this is not going to become a political blog

I promise. But I stumbled upon this article (via Rod Dreher of the Crunchy Cons blog) and it sums it up for me. We mustn't dismiss John McCain's positions just because he picked a pretty and talented and seemingly pro-life Sarah Palin for his running mate.

An excerpt from the article authored by the Catholic Scott Richert:

But that doesn't change the decision before us in November. Anyone who
votes for John McCain because of Sarah Palin still votes for John McCain, with
all that that implies: rabid support for a war that two consecutive popes have
condemned; the possible expansion of that war to Iran, and maybe Syria; a new
Cold War with Russia; a vow to expand funding of embryonic stem-cell research,
including the creation of new lines, which requires the destruction of more
embryos; an unwillingness (as McCain repeatedly stated back in 1999) to overturn
Roe v. Wade; support for contraception, sex education, and family-planning
programs.

Anyone who planned to abstain from voting in November or intended
to vote for a third-party candidate and is now considering voting for
McCain-Palin needs to ask himself this question: Why? Is Sarah Palin providing
cover for his desire to vote for McCain? Or is her nomination simply a
convenient excuse to allow him to vote against Barack Obama?
If the latter, it would be better to own up to the reason and state forthrightly that he is not voting for McCain-Palin but against Obama-Biden. Then, his vote for the
Republican ticket at least would not imply support for all of the anti-Christian
policies that McCain has proposed, and the voter will not feel compelled to
defend McCain when he carries through on his promises.