dk: I will thank you to not do my thinking for me. (I apologize if that sounds harsh but that was a particular sticking point with me in my divorce years ago - my ex constatnly telling everyone what was going on in my head when she could hardly have been further from the truth)

That Sarah Palin is a woman concerns me not.
That she is conservative could appeal to me if she actually WAS conservative - at least the way I remember the meaning of the word "back in the day". Conservatives back then wanted the government out of your wallet AND out of your bedroom.
That she's Christian doesn't bother me one whit, so long as she knows the difference between science and religion and doesn't cherry pick the Bible for legislation.

It's the issues that turned me off when it comes to her. Quite frankly, when McCain picked her, I was ecstatic - for about 48 hours. She had the charisma to make up for what McCain was, by then, sadly lacking.

If I had to sum it up with ONE example, it was the deer-caught-in-the-headlights look when Katie Couric (not exactly Mike Wallace) asked her what she read. That kind of behavior is exactly like what conservatives rail against when it's Obama - the inability to speak "off the cuff" when a question comes that they're unprepared for.