By  BOB KECSKEMETY

I’m not sure that then-Presidential candidate Senator John McCain knew what he was unleashing on this country when he introduced us to Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as his V.P. running mate in 2008. So many of my friends have told me how much they dislike the former governor, but I’m very honest when I tell them how much I love her. Who else, but Sarah Palin could have introduced us to the new fresh faces of GOP women. Here are some of my favorite quotes from my favorite candidates:

Michele Bachmann, Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District: Michele Bachmann has to be one of my favorite people.

Her deep thinking and her love of country moves me every time she speaks because I admire her for not allowing facts to get in her way. My first introduction to Bachmann was when she appeared on the MSNBC program “Hardball” with Chris Matthews: “I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out: Are they pro- America or anti-America?”

“I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out under another — then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.” (April 28, 2009, referring to the 1976 Swine Flu outbreak that happened under Republican President Gerald Ford.)

“I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back.” (March 2009, speaking out against Cap and Trade legislation)

“Does that mean that someone’s 13- year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus?” (October 2009, speaking out against a woman’s right to choose)

Sharron Angle, Republican Candidate for U.S. Senate from Nevada: Sharron Angle won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator from Nevada after she beat out frontrunner, Sue Lowden whose campaign imploded when Lowden suggested that we pay for our healthcare with chickens. But, as they say, out of the frying pan and into the general election — Angle won.

“… you know if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I’ll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.” (January 2010 to talk radio host Lars Larson)

“You can make more money on unemployment than you can going down and getting one of those jobs that is an honest job, but it doesn’t pay as much. And so that’s what’s happened to us is that we have put in so much entitlement into our government that we really have spoiled our citizenry and said you don’t want the jobs that are available.” (July 2010 on unemployment benefits, interview with KRNO)

“… I have been in the situation of counseling young girls, not 13 but 15, who have had very at risk, difficult pregnancies.

And my counsel was to look for some alternatives, which they did and they found that they had made what was really a lemon situation into lemonade.” (July 2010, explaining why she is against abortion even in cases of rape or incest)

Now my personal favorite: “They [Republicans] say, ‘You’re too conservative.’ Was Thomas Jefferson too conservative? I’m tired of some people calling me wacky.” (March 2010)

Christine O’Donnell, Republican Candidate for U.S. Senate from Delaware:  Last week, most of us were treated to our first meeting to Christine O’Donnell. O’Donnell’s no stranger to television as she’s been a semi-regular on Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect”. Though she may be relatively new to the national scene, she has a trail of quotes behind her. After all, how many candidates do you know that would go on television to further her campaign against masturbation?

“You know, these are the kind of cheap, underhanded, un-manly tactics that we’ve come to expect from Obama’s favorite Republican, Mike Castle … Mike, this is not a bake-off, get your man-pants on.” (September 2010 on her opponent for the Republican nomination Mike Castle’s allegation that she illegally coordinated campaign activities with the Tea Party Express and denying that she has referred to Castle as a homosexual)

”We took the Bible and prayer out of public schools and now we’re having weekly shootings practically. We had the ‘60s sexual revolution and now people are dying of AIDS.” (1998 appearance on Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect”) “

They follow me home at night. I make sure that I come back to the townhouse and then we have our team come out and check all the bushes and check all the cars to make sure that — they follow me.” (September 2010 in the Weekly Standard claiming that unnamed political opponents are following her)

These just happen to be my favorites. To be fair, many Republican men have made just as outlandish statements — so have Democrats of both genders. Perhaps it’s like Michele Bachmann said in November 2005, “Not all cultures are equal.”