Palin fit de Battle ob Jericho

AND THE WALLS CAME TUMBLING DOWN!!!


Really, one has to sit back, admire the surge of bad press for Sarah Palin in the last 24 hours, and smile. A smile of triumph. A smile of self-assurance. A smile that with this, the most disastrous choice of a Vice President in modern times, John McCain has given the country a glimpse of his laughable executive skill and burned his bridge to nowhere, er, the presidency.

Here is a little snapshot, if you will, of the various scandals and controversies that have surfaced in the last 24 HOURS:

1. Secessiongate: Palin was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party in the 90s, a radical political group that has been pushing for a legal vote since the 70s over Alaska's right to secede from the United States. Naturally, the McCain campaign denies Palin's involvement.

2. Babygate: Palin admitted earlier today that her 17-year old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. This is something that does not concern ME; as Obama correctly pointed out today, families should be off-limits to political charades, but this will not play well with the pure, wholesome, idiotic conservatives that McCain was trying to snag with his choice of Palin.

3. Recallgate: All the poetry that GOP mouthpieces waxed about Palin's time as the Mayor of Wasilla, news broke yesterday that Palin was nearly recalled in 1997 for the unjust firing of the Library Director and Police Chief if Wasilla. Why did she fire them? because they did not support her 1996 campaign for office, or, as Palin put it, they did "not fully supporting her efforts to govern."

4. Bridgegate: Palin's supposed opposition to the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" is no opposition at all. Not only did she really SUPPORT the bridge, but she financed a road to the bridge! Call the "Road to Nowhere."

5. Troopergate: As Governor, Palin used her influence to order the firing of her brother-in-law, a state trooper, after he divorced her sister. When Commissioner of Public Safety Walter Monegan refused to honor her request, she fired HIM! It should be noted that since the story broke, Palin has seeked legal counsel regarding the scandal.

6. Churchgate: Just breaking today, it has been discovered that Palin formerly attending the Wasilla Assembly of God, a Pentecostal Church in the town that has some very questionable beliefs and seems to have had a divine influence on the policies of Mrs. Palin.

In speeches before the church, Palin not only spoke of the messianic task of the Iraq War, but she also prayed that God would give cutbacks to her people of Alaska and authorize a $30 billion pipeline for the state. See for yourself:

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

And:

"I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.

And about the beliefs of the church? The senior pastor of the church, Ed Kalnins, preaches that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell (good news for me!), people who voted for John Kerry in 2004 may not be accepted into heaven, and, my personal favorite, that 9/11 and the Iraq War were part of a war "contending for your faith;" and said that Jesus "operated from that position of war mode."

While we'll never fully know how indebted Palin's views are with this nuthouse, her support for the church and it's preaching is unabashed. Consider this speech Palin delivered to the church in June: "Having grown up here, and having little kids grow up here also, this is such a special, special place," Palin said. "What comes from this church I think has great destiny."

FOUR MORE YEARS

Of these scandals and controversies, Palin's abuse of power as Mayor/Governor and her nutty church are the biggest areas of concern.

The abuses of power are obvious: a little, spiteful woman drunk her own power. Like Dick Cheney with a uterus. If we are to compare this to Dubya's administration, Palin's actions go hand-in-hand with Brownie and FEMA, the US attorneys firing scandal, and the hiring practices of the Department of Justice. Palin IS Dick Cheney.

And while these developments are catastrophic of Palin's image as a leader, they are even more incriminating of John McCain's own judgment. George W. Bush's presidency was forever squandered when he chose Dick Cheney as his Vice President, and the short-sightedness of that selection seemed, at its time, to have no equal...until now. We all knew what McCain was trying to pull when he announced Palin as his VP, but what we didn't realize was just how arrogant and egotistical he had been in this selection, how he met the woman only once, how he didn't even send a SINGLE team of legal experts to vet Palin's past and dig up chestnuts like troopergate. If this costs McCain the presidency, good, because it is a clear snapshot of his horrific and arrogant decision-making.

The church-related scandal is, again, a direct correlation to the hell we've visited with Jesus-freak Dubya as our president, a confused and disillusioned style of leadership where it is more important to pray for success than get down to the brass tacks and research that create intelligent, fully-rounded leaders.

Not only does Palin's association and support of the church inspire this kind of leader, but it presents very, VERY troubling information regarding her view of Islam. Whether or not Christians like it, Islam is a religion on the rise as it adds new members by the minute and country's that preach the religion gain international clout by the day. Without question, the next president is going to have to be a leader who respects the influence of Islam on the world and approaches the leaders and politicians of Islamic faith with humility.

Can a woman who calls the war in Iraq--an effort to effectively topple an Islamic regime and replace it with good, clean, Christian democracy--"God's task" really be capable of such understanding?

In a word: NO.