Bob,

I gotta respond. I love Sarah because she is DISRUPTIVE. Just like Napster, she has thrown the media, the Dems, Obama, MSNBC, for a fucking loop. Just like Napster, they don’ know whether to shit or go blind. Its so much fun to watch. Yes, she a little light, but so what. Shawn Fanning was 17 and just wanted to share music with a few friends and he ended up changing the music world forever.

Underestimate her non- Washington, Alaska appeal at your peril. Btw, I’m voting for Obama, but nothing makes me happier than watching the powers-that-be go apoplectic over someone they never heard of….. And have no fucking clue how to respond to. Remember, the more the labels attacked Napster, the more popular it became. The Dems should be afraid, very afraid………… Peace.
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John Hummer
Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

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I totally agree with John Hummer on the Palin factor. Except maybe it isn’t quite so fun this time.  The stakes feel high and I don’t want to think about Washington with another 4 or 8 years of the same war mongers in charge.  

Hilary Rosen

My inbox has been overflowing with responses to Hummer’s comments.  Just about all of them state that Palin is woefully unprepared and people are afraid for themselves and the world.

All fine and dandy, but this election isn’t about the converted, but the undecideds.  And truly only the undecideds in a handful of battleground states.

So, while you self-satisfiedly state that you’re an educated voter who reveres intelligence and experience, I print the below e-mail to show you that there is another side of the fence:

Bob –

You need to spend more time outside LA / ski resorts etc. i.e in the real world.  Sarah connects with people precisely because they feel that she IS AUTHENTIC.  I live in a town outside Buffalo NY.  I can stand on the sidelines at my kid’s baseball games and point out a lot of working moms who are just like Sarah Palin – right down to their snowmobile driving husbands.  The women I talk to at school and church (spent any time there in recent years?…that’s okay, most of the pundits who don’t get her don’t hang out there either) felt instantaneously that they knew her, that she was one of them., that she wasn’t a another slick lawyer.  They felt it even before the convention speech.  She’s like a band like Nirvana – the kids knew right off where they were coming from and connected.  They didn’t need Geffen or some rock critic to explain it.  

Bruce Eaton