Conversations in a Red State

Below are some random musings from an email that came out of a (rather heated) conversation with the unnamed relative about Barack Obama's crazy pastor versus Sarah Palin's crazier pastor, Sarah Palin's own pre-wedding pregnancy, Palin's views on choice, and her position on the overfishing problem (hint: she doesn't think there is one, really).  PS - I added a few more notes and links than exist in the original email, which I thought I would mention just for sake of truthiness.

The Reverend Wright versus Wasilla Assembly of God Thing

A lot of socially important black people in Chicago belong to Trinity Church (which is Church of Christ, ie Congregationalist, which is predominantly white nationally) - Oprah belonged for some time as well.  Wright follows something known as black liberation theology, which was developed during the Civil Rights era to draw blacks from the Muslim faith back to church.  I personally am not a fan of this philosophy but feel that most evangelical thought - on abortion, gay rights, sex education, evolution vs creationism, etc - is much more scary because it actually has an impact on our laws.

I agree that Wright is a nut but I don't think Obama adheres to Wright's nuttier beliefs whereas Palin does adhere to the nuttier beliefs of the Assembly of God congregation.  Pastor Ed Kalnins, who has been a friend, mentor, and minister to Palin all of her life said after her assumption of the vice presidential candidacy, "She will take our message to the world!"  According to Salon, a pastor named Howard Bess said of her,

"The evangelicals were trying to take over the valley. They took over the school board, the community hospital board, even the local electric utility. And Sarah Palin was in the direct center of all these culture battles, along with the churches she belonged to."

Obama did eventually resign his membership officially in May but I think he had not really attended in some time because he apparently was not present for those incendiary sermons which have so angered everyone (Obama was in Florida when Wright damned America).  Palin also resigned her membership in the Wasilla Assembly of God (which is a division of Penetecostal faith) but has maintained a close relationship with the church. No one has asked her to renounce them despite the fact that pastor Ed, "preached that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell; questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted to heaven; charged that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and war in Iraq were part of a war "contending for your faith;" and said that Jesus "operated from that position of war mode". (from a Salon article about Bess and Palin).

Like Mother, Like Daughter

BTW, Palin eloped in 8/29/88 and her son was born in 4/20/89. That's less than 8 months - oops!  Dubious that he was conceived on the day they were married and then born prematurely.

Feminist for Life?

Also, her views on abortion are as follows: Palin has called herself "as pro-life as any candidate can be"^[176] and has called abortion an "atrocity."^[177] Palin supports a constitutional amendment to make abortion illegal in all cases, including rape and incest,^[178][179] except if the life of the mother is endangered.^[180]"   Her views on sex education aren't much better, but at least she will allow discussion of birth control (whatever that means).

All the Fish in the Sea

With regard to commercial fishing as in all things us versus Mother Earth, Palin deprecates science and environmentalism: "I do not want to see us return to the days when ADF&G (Alaska Department of Fish & Game) decisions were based too much on science promoting environmentalist politics."  Basically wherever someone wanted to protect wildlife or fish stocks, she would attack it as "personal agendas of federal fishery managers."(Interestingly, the source document for these quotes used to be located at www.palinforgovernor.com/Position%20Papers SarahPalinOnCommercialFishing.pdf is no longer available).

I Think I'm James Carville

I filled out a survey for the Obama campaign today and said this in the comments field:
I think the campaign should focus on the historic twin pillars of American culture - sacrifice and innovation - that will heal our economy and environment, and reposition America as a global powerhouse.  Forget about critiquing McCain & Palin - leave that to us bloggers - get back to Obama as an active positive.  Remember, Kerry mostly ran as the anti-Bush and look where that got us.  People need more than "I am not like him,"  they need "I am a leader."  And Obama has everything a great leader needs in spades: an inspiring, articulate rhetorical style; an easy grace with others; intellectual curiosity and a lightning acumen; and a commanding presence of body and mind.  That is why I chose him over Hillary Clinton in the primary - even though it broke my heart not to vote for a woman - because I believe he has the stuff to beat McCain and remake the American presidency into an institution of which we can all be proud once again.  I love Obama - let everyone else love him too.

The No Twilight Zone

Faced with a bizarre barrage of odious press releases, emails, backroom comments, and rally speeches from the McCan't campaign, Jason, James, and I decided to launch a blog to discuss our mutual nausea (and hopefully provide some relief to ourselves through expiation).  From now on, all political sugarpoet posts will go onto The No Twilight Zone as well (anything baby, musical, opera, or tech-related will publish solely on sugarpoet).  Progressives and pragmatists, give yourself a big hug...visit notwilightzone.blogspot.com for some regaling rants and snappy snippets on the race of our lives.

Misery, Thy Name is Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin...governor to a backwater state, mayor to a backwater town, lover of lipstick-smeared dogs on ice, hater of polar bears, one-time media darling and scourge of America. As a voter, my penultimate question to Palin (after asking first, "Why are you here?") is "Why do you hate women, and especially mothers?" Actually, this is more of a question I would put to the Republican Party. Palin claims she can balance her newborn special needs baby with first a cross-country no-holds-barred presidential campaign and then one of the most demanding positions in the world (and possibly the most demanding if McCain's 72 year-old body does not hold out). According to an aide, Palin fuses mothering with governing:

“She’ll be with Piper or Trig, then she’s got a press conference or negotiations about the natural gas pipeline or a bill to sign, and it’s all business,” Ms. Burney, who works across the hall, said. “She just says, ‘Mommy’s got to do this press conference.’ ”

By holding herself up as both the paragon of motherhood and the ideal state executive, Sarah Palin is essentially saying that both are not full-time jobs. She is insulting stay-at-home mothers, some of whom have sacrificed career and money to care for their own children, day in and day out, twenty-four hours a day. She is also insulting working mothers, who must daily battle exhaustion, guilt, and separation anxiety in an uneasy compromise between two jobs. And finally, she is insulting women who have forgone motherhood for careers, a great sacrifice in its own right (Condoleeza Rice comes to mind as an example).  Take it from someone who tries to do some piddly consulting work here and there and take care of a perfectly healthy and wonderful eighteen-month old - you cannot work and take care of a baby at the same time without the assistance of another caregiver.  You cannot balance the baby on one knee while you balance the budget.  You cannot breastfeed while composing important legislation.  You cannot resolve the Georgia-Russia crisis during naptime.  You cannot take care of baby at the very same time you are doing something else, because caring for a baby is full-time employment.
Please somebody tell Sarah Palin to stop holding up her position as a working mother as a qualification for the highest office in the land.  Whether it's her knocked-up teen daughter or giving a speech while her water breaks and then waiting to fly back to Alaska to seek medical treatment, or her plundering of tiny Wasilla's budget or trying to use her clout to get her sister's ex fired (and then getting caught), aka Troopergate, she's not doing well at either the mother or the governor thing.  Maybe there is a woman out there that can manage a family of five with one still in diapers, and learn how to lead an entire nation with a complex bureaucracy, a squabbling Congress of an opposing party, a multi-front war, an economic crisis of deep and scary proportions, and many rogue nations itching for a fight.  But the woman who could balance these monumental tasks is not Sarah Palin. To say that this feat of the imagination is even possible for her is a grotesque lie and an affront to women everywhere.
The pig has lipstick and the lipstick is a really ugly color.