand next to John McCain."
(enthusiastic applause accompanied by grand nodding from Palin)
"The challenges before my son Trig are complex and delicate. The new life my daughter Bristol faces is also complex and delicate, but in a different way."
(a brave gaze from Palin as a respectful moment of silence allows this touching and beautifully honest admission to garner its rightful emotion)
"My children need a full time mother right now."
(a brief and somewhat bated pause)
"And this country needs a full time Vice President."
(shocked silence accompanied by resolute purse-lipped nodding from Palin)
"I am always a mother first ... "
"Palin's recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.
No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I've been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I've also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.
... Only Palin can save McCain, her party and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.
Do it for your country."
A study coming out Tuesday from scholars at Columbia, Harvard, Purdue and Michigan projects that 20 million Americans who have employment-based health insurance would lose it under the McCain plan.
* * *
"Why would we want to throw Sarah Palin into a cycle of piranhas called the news media that have nothing better to ask questions about than her personal life and her children?" Davis said. "So until at which point in time we feel like the news media is going to treat her with some level of respect and deference, I think it would be foolhardy to put her out into that kind of environment."
OK, let's see: a candidate who prays to God and wants to do His will vs. a candidate who thinks he is God and that everyone the world over is just panting to do his will.
You're not exactly making the decision more difficult here.
I've decided to leave the campaign trail in order to be with my family at this difficult time. My special needs son Trig and my daughter Bristol both have a rocky road ahead and I intend to be next to them every step of the way.
"Sarah and her husband, Todd Palin, issued a statement saying they are 'proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents.'"
"Tony Perkins, president of the influential conservative Family Research Council, on Monday issued a statement supporting the Palin family. 'Fortunately, Bristol is following her mother and father's example of choosing life in the midst of a difficult situation.'"