It’s getting rather tiring hammering Palin into the ground, especially when she will have ample opportunity soon to do it to herself, but there are some commentators and bloggers that have seemed to completely lost their senses over this.
Sarah Palin is not mainstream and her family is certainly not. The daughter thing does matter in that it gives an insight into the type of person she is and she is frankly not someone mainstream folks in the suburbs, the votes McCain needs to win, want living next door.
She does not appeal to older women. Frank Lutz did a focus group of older women and she was disapproved of by a two to one margin. Why is this? Older women have teenage daughters and in mainstream America if a seventeen year old gets pregnant, she has an abortion and goes off to college. She does not have the kid, she does not get married. That is not done. It is not even a consideration.
A friend of mine put it this way. There are three classes in America, mainstream, trailer trash and underclass. Mainstream deals with the problem as I stated. Trailer trash–the way the Palins handled it, which means that is their social class and being Governor of a state does not change that, and the underclass, which would just have the kid.

“Watch soon for Christians to cast criticism of Palin as being anti-Christian.”
They are on thin ice there, Steve. After all, they pilloried a Christian minister not that long ago, and questioned a candidate’s confession of Christ. To now turn around and claim that similar behavior directed at one of their own is “anti-Christian” might invite a backlash from the mainstream, moderate Christians.

There’s little doubt that social conservatives will play the victim card quickly, accusing anyone who questions Palin as being “anti-Christian.” It has been the script for a couple of decades.
This is the defining moment for religious conservatives. They forced McCain’s hand and he needed someone to satisfy the far right of his party. Palin is their candidate and when–or if–she falters, it will be social conservatives who will receive the blame. They want to run a culture war election as the culture war is in its last days.

“Too many evangelicals and religious conservatives … pay no attention to competence.
Palins lack of competence re: DC Politics is already apparent.
Palins lack of competence re: her sister’s ex husband is documented.
Palins lack of competence re: bridge to nowhere is documented.
Palins lack of competence re: the military is already apparent.
Palins lack of competence re: leading this country is obvious.
However, as we already know, the only issue that matters is that
she is anti-abortion. Her ability to lead the country is not
relevant. Her skill and talent is irrelevant. She is anti-abortion, and to the evangelicals and religious conservatives, that is all that matters.

I really respect this column, and the views expressed in this quotation:
“Too many evangelicals and religious conservative are too preoccupied with values and faith and pay no attention to competence. We don’t apply this approach to anything else in life, including choosing a pastor.” are exactly on target, IMHO.
Watching this disaster with Palin unfold is like watching a political Katrina.
It’s dredging up so many personal wounds, personal grudges, and strong emotions that it borders on scary – and trust me, I didn’t think that things could get stranger in this election season when I thought that “race” was going to be the dividing line (!).
IMHO, we’re seeing the vitriol, the seething resentments, and the dirty little secrets of just how class-riven America really can be is becoming quite evident. In fact, it’s hot and heavy on another region of this website as I type.
This is the logical outcome of the past 20+ years of ‘identity politics’ and it’s nasty.
Maybe if people were a little more decent to one another, but when jerks on Wall Street are making $10 million and more by inventing fictitious ‘financial instruments’ and I’m expected to help bail out Bear Stearns, I feel a fair amount of resentment myself – so I ‘get’ that part of the culture wars.
But for all of us who have spent years and energy telling our kids that sex is nothing to mess around with, and that raising kids is a responsibility best left to fully grown adults with ‘real’ jobs, Mrs Palin’s attitudes are not exactly the type of ‘leadership’ that I seek for myself or my family.
And every time the McCain campaign trots out one more talking head to decry the rough treatment of Mrs Palin, or act as if she’d been vetted, I just want to reach for popcorn because I can hardly believe my eyes.
I’m sure that Mr Putin and Osama Bin Laden are thoroughly enjoying the spectacle of Americans whining about how ‘qualified’ a woman who’s been mayor of a town of less than 10,000, and then been governor or a state with fewer than one million, are falling all over themselves in hysterics.
I’m sure that there are plenty of people in US government and corporations who would **love** to ‘guide’ and ‘advise’ Mrs Palin.
It was unbelievably, tragically irresponsible of McCain to make such a reckless choice, but as the news comes out it does appear that he was pressured into it by GOP ideologues. This is precisely the kind of nonsense and foolishness — along with Abramoff and the sheer meanness of Karl Rove — that’s completely turned off a ‘former moderate’ like myself from the GOP.
This mess is so weird that if it were a movie, no one would believe it.
But it’s all about emotion.
And those won’t solve the very, very serious problems that face America.
Frankly, I find the nomination of anyone (male, female, with kids or without) who’s only served in federal office fewer than two years downright insulting. On some levels, I don’t care what she thinks. This whole mess has made a mockery of US politics and it’s embarrassing.
Putin and bin Laden must really be enjoying the show.

While I was stunned by McCain’s selection of Palin, I’ve been even more stunned by the media’s complicity with the Democrats in deconstructing this woman to the nth degree. While the Democrats and media have had an 18-month love affair with an equally young and inexperienced Barack Obama, they’ve been quick to pounce on Palin like a pack of snarling dogs for exhibiting the same lack of experience as Obama. This is politics at its ugliest!
I’ve been posting rebuttals on a number of the liberal blogs about this issue recently, trying to make sense of why it is “unconservative” to bring grace and forgiveness into the life of a 17-year old girl and her mother. The liberal spin seems to be that her own daughter has proven that preaching abstinence doesn’t work, and that Palin is now exposed as a lousy parent, a weak leader, and a hypocrite. I’ve never seen so much glee over someone’s sin/failure. It’s alarming, if not pathetic.
I’ve challenged a number of liberal blogsters to tell me why Democrats felt that Clinton’s “mistakes” had no bearing on his ability to lead the country, but Palin’s problems do. So far not one of them has been willing to answer that. They’re too busy tearing the flesh off of “the beast”.
I agree that the choice of Palin was a huge gamble for McCain, but the reality is, had he chosen Lieberman as he wanted to, the evangelicals in his party would have pulled up stakes and gone home.
Time will tell in this campaign, but I’m betting that the media and Democrats will pound this issue to death until Palin resigns from the ticket and McCain elevates Mr. Lieberman saying “Well, I tried.” If she stays on, and this investigation hits the fan in October, McCain will likely get thrashed at the polls.

competance? If competance was an issue why did we get the Scarecro-W for EIGHT Years?!?
I think this is a long term gamble. They are getting her “out there” in order to truly exploit her 4 years from now. Get her name known (and her daughter’s baby born), have peoople start tracking her political moves, and then when the next campaign starts (in about 6 months!) they will have her poised and posed. Parade magazine will have a few interviews and articles, Readers Digest will do a couple of “Diary of Parents with a Downs Kid”, “Parents of parents: teaching a teen mom by example”, and a couple of others will be sure to get her on their cover at least once a year. This will be followed by a very public rebuttal to the Sierra Club expose of her abusive policies in Alaska, and WWF’s (no they are not wrestling anymore, that is wwe) article on her efforts to get the Polar Bears off the endangered species list. Of course, the NRA has already got their artciles written with photos ready for “American Riflemen”. But Rolling Stone has a counter-piece on the many ways she has been a lousy politician with a bizarre family history, a poor environmentalist and a oil company lackey.
Well, at least her’s is a new face – and easier on the eyes than Lieberman, Thompson, or many others.

I don’t know what to tell you Al.
It’s not that I want to be mean or unkind.
It’s not that I don’t wish Mrs Palin, her family, and her daughter well.
It’s not about the pregnancy.
That’s a metaphor.
It’s kind of like telling those of us who worked for years to get our kids some help through college, and who worked very hard to get professional credentials, that the only thing that really matters in this world is what we think about abortion.
In the case of Eliot Spitzer, his tragic infatuation with hookers was relevant to his job because he was a prosecuting attorney. There was overlap between his job and his conduct. Therefore, he needed to resign.
In Clinton’s case, no matter how revolted I may be personally, the activity was not relevant to his job and who wouldn’t be embarrassed about the situation. But he knew how to deal with foreign leaders, he had a very good grasp of the legislative process, he knew mayors, governors, and agency heads all over the US. He could do the job.
Mrs Palin…?
If you define her job as advocating against abortion, then I suppose she can do that.
If you define her job as advocating for pipelines and energy companies, I’m sure she can do that as well.
But what does she understand about the Pentagon? About the EPA? About the system of justice?
Some of the other blogs may appear to be ‘mean’, and that may be partly because — speaking for myself — the only way that I can deal with things that strike me as absolutely ridiculous is to joke, snark, ridicule, and generally howl. Otherwise, I can’t stand the frustration of watching such idiocy.
If you want to see some really black humor, check out conversations about being expected to bail out Bear Stearns for $32 billion.
This post raises some very, very good points that I’ve not seen anyone else make.
What is the purpose of government?
Is it simply to make us ‘feel good’?
Last time I checked, ‘feeling good’ didn’t build bridges, levies, or fund cancer research. But trying to point out that basing a vote on whether I “feel good” is important in a culture that is self-absorbed, self-deceptive, and based on marketing illusions to people who mostly can’t afford them.
I don’t have a clue what Jesus would do if he were watching this from a suburban household, but I do think that the Biblical, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” is still a very relevant expression of guidance.
What vision does this woman have?
What vision does John McCain have?
Because I don’t see any vision whatsoever. What I see is bankrupt caving to intense emotions. How that’s going to fight climate change escapes me completely.

She should fit in well with the hipocrits that claim God told them and of course Bush/Cheney to invade and kill Muslims around the world. Because Israel? is our best friend. What did these people miss in the New Testament? What we are witnessing is the final result of man worshiping man and not God. We truly will reap what we have sown

the president is basically the ceo of the country, and we as
citizens are the shareholders. when you elect a president based
on their so-called “faith” you end up with the disaster we have
suffered these last 8 painfull years. would an awol, coke sniffing,convicted drunk driver,failed businessman,
alcoholic till he was in his forties, ever even be elected as
a mayor, let alone president of the united states if he wasnt named bush, and conveniantly born again for political purposes? the founding
fathers seperated church and state for a good reason. lets keep it
that way. LET COMPETENCE TRUMP SUPERSTITION! lets not forget
the conservative christians bestowed upon the rest of us the
most corrupt, incompetant, bloodthirsty, warmongering administration
in this nations history. so basically who ever they are supporting
will NOT recieve my vote.maybe a bit of self reflection for you
“so-called” christians is in order!!!

TeaLeaves,
Are you suggesting then that the only one fit to help run a country is someone from inside the Washington pool — like Joe Biden? Haven’t Americans been howling for decades about that?
Let’s be honest here: anyone going into the White House is going to be on a steep learning curve, no matter how long they’ve toiled in Congress or the Senate. So why not give Palin a chance? The problem with choosing Bidens is that they’re part of the “good old boys club”, and have had decades of experience at playing with the lobby groups. This is the kind of corruption that America needs to move away from, and that McCain has fought against for years. In some ways, his choice of Palin is genius in that he is saying “I’ve heard your howls, and I’m prepared to move back into Washington with a young, uncorrupted maverick like Sarah Palin to help shake things up.”
And as for vision, I’ve yet to hear Obama articulate anything that resembles a vision, other than “it’s time for change”. What change? What will he do? He still refuses to answer that question, as do those on the liberal blogs.
This whole discussion will be moot fairly soon, anyway. Palin will be devoured by the Democrats and their media friends, and McCain will have to dip back into the “good old boys club” to find a running mate who will satisfy the business-as-usual crowd.
BTW. I’m watching all this from an outside perspective. I am not an American, and do not live in your country. So I have no partisan stake in it. Just some interesting observations as an outsider.

I share DeMoss’s concern that “Too many evangelicals and religious conservative are too preoccupied with values and faith and pay no attention to competence”, but I disagree that this will validate conservative Christians as serious about the concerns of the country as a whole. This rush to support without any consideration is only a further validation of the negative image of evangelical Christians as a mindless flock of lemmings that will jump at the snap from some Elmer Gantry.
Along the same concerns, “Walking the talk” seems to be unimportant or at least secondary as values have so narrowed to fit politicians’ sound bites and public relations buzzwords. Actions speak stronger than words, and there is a growing gap between average American Christians and the divisiveness of the more partisan religious crowd.
Please, evangelicals are not so naive, or let’s hope not.

I read this and cannot help but be struck by the long standing tradition of a double standard at play:
When a Democrat does something that appears to be a moral weakness or infraction, the Right rises up in moral outrage. When a Republican does something that appears to be morally questionable the Left does the same.
In the end, Left or Right, there appears to be no charity in the hearts of either. It is sad.
Barack Obama had the goodness to say that the Palin’s family is not what our politics should be about. I don’t see the Democrats raising as much a stir about this as I do many Republicans and media commentators. End this silliness. There are huge issues that face our country and the most important ones are international in scale.

AI, I’ll try to answer each of your points:
So why not give Palin a chance?
The people asking Americans to give Palin a chance are the same people who have essentially said that Obama doesn’t even deserve to be running for president due to his lack of experience. Either you believe one thing or the other. You can’t ask for our indulgence for Palin and also for our ridicule of Obama.
In addition, McCain and the Republican party, even in their speeches last night, spoke about the serious times we live in, etc. Well, if times are so serious, then why did you only interview your VP candidate the day before you announced her? The desire to announce the day after Obama’s speech overrode the desire to make a deliberative, serious decision. Why not wait a week until you’re sure? Obama’s decision, OTOH, was clearly made with calm, serious thought and careful vetting. If one believes these are very serious times, who, objectively, is taking this more seriously, Obama or McCain?
The pick contradicts everything McCain has been saying for 6 months. He needs to explain why we should give her a chance, given what he’s been saying for 6 months.
I can understand this on the surface, and I give credit to McCain for somehow holding onto his maverick image, but the idea that a man whose spent more than 25 years in Congress and was involved in the Keating Five scandal is an outsider and is not a member of the “good old boy’s club” is preposterous. Who’s more “good old boys” than McCain?
I can also see the appeal of a complete outsider. But to choose someone who’s never expressed an opinion on the vast majority of the serious issues this country faces is a little bit too outsider for me. There’s outsider and then there’s complete neophyte. I don’t blame Palin for this. She lives in Alaska for pete’s sake. She seems perfectly competent at what she’s been doing, but she has not been concerned in the least with the issues facing our country, nor should she have been. It wasn’t her job to be concerned. I’m sure she had designs on national prominence in her future, but she was taking her time. She probably would have ran for Senator eventually and would have grown in national prominence, and of course increased her experience with national issues. I’m sure she was just as shocked as any of us that she was picked. It’s not her that’s the problem. It’s McCain.
Obama’s site all of the information you need. You can spend hours informing yourself of what he wants to do:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/
McCain also has his version:
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/

It is disingenuous of the McCain campaign to suggest that sexism is at play when the media questions Palin’s qualifications. The real issue is McCain’s judgment.
The self-proclaimed maverick realized last week he had to kowtow to Dobson et al to stand any chance of winning in November. So he runs on a “Country First” theme but chooses as his running-mate a person with zero foreign policy experience, 18 months of executive experience running a state that ranks 48 or 49th in population, in the middle of a potential scandal about using her political office for personal reasons. The issue is not about her daughter’s pregnancy; it’s about a man keeping America safe who pick a running mate who by any objective standard is clearly unprepared to be commander in chief and, to add insult to injury, keeps her sequestered to hide the shame.
Competence really is an afterthought for men like Dobson. It seems that the same is true for McCain. He wants to get elected and will deal with the competence issue later. The gamble is that enough independents think like Lieberman and hope that nothing happens to the guy should he get elected.
McCain makes a mockery of Country First. It’s The Base First.

The abortion issue opens the door for me but it doesn’t guarantee I will go through it. I could not vote for a pro-choice candidate. I am thankful that this door has opened.
I have to discern because I know at some point in the future there will be a time of great deception. Does the future begin now or later? All I know is to pay attention.
About Sarah Palin. Just because I am a believer and follower of Jesus Christ does not make me a perfect person. Every day is a struggle to fight the good fight and I fail at it far more than I would like. I am quick to give those who grieve at their own mistakes the benefit of the doubt and the ability to learn, grow and change just like I hope people afford me the same mercy. Let he who has no sin cast the first stone. Yes, Sarah Palin will be in a position of authority and we need to be able to trust her but there are better ways to search and confront these issues and this certainly isn’t it. My heart is grieving for their daughter who may bear the responsibility for changing a nation on her shoulders for the rest of her life because she got pregnant. Those who want to protect the mother from harm in abortion, where are you now when this mother is suffering for no reason. That is the height of hypocrisy.
We have lost much in the way of civility and humanity in our society because of a few ravenous wolves. I do pray for ALL of our leaders to be strong and able no matter who they are or what they claim to believe. I pray for Barak Obama, John McCain, George W, John Edwards, Joe Biden, Sarah Palin, and anyone else whose job it is to keep this country strong and vital. Should we do any less?

I agree, it’s dangerous for Christians to jump on the Palin bandwagon without ever investigating her record–which, from what I can tell so far, looks pretty good. Unfortunately, for many of us, there’s no where else to jump. When no other option appears promising in an extremely hopeless-looking election year (for this conservative, anyway), I’m all too ready to make a leap of faith.

standingfirm, regarding your quote, “The abortion issue opens the door for me but it doesn’t guarantee I will go through it. I could not vote for a pro-choice candidate. I am thankful that this door has opened.”
I understand your position, and I don’t mean to sidetrack this thread, but why is abortion so paramount an issue for you that you could not vote for a pro-choice candidate? This may seem self evident, but to me it’s not.
Yes, I understand the viewpoint that abortion is murder, so it’s wrong in all cases. But at the same time, war is immoral too. Torture is immoral. Homeless Americans starving is terrible. Children being under nourished with no access to medical care is terrible too. Government corruption is terrible. Letting thousands of people die during Katrina was awful too.
There are so many evils in the world today, and so many here in this country, that I just cannot see how one can hinge his vote on abortion and put everything else on the back burner. I just don’t think, given the current state we are in, that we have the luxury of hinging our vote for president on abortion. It’s been 30 years that’s it’s dominated our discourse, it’s still legal, and the country has not imploded. Aren’t there more fights worth winning than just this one?
Right now, abortion is legal in this country. So electing a Democrat changes nothing on abortion. I can understand the desire for change to make abortion illegal, but there are just SO MANY things that need changing, that affect your life every single day. Is this really the only thing that matters in a president?

Sarah Palin is NOT running for president. Also, can someone please explain to me exactly how, if they are considering her due to her rigid view on abortion, WHAT EFFECT CAN SHE HAVE ON THIS ISSUE?
It’s up to the supreme court judges, is it not? If we, as citizens, don’t consider the glaring issues that ARE of immdediate consequence, we are going to suffer more than we already have in the last seven plus bush years.
The Iraq Invasion mr. bush & his admin. deceived the country into has cost thousands of lives, on top of a lie. Where are the values in this???
I cry everyday for our country, and for the loss of life.

Do as I say not as I do.
“Christians” endorse warmongers……how can they
be called “peacmakers”?
How can they intentionaly ignore evidence of Palin’s incompetence
vindictave reationary self interested politics..troopergate, getting a
librarian fired for not banning books, bridge to nowhere flip flop….
I could go on a and on.
I won’t need to McCain has failed in his choice, and history will
PROVE that.

Sillyme,
Barack Obama has never governed a city, never governed a state, never governed an agency, never run a military unit, never run anything, except for an 18 month political campaign. He doesn’t even have any action points for a new vision. How does this make him more qualified to be in the White House than Governor Palin?

Regarding Ms. Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy, what I would like to know is why when the teenage actress Jamie-Lynn Spears became pregnant did the religious right rise up in outrage, talk about the moral decay of our culture, and threaten to boycott her shows. Now, with Bristol Palin in the exact same boat, this is “a difficult time” and “these things happen in families” and how great it is that this family walks the talk because Bristol will be having the child. Jamie-Lynn Spears also did not get an abortion. Why was she not celebrated?
I suspect the answer to my question also answers Al’s post from above. He writes:
“While the Democrats and media have had an 18-month love affair with an equally young and inexperienced Barack Obama, they’ve been quick to pounce on Palin like a pack of snarling dogs for exhibiting the same lack of experience as Obama. ”
The answer is that the media probably sees itself in Mr. Obama: educated at top East coast schools, city dweller. So they give him a pass on experience, trusting that he will figure things out and act in ways familiar and acceptable to them.
The religious right clearly sees itself in Sarah Palin: plain spoken and with Christian bonafides. So she gets the same pass. Her religious beliefs mean that she will act in ways that are familiar and acceptable to this group of the electorate.
And when Bristol gets pregnant, it is an understandable situation to the religious right. But when Jamie-Lynn got pregnant, it was all Lynne Spears’s fault. (As stated by Rush Limbaugh at the time: “It’s the parents’ fault.”) The hypocrisy is stunning.
I am every day more alarmed at the vitriol the right and the left hold for the other. Most of these arguments are not about the merits but are a competition. This win-at-any-cost mentality just has to stop.
I wish someone had some ideas on how we could stop it. I was hopeful that this election could have been “post partisan” as Mr. Obama was often described. Ha. What a difference a few months makes.

“Sillyme,
Barack Obama has never governed a city, never governed a state, never governed an agency, never run a military unit, never run anything, except for an 18 month political campaign. He doesn’t even have any action points for a new vision. How does this make him more qualified to be in the White House than Governor Palin?”
Barack Obama has expressed opinions on the matters that are important during this election. He’s stated on his website plainly what he would like to do about those matters. He’s demonstrated that he can build a disciplined, motivated organization to defeat one of the most powerful political families in America. He’s run an efficient, low drama campaign.
His temperament has been on display for months for all Americans to see.
He’s made his first executive decision in full view of the public in choosing Biden as VP. The process for that disciplined and thorough.
Governor Palin has not expressed her opinion on most matters. The economy? The mortgage crisis? Georgia/Russia? NATO? The national debt? Afghanistan? Iraq? etc. etc. etc.
There’s not even a contest between the two, and Palin would agree I’m sure. This is not for lack of brains/talent. It’s lack of interest. This was not on her radar. She was not planning to be running for VP. Perhaps in the future, but she was entirely focused on Alaska. If she had designs on national office, she would have been boning up the last couple years. She was concerned with Alaska, as she should have been.
There is ample evidence on how you can expect an Obama administration to be run. There is also ample evidence on how you can expect a McCain administration to be run. It’s up to you to decide which one will run it the way you think a president should run the office.

Gary Bauer responds to Mark DeMoss’s analysis that “Too many evangelicals and religious conservative are too preoccupied with values and faith and pay no attention to competence. We don’t apply this approach to anything else in life, including choosing a pastor.”
Gary Bauer showing off his narrow, single issue criteria suggests “Christian voters are not hiring a pastor; they’re picking a president.”
Funny how both Bauer and McCain both attack on experience, but apparently neither has enough respect for the office of the presidency to seek out the most qualified person. I guess after eight years of Bush they figure any fool will do.

Yes a risk. However, with only 145 days of senate experience the Democratic party and followers are willing to put a man in the highest position available. Barack Obama, has a resume that would be thrown in the trash had it been compared side by side to John McCain or even Sarah Palin.
Obama, has never authored any bill to help his constituants, and over 100 times has not voted yes or no to votes that have arisen. What did he vote? present.
I’m not personally a McCain fan boy, never have been, but Palin seems to be the legitimate thing.
Points awarded to McCain and Palin:
McCain is a Hero. Served his country not only in the senate, but as a soldier, a POW.
McCain has been fighting both Democrats and Republicans on issues he felt where important, going against the grain at times.
Palin, a former Mayor.
Palin, a Governor of a state which boasts some of Americas largest Natural resources.
Palin has taken on the oil companies which, in the past have run Alaska.
Palin has a family. Yes a family not a poster family but a family with real issues and real struggles.
I realize that Sarah Palin is not a New Yorker, she doesn’t live in a concrete jungle. But neither do the majority of the United States. She seems to bring a sense of realism to this campaign and this election.
Until now, I felt this election was not worth a vote. I did not care for Obama, I also equally did not care for McCain. However with McCain’s choice for VP he has shown he is not looking for the usual Washington inside. My hats off to McCain for once again going against the Machine and stepping outside to find a solution.

Sarah Palin is probably a very good governor as she is beloved by her state. But to say that Obama, who’s experience is almost precisely parallel to that of Abraham Lincoln, has “no experience except running his campaign,” is not rational. The United States Senate is nothing to sneeze at. Obama was actually in the senate longer than Lincoln. For that matter, neither Obama nor McCain “run their campaigns.” They hire professional organizers and strategists. The same campaign professionals who’s writers got bent out of shape because they had to rewrite the VP acceptance speech at the last minute. Apparently, they did not feel that the original speech, written months ago, fit a female candidate (as noted by the ABC News commentators before Palin delivered the acceptance speech.)
I commend you, Mr. Walden, for having the courage to articulate these points. The comments you’ve garnered thus far appear to validate your premise. It breaks my heart to see such conspicuous confirmation that certain factions of the Christian Right, of which I am a member, are not even listening closely enough to state their opponent’s platform accurately. A good argument must be founded in fact. These comments cite no factual information.

I think what most supporters of McCain/Palin have been saying is “Give the woman a chance instead of trying to grind her into the ground with the heel of your boot before she even gets started.”
Obama has little experience; Palin has little experience. Obama has had 18 months for the nation to get to know him; Palin needs some slack to establish herself too. Then let the voters decide.
What’s been most outrageous to me is the media complicity in seeking to destroy, or at least poison, the Republican ticket by instantly smearing their VP candidate without giving her an opportunity to make herself known. It’s been that Ivy League sneer plastered all over the faces of people like Wolf Blitzer and Campbell Brown that are most annoying: “Alaska? Pshah. What a bunch of nobodies up there.” “Mayor of A TOWN OF 7,000? Good grief. What kind of resume is that?” (translated, “She hasn’t paid her dues; she didn’t train at Harvard; she comes from fly-over territory.”
Hey, I’m not even an American. I’m watching this from up north, so I don’t even get to vote. But what I’ve seen has certainly been a complicity between CNN, the most watched news organisation in the world, and the Democrats. Even most of their pundits are Dems.
So much for balanced reporting. (though I think John King is one of the few who are fair-minded and balanced)

Bruce, you’re being -perhaps unconsciously- extraordinarily biased. Palin’s governorship has been only two years in tenure, and the mayorship can be dismissed completely, as far as I’m concerned- our regional PTA has more votes than Wasilla altogether. I thing the failures of George Bush are pretty good evidence that the “executive experience” oft repeated is no substitute for education, logical thinking, and intelligent decision making ability.
Plenty of poor executives have plenty of experience. I would take Obama’s years as a legal scholar and Constitutional law professor over Palin’s two years as governor of fish and oil. Palin seems likable enough a person, but in her brief career in government, she’s made a number of disturbing decisions. Her Bush-like tendency to remove administrative opposition I find very troubling. I found her resignation from the AOGCC encouraging, and I think this may be one of the reason she was chosen, but otherwise she’s a bit of a blank slate.
I guess what’s really bothering me is that despite knowing little or nothing about this woman, she’s been embraced seemingly based on her religious stance alone. Even if this woman was 100% in agreement with my own values, I would be reluctant to award her that 1:2 probability. Are conservatives/Christians really willing to risk everything on a handful of social issues?

I do not know Sarah Palin, However as a christian, tongue speaking, pentecostal, holy spirit fill, mother of 4 children I can relate to her a bit. I listen to people saying that sarah is a christian, even the liberal media blog is scared of her because she is a petecostal christian and maybe she speaks in tongue.
Sarah Palin as a christian I love her she is a beautifull women and a proud mother. I have nothing against her. In this blog I am writing and anybody who is reading this blog read my comment carefully, Sarah is not a real christian or if she is the way she claims, listen to my words she is a backslider running away from God, and I can assure You she is not a real christian. I know people will react to what I said right now. “George Bush” I knew he was never a christian but because the right wing evangelicals did not bother to consult with God they let satan gets it ways.
For the people reading this blog asked yourselves why as a christian spirit fill sarah palin would lie to the media & the american people. and gave that speech that is full of lies? was it for political purposes and self gain and ambition?. isn’t lying a sin? and why compromising the word of God for self-ambition allowing the enemy to mess around her family? and why is it her house is not in order? all the evangelicals out there I suggest to you before embrace yourself to Sarah check with God first, she is a gimmick just like Bush.
And I do hope God will give her a conscience to quit the race, Otherwise it will a bad name for christianity which we already have. God will reveal all the evangelicals that are hypocrites and downright mean and agent of Satan.
Don’t let issues like abortion gets in the way, that is the way Satan wants to inject himself, by distracting us and go backward instead of forward. That is a prophetic word I just gave And I do not mind If anybody want to contact me they can. Because I have the boldness and the annointing of the Lord upon me, I am not afraid of criticism.
May God Bless America and receive the Lord”s favor and forgiveness for all of the wickedness lies and hypocrisy in other words all the sins and hatred that we have in our hearts as christians for one and another. and be aware for all the wolves in sheeps clothing thus said the Lord!
and I hope people will go back to the comment and said that lady was right.

Sarah Palin is not just No Hillary. She’s a joke. As a woman, I don’t see how she has any courage or conviction. She’s as duped with the whole male supremacist ideology when it comes to her politics as the wives of the Texas Polygamists are when it comes to love. Women have no choice or voice in the Republic party. They’re just used as puppets. B/w, Doesn’t McCain look too frail to be President? He looks like he’s barely able to keep his balance.
Los Angeles, CA

I hope that the American people are not so misinformed and shallow as not to realize what an ominous position the Republican hiearchy is willing to place the country in by impulsively placing Sarah Palin on the ticket as the vice presidential candidate.
Based on the speech she made, all I can surmise is that she has no real knowledge of anything. When people usually don’t know anything, they do what she did, and that is say “nothing”. I really don’t understand the people who are so impressed by a speech that did no more than spout lies from a teleprompter and did it in such a vicious and “catty” and negative manner, not just about her adversary but about anybody and anything that she obviously neither understands or respects– and that includes the people she claims to represent ?Christians and conservatives. Was Jesus Christ not a community organizer?
In this day and time mothers’ with children with Down’s syndrome are not a novelty, but if they receive adequate access to medical care and social services,education and support for these children without relying on the resources and input of “community organizers” and advocates who speak up for the rights of people with disabilities, then they are a novelty. That kind of novelty, I am sure Palin will become with whatever Republican financial payoffs and services she receives for her insincerity and hypocrisy.
I am the adoptive mother of a special needs child, and that aspect of who Sarah Palin is does not impress me at all. Furthermore, I am also the mother of a biological daughter who had a child out of wedlock who “chose” not to marry and went on to become a teacher who has a master’s degree in education and a very well-adjusted now sixteen-year-old son. That particular family “issue” does not impress me either.
But I would be willing to bet a million dollars (it I had it) that if Obama’s daughter or Chelsea Clinton got pregnant out of wedlock, those so-called ?Christians who support Palin would be having a field day in the media and at church services of condemnation too. They would be jockeying for all kinds of moral high ground.
I am one of the people who wonder about what choices Palin’s own daughter will ultimately have other than possibly an ill-advised “shotgun wedding”. I am just speculating, based on experience with self-righteous people who tried to force my daughter to marry my grandson’s father (when she was not ready to marry) for the sake of some warped sense of morality and social appearances. I had enough respect for my own child to know that was neither a psychologically healthy nor fair position “to choose for her”.
Before I retired, I was also a divorcee who raised three small children and worked full time jobs, and I have more than one college degree and I am a professional. So I am sure that if Palin is otherwise qualified, and I don’t think she is) she could do the job. But I don’t agree with her on any of the issues related to the economy, domestic, and world affairs, etc. Based on the last eight years of the Republican administration’s performance, I don’t see where the Republican Party supports my interests or the interests of the American people for that matter.
I am a Hillary Clinton supporter who is smart and objective enough to
(I now support Obama)not jump on the “I am a woman, she is a woman too” bandwagon. And I am sure that is the only reason that she was suddenly chosen to be on the ticket. She is being used and I am sure she will prosper financially from it,- win, lose or draw. And God help the USA.
And, Oh, by the way, I am also African-American, and God knows if it were not for coummunity organizers (abolitionists, civil rights workers, and such) I would still either be enslaved or at the least still riding on the back of the bus and drinking from “colored only” water fountains.
Just another suspicious citizen

How can anyone consider a presidential candidate based on religion? There is no credibility involved in any religious form. I think Nadine makes the mistake of wanting her as a president simply for being a “mother of four” and a “beautiful woman” in addition to a “likable Christian”.
First, our country is not founded upon one religion but many, as most of our country’s founders were, in fact, Quakers. As for the mother argument, I can’t imagine it matters how someone has managed to raise a family and keep the family’s inconsistencies secret in front of the public. Most families that are viewed in the public eye have many problems we do not see, and I know many mothers of four whose children have no respect for them but they show smiles in front of the camera anyway.
One should select a candidate based upon both experience and capability for the position. Just as one would not hire someone at a law firm based upon religion/gender/race/creed, one should not vote for a candidate based upon your own personal preferences. Our society should not be founded upon prejudices, but rather competence.
Who will do the best job of leading our people? Who will help our economy return to its previous positive state? Who is the best person for the job? We should not look for who is the best person to make the country or a political party look good.
Anyone whom votes differently can do as they please – it is a free country; however they should be ashamed of themselves for not voting based on the good of all. The greater good is most important, not some high and mighty deity. We have already seen what religion does to society when someone claims to lead society in its name.
And no, I’m not anti-religious, I’m as faithful to my ideals as any, but the Constitution specifically states Church and State shall remain separate. Literally, that refers to voting too.
Lastly, I don’t want political figures shoving their self-righteous religion in my face. Keep your religion to yourself and don’t force it upon the rest of us by voting for someone based on faith at all. Vote for whom would be the best for the job. If the best person for the job just happens to be in line with your faith, so be it, but one should base their vote upon that.

Who has made public Sarah Palin’s religious beliefs? People who do not give her a chance and judge her by the news media, are they doing what their religions say? Not mine, judge not lest ye be judged. She is a governor same as Bill Clinton was. Demeaning her is not what we do in my church.

I see comments are still rolling in.
Palin is the darling of the NRA, a group IMHO, that is on the fringe, and not in a good way.
I’d like to see these random murders in our country brought into the debates.
Has anyone heard how the family of the Chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas is doing, since the man was shot and killed right in his office a few weeks back?
Guess some lives count more than others?? Palin, the darling of the NRA and Dad was a science teacher………go figure.
BTW…….are her parents still alive? If so, where are they? Ms.Palin is MIA and will surface only after she’s been programmed throughly….SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON MEET THE PRESS OR another show. All the other candidates did appearences……….WHERE IS SHE??
America, WAKE UP.

Is Understanding a High Tech Civilization, more important than Understanding Sarah?
What do Religious Writings teach us about 9/11/01?
A Last Days Planetary Judgement Day Fire, will destroy the Ozone Canopy, and confirm that a Judgement Day Fire, will destroy Life as we Know it?
A few Humans, were Saved from the High Tech Noah/Atlantis Planetary Judgement Day Flood.
These Two Planetary Flood and Fire Events, are not ‘Supernatural’ God Punishments, but Misbred Human Events.
All Divisions of Humans, will result in the Destruction of our Ozone Canopy and the Planetary Fire Judgement.
Genesis Translated, with High Tech Science, will reveal the Mysteries of God, and the Truth of the Evil Killer Seed Human Life on Earth, not caused by God.
Colonizing Life on Earth, by our Human Ancestors called God, and Human Male and Female Clones in Gods Image, ‘was’ translated a Supernatural Mystery, by Natural Born Humans.
High Tech Humans today, can Translate Genesis, with the High Tech Science Knowledge of, Colonization, Fetus Reproduction, and Cloning.
The Fallen Human Heterosexual Born Humans, are Misbred Good and Evil Human Seed. God, our High Tech Born Peace Human Clone Ancestors, Do Not Kill or Die, and do have Eternal Physical Life After Birth.
The Good and Evil Seed of Cain, Seth, and Daughters, is ‘the Mixed Seed’, handed down from the Adam and Eve Colony, that Reproduced Heterosexual Body Birth Humans. No Human since gets a Choice of Seed, or Environment.
Genesis 1,2 is the Colonization of Planet Earth, with a Balanced Axis Eco System. ‘God’ Our Human Peace Ancestors, would not leave Two Human Clones on a Planet, to be the Caretakers of the fish, fowl, and animals, nor do they Approve of Misbred Heterosexual Body Birth.
Eternal Physical Life after Birth is a Truth, with High Tech Science Birth on Planets and in Spaceships.
What is Eternal Life After Death?

In your church does that go for judging gays too ?

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