Let's look at those 'silly arguments'

Oh, the joys of selective quoting. This quote by Clinton was a response to Obama’s infamous comment that people in small towns cling “bitterly” to guns and religion. While Clinton criticised this approach by Obama, her policy on this issue nonetheless calls for stricter measures on gun control. She said:

We need to stand firm on behalf of sensible gun control legislation. We have to enact laws that will keep guns out of the hand of children and criminals and mentally unbalanced persons … I realize the NRA is a formidable political group; but ... It does not make sense for us at this point in our history to turn our backs on the reality that there are too many guns.

Palin is a lifetime member of the NRA.

“The death penalty? Clinton and Palin support the death penalty.”

Not a major issue in this election by any stretch of the imagination.

“Gay marriage? Clinton and Palin oppose gay marriages.”

Another simplistic argument: Gay rights is more complex than simply being for or against “gay marriage”. Openly advocating gay marriage is considered to be political suicide in the US (just ask John Kerry). While Clinton has stated that she believes marriage is between a man and woman, she also strongly supports gay civil unions and granting legal rights to same sex couples. She has achieved an 89 per cent score on gay issues from the Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay and lesbian organisation in the US, which monitors the way in which Senators vote on issues key to gays and lesbians. In 2006:

Hillary Clinton voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment (S.J. Res. 1) which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and included language which could have prevented recognition of civil unions and domestic partnership benefits. The amendment failed by a vote of 49-48.

Clinton also states:

I believe in full equality of benefits, nothing left out. From my perspective there is a greater likelihood of us getting to that point in civil unions or domestic partnerships and that is my very considered assessment.

And where does Palin stand on this issue? First, she is a member of a fundamentalist Christian Church that openly prays for God to turn gay people straight. She says she “doesn’t know” if people choose to be gay or are born that way.

While her position on civil unions and gay adoption is still vague as she is fairly new on the scene, it must be kept in mind that she is John McCain’s running mate and “he is against almost all equal benefits for same-sex couples (and) opposed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, expanding the Hate Crimes Act to cover sexual orientation and he supports the military's discriminatory "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy, which not so incidentally, Clinton opposes.