A reader, gmo2, responds to one of God-o-Meter’s recent observations:
“It strikes God-o-Meter that the firestorm of Palin criticism from elites–both liberal and conservative–is not fueled by Palin’s apparently Biblical worldview but by the fact that that worldview appears to be the major reason McCain selected her as his running mate”
thusly:
According to some recent polls, Palin is considered to be unqualified by about 55% of registered voters. That’s an awful lot of elites. The criticism of Palin is not at all about her Biblical worldview or because McCain picked her for it. I can’t say I’ve read or heard everything that’s been said about Palin, but most of the criticism is not about her religion but about her lack of knowledge of current affairs.
GOM is not claiming that that opposition to Palin is based on her Biblical worldview, as James Dobson has . Rather, it’s suggesting that the those who oppose Palin adamantly–including Republicans like Peggy Noonan, David Frum, and Colin Powell–don’t feel the religious bond with her that many conservative Christians do. What irks these more secular voters is the thought that McCain picked her because he knew that that religious bond would yield votes, despite what they see as Palin’s lack of experience/aptitude to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
A September Pew poll found that 78-percent of evangelicals had a favorable view of Palin. Only 54-percent of the general electorate expressed a similarly favorable view.
This is largely a replay of 2005, when many on the left and the right perceived Harriet Miers’s nomination to the Supreme Court as a cynical ploy to please the Christian Right.
9
posted October 23, 2008 at 5:39 pm
“don’t feel the religious bond ”
Since when is that either a qualification OR a requirment of political office in America?
It USED to be called a “personal” relationship with God. Why on earth must it be so in-your-face, on-your-sleeve public now?
posted October 23, 2008 at 5:45 pm
And why on earth are you quoting “A September Pew poll”? or heaven’s sak, this is nearly the end of October – that’s a political millenium.
Catch up, God-o-rama.
posted October 23, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Too many uneducated, ignorant nut-jobs voting for an uneducated, ignorant nut-job. Thank god for the coasts and mid-west.
posted October 23, 2008 at 6:20 pm
I do not feel a religious bond with Palin because she repeats the many McCain lies about Obama and she seems to enjoy being the attack dog.
Palin sold her soul to the win at any cost.
posted October 23, 2008 at 6:50 pm
The only issue I have with her, in terms of religion, is simply the vast disparity with which the media has micro-scrutinized Obama’s church & minister (while at the same time encouraging his “Muslim/terrorist” association lies to flourish), while we’ve seen & heard nothing whatsoever about McCain’s or Palin’s church/minister, in the mainstream media!
The double standard & denial of the truth of their smear tactics, exhibited by both McCain/Palin, is truly beyond anything I’ve seen in presidential campaigns that I’ve seen, since Kennedy-Nixon, in 1960! That so-called Christians are not only silent in their acceptance of this behavior, but proudly supportive, is so spiritually wrong, and in so many ways, that I’m amazed they don’t see this disconnect!
To assail a man for his longtime church attendance, while at the same time spreading falsehoods of his “really” being a Muslim, and a “terrorist sleeper” on top of it, is true schizophrenia & spiritual cognitive dissonance….
Do “religious people” REALLY want to see millions of Americans so riled up & paranoid that the man who will probably occupy the White House, come January, is an “enemy of America”, that his life will be in constant danger, from OUR OWN CITIZENS???
WWJD? Certainly NOT THIS!
posted October 24, 2008 at 12:09 am
An Idiot is a Genius to another Idiot.
posted October 24, 2008 at 9:50 am
Steven Cee writes:
First God-o-Meter notes that Rev. Wright was already a huge figure in Chicago and was also something of a national figure before Obama ran for president and so was much easier to scrutinize. He inserted himself into the limelight. McCain’s and Palin’s ministers have long cut much lower profiles.
The two high-profile evangelical ministers who endorsed McCain–John Hagee and Rod Parsley–received tons of media scrutiniy, and so much criticism that McCain eventually rejected their endorsements.
And You Tube clips of Sarah Palin’s pastors and her own church appearacnes received a good deal of attention after McCain accounced her as his running mate.
Could it be that McCain’s and Palin’s pastors are a whole lot less publicly incendiariy on issues in the news and that’s why the there haven’t been more stories about them?
posted October 24, 2008 at 9:51 am
Steven Cee writes:
First God-o-Meter notes that Rev. Wright was already a huge figure in Chicago and was also something of a national figure before Obama ran for president and so was much easier to scrutinize. He inserted himself into the limelight. McCain’s and Palin’s ministers have long cut much lower profiles.
The two high-profile evangelical ministers who endorsed McCain–John Hagee and Rod Parsley–received tons of media scrutiniy, and so much criticism that McCain eventually rejected their endorsements.
And those You Tube clips of Sarah Palin’s pastors certainly received good deal of attention McCain accounced her as his running mate.
Could it be that the media has scrutinized Palin’s and McCain’s pastors, but came up with a lot less because they’re a whole lot less incendiary on issues in the news?
posted October 24, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Considering that Palin has even managed to alienate gun-toting, church-going Wisconsinites in Waukesha County, that probably is some sort of miracle.
If an historian bothers to write about this campaign, picking her will be considered one of the greatest political blunders in US history. And I can take some comfort in that I called it within five minutes of seeing her on TV for the first time.
posted October 25, 2008 at 1:03 am
God-o-meter,
“Could it be that McCain’s and Palin’s pastors are a whole lot less publicly incendiariy on issues in the news and that’s why the there haven’t been more stories about them?”
Considering that you, yourself, with ths very blog (not to mention your connections to Time magzine, no less) help decide what is “news” and which “news” gets covered, maybe you could explain to us why the “protect her from witchcraft” guy ISN’T “news”.
Neither Hagee nor Parsley were either McCain’s nor Palin’s pastor. In fact, I have repeatedly chalenged any and all here to even name McCain’s or Palin’s pastor (without googling it). So much for equal ‘scrutiny’.
And heaven protect us from your flippant dismissal that McCain rejected Hagee’s and Parsley’s endorsements merely because of “so much criticism” instead of their rabid, toxic beliefs.
Sorry, I agree with Steven Cee, we HAVE heard nothing about McCain’s and Palin’s pastors, or at least what we have heard is Palincomparison ;{O)
And, in a former America, we would have hearf nothing – and still shouldn’t today – there’s not supposed to BE any religious test to hold office in America. The “religious” “right” has brought this on themselves; they have required one.