O she's a lovely person with a lovely family - just like the Cleavers. I bet she wears her pearls when she vacuums and her kids fight over who gets to do the dishes.

This is only going to further cement her support from the conservative Republicans, and, I would think, turn off more independents.

This VP candidate is even more extreme than Bush or McCain.

But any criticism of her, I've been told, is "sexism".

It's foreign policy via The Blues Brothers
"We're on a mission from God"

I just love how Republicans want to turn the "war on terror" into a religious war:

http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008/07/does-mccain-advocate-jihad-against.html

We could just change up our foreign policy and work on eradicating poverty and illiteracy in "developing" countries, which would do a hell of a lot more to reduce acts of terrorism. But hell, let's just turn this into a global war between the two largest religions, that has always worked out just super in the past!

Assembly of God is the church that brought us Jimmy Swaggert and Jim Bakker.

How could she sit in the pews for all those years while that psycho - hey, wait a minute.

I hope everyone prays for the new gas line tonight. I'll certainly keep the participating corporations and lobbyists in my thoughts and prayers throughout the day.

"A thirty billion dollar project that's gonna create a lotta jobs for Alaskans and will have a lot of energy flowin through here. And pray about that also. I, I think Gods will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built. So pray for that."

...the church says Palin ceased to be a member there in 2002....

So is she a member of a church now? Which church?

I actually recall seeing something somewhere that she belonged to a more fundy church than Assembly of God. I know its hard to believe, but I recall reading it.

Folks:

Aren't the Far Right Fundies, such as Sarah Palin, always telling us that life is sacred, and that each child is created by God.

That being the case; then why are they now saying: Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter just made a mistake!

Think about that a moment. Those that are always claiming that the words and actions of God are supreme, are now telling us that when Bristol Palin became pregnant, she just made a mistake.

Which is it; God created this baby, or was it just the mistake of a teenager.

Do you see the doublespeak that those sanctimonious lunatics try to pass off as divinely inspired wisdom!

She isn't saying that the war in Iraq is a mission from God. She is saying that we need to pray to make sure that our leader's are right with God in their decision making. She also doesn't say that what our men and women in uniform is doing is right, she is saying that they are striving to do what is right.

There is nothing wrong with a Christian leader praying before they make a decision. There is everything wrong with a Christian leader praying about a decision after they make it.

PS - Palin stinks as a VP choice. McCain might as well have chosen Lynn Spears. But I think that the characterizations of her statement are wrong.

Women and Republican party frankly are a Oxymoron. In fact, other than the Rich White Old Fat Bastards, the rest and the G.O.P are paradoxical.

Women and minorities should be certified dumbfucks to be allowed admission into the G.O.P.

I guess, we can throw our concerns out of the window, Jesus has saved all of us already.

I don't think it matters that she's not a member of the church anymore, it was she directly making these statements. She could have made them anywhere, doesn't matter.

Andrew Sullivan, if you're reading this, apparently you were looking in the wrong place for her thoughts and views on foreign policy.

I wonder if she will throw herself under the bus.

Gosh, I am no more eager to see her in office than any of the rest of you folks here, but I am hard pressed to see what is so awful about any of those statements. Admittedly, I do not spend a lot of time praying for gas pipelines, but other than the frivolousness of such a prayer, I am hard pressed to see what might be so objectionable as to merit that oy vey. There are a million good reasons not to want to see this woman in line to the presidency but these quotes are not on that list.

She's a kook.
Fini.

To clarify - life long Democrat and Obama contributer. But I'm also a deacon in a southern baptist church and sleep next to an ardent pro-lifer every night. The charicatures by both sides are counter-productive and do nothing but make it impossible to bargain in good faith in order to achieve what is all of our goals - reducing the number of abortions in this country to as close to zero as possible.

But she has more than Obama...

Speaking of paradoxes: Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address acknowledges both sides asking for divine guidance...

To Jorge and To roo - Stuff a Sock in It.

I'm sure you would love to have us shut up - if you don't like the conversation - leave.

"Obama, a leader God has blessed us with at this time"

Intertwining of politics and religion (c) Nancy Pelosi, 2008. All rights reserved.

McCain/Palin answers A.I.P/Buchanan rumors...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080902/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_palin_politics

Cafferty just spent about 2 minutes railing on Palin. He went down the list point by point of all the reasons she is an abysmal pick.

I love that guy.

Frog,
I agree and have made that argument to my wife repeatedly. The point here isn't to convince anyone about anything, just to explain the POV of a certain group of people and why it is perilous to dismiss it.

This sums it up: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/2/1613/27485/447/581295

I've had enough. Here's a side-by-side comparison, which I hope might be useful "talking points" for all you - go forth and multiply.

1980 - 1984
Obama: B.A. in political science with a specialization in international relations from Columbia University.

Palin: Wasilla High School, captain of the state-champion basketball team. Miss Wasilla, runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant, also Miss Congeniality, although that is now disputed.

Him: Ivy League degree.
Her: tiara.

1985 - 1990
Obama: moved to Chicago; became a community organizer as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization on Chicago's far South Side. During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization.

Moved to Boston to attend Harvard Law School. Selected as an editor and then elected president of the Harvard Law Review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the law review's staff of 80 editors.

Palin: Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism, with a minor in political science from the University of Idaho. Brief stint as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations; left to join her husband in commercial fishing.

Him: sterling legal education.
Her: sportscaster.

1991 - 1995
Obama: graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School; received contract and advance to write a book ("Dreams from my Father") as well as a fellowship at the University of Chicago Law School. Directed the Illinois Project Vote from April to October 1992, a voter registration drive with a staff of 10 and 700 volunteers that achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leading Crain's Chicago Business to name Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be. Appointed as a Lecturer in constitutional law at the University of Chicago. Joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 12-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development. Active in several community organizations, usually as a board member.

Palin: member of the Alasaka Independence Party which advocates "Alaska First". Elected to Wasilla city council.

Him: Expert on our nation's fundamental legal principles.
Her: plotted to leave the Union; thinks Pledge of Allegiance was written by our founding fathers, doesn't know what a Vice President does.

1996 - 2000
Obama: promoted to Senior Lecturer in constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. Elected to the Illinois Senate. Sponsored more than 800 bills. In 2000, lost a Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one.

Palin: elected as mayor of Wasilla (population 5,470), defeating the incumbent by a total of 616 votes to 413. Town budget, $8 million (3 millionths of the Federal budget), approximately 100 employees. Reduced property taxes but increased sales taxes. Fired the Wasilla police chief, citing a failure to support her administration. (He then sued Palin on the grounds that he was fired because he supported the campaign of Palin's opponent, but his suit was dismissed when the judge ruled that Palin had the right under state law to fire city employees, even for political reasons.) Hired a DC lobbyist to bring $27 million in earmarks to the city. Wasilla had zero debt when she entered office but she left it with indebtedness of over $22 million, including $15 million-plus for construction of a hockey center which was built on a piece of property that the city didn't even have clear title to, a matter that is still in litigation. Attempted to ban books from the city library.

Him: sponsored 800 bills.
Her: swayed 616 voters.

2001 - 2004
Obama: reelected in 2002 and became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee.

Publicly spoke out against the invasion of Iraq BEFORE the congressional authorization in 2002, and then again before the actual invasion in 2003.

Wrote and delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

November 2004: elected to the US Senate, receiving over 3.5 million votes, more than 70% of total.

Palin: elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors. Unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor, coming in second in a five-way race in the Republican primary, receiving 19,000 votes. Appointed to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, served as chairman from 2003 to 2004 and also served as Ethics Supervisor. Resigned in protest over the "lack of ethics" of fellow Republican members. Exposed the state Republican Party's chairman, Randy Ruedrich, for doing party work on public time and working closely with a company he was supposed to be regulating. Director of Ted Stevens' 527 group.

Him: demonstrated the wisdom to oppose the Iraq folly before it even began.
Her: hasn't really thought much about Iraq - despite the fact that 17 Alaskans have died there

2005 to present
Obama: Sworn in as the fifth-ever African-American U.S. senator. Worked with Republican Senator Lugar to author and implement a program to locate and dismantle stray Russian WMD's. Designated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as the party's point man on ethics. Worked with Russ Feingold to pass a major ethics/lobbying reform bill. Cosponsored, with John McCain, the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act. Called for increased fuel efficiency standards (3 percent every year for 15 years). Assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations, Veterans' Affairs, and Homeland Security. Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Waged a tremendous battle to become the Democratic presidential nominee. Currently manages 2,500 campaign employees and a budget of $40-$50 million/month.

Palin: 2005: board member, Valley Hospital Association, which runs the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in Wasilla.

Became youngest and first female Governor of Alaska, taking office in December, 2006. Received 114,600 votes. The population of Alaska is 683,478 and more than 50% of the state budget comes from oil revenues, not taxes as in other states. Gross State Product: $44 billion (including the oil revenue). Ranking 45 of 50.
Auctioned off the Governor's jet on eBay. Took on fellow-Republican Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings. Promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska. Helped pass a tax increase on oil company profits. Formed a sub-cabinet group of advisers to address climate change but does not accept that it is man-made. Objected to listing polar bears as an endangered species because it might hurt oil and gas development in the bears' habitat. Was for the bridge to nowhere before she was against it. However, Alaska kept the federal money. Denied her daughter was pregnant before she confirmed it. Supported abstinence-only education.Currently under a bipartisan investigation for abuse of power for dismissing Alaska's Public Safety Commissioner. Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska National Guard, but has played no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard. (The entire operation is under federal control, and the governor is not briefed on situations.)

Obtained her first passport in 2007 to perform visits to the Alaska National Guard in Kuwait and Germany. (Foreign experience so limited that a stopover in Ireland listed on her resume.)

Him: Impressive figure on the national stage who knows how Congress works and is engaged with foreign policy issues.
Her: small state governor for 21 months; "next to Russia", but that is just 1 of the 190 countries in the world she has never been to.

Conclusion: the word "executive" is not some kind of magic force multiplier when placed in front of the word "experience".

By they way, on the front page, it now turns out the Sarah's husband has quite a history with the Alaska Secession movement.

She's so outta here. LOL!

It occurs to me that McCain eviscerated virtually all of his attacks on Obama by picking Palin:

Experience? - most obvious
Judgement? - hehe
Extreme left? - take your pick
Crazy pastor? - Assembly of God
Patriotism? - AIP
"he's not one of us" insinuation? - seems normal now, doesn't he?

Worst pick ever.

I thought this election was McCain vs. Obama, not Palin vs. Obama. Palin's the VP choice, remember?

And as far as hammering on politicians who mix religion with politics - then I'm assuming you're definitely NOT voting for Barrack Obama? I can't think of anyone who more often and openly mixes the two...

I thought this election was McCain vs. Obama, not Palin vs. Obama. Palin's the VP choice, remember?

And as far as hammering on politicians who mix religion with politics - then I'm assuming you're definitely NOT voting for Barrack Obama? I can't think of anyone who more often and openly mixes the two...

So how is it that her Party says Palin never supported Buchanan when Buchanan (in the second part of this video) says she was a prominent supporter?

So how is it that her Party says Palin never supported Buchanan when Buchanan (in the second part of this video) says she was a prominent supporter?