Thought the news that McCain's family values veep pick's unmarried 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant would dampen support for her from the family values crowd?
Hasn't exactly played out that way. In fact, Christian RIght leaders are applauding Bristol Palin's decision to keep her baby:
Southern Baptist Convention public policy chief Richard Land: "This is the pro-life choice. The fact that people will criticize her for this shows the astounding extent to which the secular critics of the pro-life movement just don't get it. Those who criticize the Palin family don't understand that we don't see babies as a punishment but as a blessing. Barack Obama said that if one of his daughters made a mistake and got pregnant out of wedlock he wouldn't want her to be punished with a child. Pro lifers don't see a child as punishment."Focus on the Family founder James Dobson: [I commend the Palins] for not just talking about their pro-life and pro-family values, but living them out even in the midst of trying circumstances....Being a Christian does not mean you're perfect. Nor does it mean your children are perfect. But it does mean there is forgiveness and restoration when we confess our imperfections to the Lord."
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins: "Unfortunately, teenage pregnancy has become all too common in today*s society.... Fortunately, Bristol is following her mother and father*s example of choosing life in the midst of a difficult situation. We are committed to praying for Bristol and her husband to be and the entire Palin family and they walk through a very private matter in the eyes of the public."
Liberty University School of Law dean Mathew Staver: "We're all sinners.... We all make mistakes. Certainly, the ideal is not to get pregnant out of wedlock. But she made the right decision after her mistake."
Christian Coalition of America president Roberta Combs: "It's a matter that should stay in the family and they have to work through it together. My prayers go out to them.... We're excited about the governor and think she's going to do well."
So the Christian RIght is more supportive of Palin than ever.
But God-o-Meter is more interested in seeing polls about how the evangelical rank and file is taking the news of Palin's daughter. Are they more likely than the evangelical political classes to be put off?
There's been a lot of talk these last couple of years about Christain Right leaders being out of step with the in-the-pews cultural conservatives whom they purport to represent. This "Palin moment" is a good time to test that theory.
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Ah, and this is the root of the problem in any election: hypocrisy. This election is not about reason and issues, it's about who wins. Each side is guilty of hypocrisy. One side overemphasizes its religiousness -- the left really doesn't believe in federal funding of religious programs, but courts religious voters by overemphasizing it in an attempt to win. One side uses its religiosity only when it serves them -- the right really doesn't believe Sarah Palin or her daughter have acted as role models in this situation, but it is stuck with this candidate and feels it must defend her at all costs in a desperate attempt to win. Thus, voters should vote on real issues -- based on the records of the candidates -- not political strategy that emphasizes non-issues.
But does she really have a choice? She is 17 and getting married-would she make that choice if her mother wasn't a candidate for VP? What about the family value of adoption? At least this family has the means to raise another child, which realistically is what will happen-unlike thousands of other families who face raising another child in poverty in an environment where the "pro-life" administration has cut social programs providing support to women and children. So make that prolife choice-but then you're on your own. I pray that Bristol will be able to continue her education, otherwise like many other young women in her position, she is doomed to a life of poverty-unless the young man in question turns out to be able to support a family-unlikely if he is also a teen. We haven't heard about how old he is-was she 16 when impregnated? There are young men out there in some states labeled as sex offenders for having sex with 16 year old girls. I weep for this poor girl having her life exposed on a national stage.
One thing that came to mind after McCain chose Palin, given her lack of experience, was George W. Bush's appointment of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court a few years ago. Miers was also short on experience--she'd never been a judge--and conservatives rebelled, even though some evangelicals were wildly enthusiastic about her at first because of her evangelical background. The reason they gave for opposing Miers was her lack of experience, given a ready supply of uber-experienced candidates for the bench. But the real reason was that it was impossible to pin down Miers's ideology. Would she really vote to overturn Roe? Would she protect the Defense of Marriage Act? The right didn't have enough evidence to trust her because she lacked a judicial track record.
Palin doesn't have much experience, either: tenure as a small town mayor and not quite two years as govenor. But the difference between her and Miers is that the Christian Right feels that it really knows her, because of her Pentecostal faith backgroound but also because of her history as a culture warrior.
So the real issue for the Christian Right is not experience, even though they said that when it came to Harriet Miers. It's trustworthiness. The movement didn't trust Miers. It trusts Palin. But is there really such a firm basis for that trust? Or is born largely of McCain's having set the bar so low among religious conservatives?
The phenomenon of the rapid spread within the United States since the 1980's of evangelical Pentecostalism is a political phenomenon which has become so influential that the two elections of George W. Bush as well as countless races for Senate or Congress often depend on the backing or lack of it from the organized Religious Right.
The spawning of some Christian Right sects also creates an ideology to drive the shock troops willing to literally 'die for Christ' in places such as Iraq or Afghanistan, Iran or elsewhere that the Pentagon needs their services. That ideology has been used to build a fanatical activist base within the Republican Party which backs a right-wing domestic agenda and a military foreign policy that sees Islam or other suitable opponents of the US power elite as Satanism incarnate. How does Sarah Palin fit into this?
more info
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/165864-The-Most-Dangerous-Cult-in-the-World-Sarah-Palin-s-links-to-the-Christian-Right
I'm disgusted with the evangelicals of our country for supporting this. It shows they are more of a political movement that a Christian movement. The hypocrisy of this is astonishing and almost demonic. I'm a strong Christian but I can't believe they stand behind this VP pick. Where is the family and moral values? If this was from the democratic party, they would be pointing fingers everywhere.
It's really odd that many people associate republicans with morals and values. How's it so? Starting an unjust war based on lies, greed, corruption? Are these Christ like values? Right wing evangelicals are looking more and more like Pharisees. The people Jesus detests.
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