This is not a political blog.

But I have opinions about candidates and issues. And I am a mom. I care about what kind of future I am choosing for my children when I vote. So if you are part of a presidential ticket hoping I cast my ballot your way, here are three talking points you can throw at me until you are blue in the face (ha! get it? blue!) but that still won't earn you my vote. Or my respect.

1. "I'll bet she is the only VP nominee with the exception of maybe Teddy Roosevelt who can field dress a moose!" (Thank you Fred Thompson for that gem.) Are you kidding me?!! Because you're telling me that as if having the ability to field dress a moose actually does qualify her to be VP! But if that is the only thing you can come up with to say about her, well then bring it on!

2. I know that McCain was a POW. I know he suffered terrors beyond what ordinary humans can imagine. I know his captivity and sacrifice were horrific and heroic. I don't discredit any of that by saying this: Don't have someone give a speech on McCain's behalf detailing Every. Single. Moment. Of his torture. I already know he suffered a lot, beyond anything I could possibly comprehend. Orating upon exactly what means of coercion caused which of McCain's injuries does not make him a better presidential choice. It kind of makes him seem a little needy and desperate for votes. Like he deserves my vote for the singular fact that he was a POW.

3. Do not expect to gain my support by making an issue of the fact that your sons and daughters, and people associated with you and your family's sons and daughters are now currently serving, have in the past, or are scheduled to be deployed to Iraq. Don't get me wrong. I am in no way, shape or form diminishing the service of anyone who chooses to defend our nation as a member of the armed forces. I am grateful for every son, daughter, mother, father, wife, and husband that is over there. But you candidates, and those who speak on your behalf, are diminishing your loved ones' service by rattling it off in campaign speeches as a vote-earning tactic.

Did anyone know, from listening to Beau Biden's introduction of his father, and then to Joe Biden's speech that Beau would be deploying to Iraq in October? Or did you have to google it afterwards, like me? I am betting on the googling, because they didn't play on your emotions by parading it in front of you as a ploy for votes. Beau's service to his country, admirable as it is, remained a private family matter and not a campaign tactic.

Speaking of private family matters, while I abhor the attention being paid to the rumors surrounding the pregnancy of Sarah Palin's daughter, private? My ass! When you are the poster child for the Conservative platform of Abstinence Only, then you make that private family matter very, very public. Because you are touting a program, a family value, a way of life, to an entire nation that you can't even manage to maintain in your own family. I'm sorry. That deserves public attention. Not to discredit the choice of running mates, but certainly to punctuate the need for comprehensive sex education. An issue which won't be progressed if McCain and Palin are elected.

Maybe when the GOP candidates begin to focus on actual issues, rather than preying on my emotions, they might turn this true blue mom's head. But really they just continue to leave me feeling pretty disgusted with everything they have to say.