Many people say that talking about Sarah Palin is a waste of time, a distraction. I strongly deisagree. The Republicans have used Palin, successfully I might add, to distract the public from 1) the lack of excitement of candidate McCain, 2) the paucity of any new ideas or issues from the Republicans, and 3) the wholesale boiler-plate duplication of Bush-NeoCon failed policies.
But Palin aspires to be one heartbeat away from becoming the most powerful person on the planet. A full examination of who she is, what she thinks, believes and does is in no way a distraction. It is imperative to study, research, discuss and ask hard questions about her qualifications for the position. We must not be sidetracked from fully vetting Palin in a manner the McCain camp did not. And we must not be turned away from this pursuit by attacks that our examinations are sexist.
In nominating an inexperienced, virtually unvetted novice candidate, the McCain camp has demonstrated a callous willingness to do anything to win and deal with the consequences later, if necessary. Apparently, these Republican tactics have been successful as the McCain ticket gains in the polls.
Gallup reports that during the week of September 1 to September 7:
Obama went from 50% over McCain’s 42% (a loss of 8 points for Obama)
to Obama 44% to McCain’s 49% (a gain of 7 points for McCain)
On the other hand, the ABC News poll report of 9/8 shows a smaller change in the overall poll, but a more significant change, 12%, for white women:
Sen. John McCain has wiped away many of Sen. Barack Obama’s pre-convention advantages, and the race for the White House is now basically deadlocked at 47 percent for Obama and 46 percent for McCain among registered voters, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
…snip…
Much of the shift toward McCain stems from gains among white women, voters his team hoped to sway with the pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential candidate. White women shifted from an eight-point pre-convention edge for Obama to a 12-point McCain advantage now.
I find this frightening, very frightening.
Besides realizing that McCain’s ideas for this country are the same warmed over Bush policies which have had such a disasterous effect on this country, Palin completes the package by including Bushie’s unthinking fundamentalism.
In June, Palin told the Assembly of God congregation in Wasilla that the U.S. incursion in Eyeraq (sic) was God’s will and, therefore, everyone should pray for the troops who were working to accomplish God’s will. She also believes that it is God’s will to drill for oil in Alaska; the congregants should pray for the fulfillment of God’s will in this also. OMG, haven’t we just been through an Executive who believes he was doing God’s will? We don’t need another one, even if she would remain only as Vice. I don’t want to be subjected to living through another one.
She doesn’t believe in global warming either. She only believes in God. Science takes a back seat to belief. This is a complete abdication of rational thinking, much like we have seen from Bush. Granted she is considerably more articulate than Bush; she learned the correct pronunciation of “nuclear” in one day before her address to the RNC. Bush hasn’t been able to accomplish that in 8 years.
Many lies and false statements in her address to the RNC have come to light, and there are serious questions about her ethics which need examination.
For me, however, it comes down to whether or not I want to risk another irrational fundamentalist Christian who believes we are close to the End Days making decisions about the actions and directions of our nation. Her beliefs will influence every decision from abortion and right to life to policies around Israel and the Middle East.
As a Christian, she will be obliged to work for her belief in the “final” fulfillment of God’s will in the End Times.
To this, my answer is a resounding “NO!”
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for avoiding Armageddon and other failures of reason and imagination.
A little medicine for what ails ya, d’syd.
I was hoping my repug brother, who if not secular, at least is not overly religious, ie. definitely not fundie/evangelical – more episcopalian, would be turned off by her. When I asked him what he thought of her, he just said she was “feisty” – as if he liked that. Then he said “You know we can’t talk politics”.
I’ve got to figure out how to get the Assemblies of God info to him without talking to him – before November
who pay attention to issues might not like it, I think McCain’s campaign manager Rick Davis got it about right. Especially for the “undecided voters,” the election comes down to personalities not issues.
So I’d love those folks to see a bit of the candidate who says things like “Sambo beat the bitch.”