The Boston Globe reports that Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was eager to jump into the contest between Barack Obama and John McCain at the GOP convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, last night.
Introducing herself as “just your average hockey mom” and playing the populism card, Ms. Palin portrayed Obama as a young and inexperienced politician who was mainly interested in furthering his political ambitions.
Palin made a number of sarcastic digs at Obama’s perceived celebrity status and youthful charm, saying that the Illinois senator had “authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform.”
"What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?" she asked a jubilant audience.
Palin also dismissed questions that have been circulating through the media about her qualifications by saying that such concerns came from “people who are unused to a candidate who doesn't come from the permanent political establishment.”
In outlining her leadership experience, the 44-year-old governor compared herself to Obama, saying, "Since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."
Palin also dismissed questions that have been circulating through the media about her qualifications by saying that such concerns came from “people who are unused to a candidate who doesn't come from the permanent political establishment."
Pot, kettle, black!!
Palin's experience is no different from Obama's, in reality. And the real issue is whether a President can surround him/herself with people that DO have the proper experience - and will listen to them!
"What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?"
She should ask this of McCain. In his speech tonight he actually claimed to feel annointed by God to save our country. W only said that to religious audiences. But I guess the RNC is a religious audience these days.
I have watched with much dismay the blurring of political and religious lines in recent years - can it be long before the US has a "State-run religion?"
I think that the US is slowly moving in Europe's direction - towards secularism, but it's more active Religious community is pushing back and fighting it tooth and nail. One way to do that is through the political system.
What they don't realize, and can't see, is that Europe's decline in religiosity is due precisely to the past merging of Religion and the State.
There is a very good quote:
James Madison, who is considered the "Father of the Constitution," asserted in 1785 that the fruits of governmental establishments of religion have been "[m]ore or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, [and] in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution." He also said, "Religion is not helped by establishment, but is hurt by it."
Madison and most of the other founders knew that previous governments had destroyed religious freedom by suppressing minority religions, instigated bloodbaths and other vicious disputes over whose religion would receive governmental support, propped up corrupt and tyrannical religions that people would no longer voluntarily support, and caused talented members of minority religions to emigrate to escape religious persecution or other mistreatment relegating them to second-class citizenship.
Governments also proved to be totally incompetent judges of religious claims, profaned religions by using them for sordid political purposes, eliminated the independence of religions by dominating them or making them reliant on governmental aid, secularized and trivialized religions by separating them from their theological substance, and caused some people to view religion as a weak and ineffectual force that could not survive without state subsidization.
All this has resulted in a percentage of Europeans that attend church in any form of regularity as less than 10% in most European countries, especially the West. Denmark, a couple of years ago, formally separated Church and State, as the percentage of Danes attending fell well to record lows that would not justify further support.
So, sure! Go ahead and force your religion on us, Conservatives! That'll be the fastest way I can think of to prove to Americans that your church cannot survive without Federal support, and is, at heart, worthless! The week after it becomes mandatory, attendance will fall off like a rock!
Good point, rwahrens! It is routinely pointed out that religion has flourished in America because of the tradition of separation of Church and State. But the inverse is seldom mentioned.
Today, my wife and I were at my daughter's, sitting for the kids. (For those that missed earlier posts about this, my second daughter, the one with the kids, converted to Catholicism in order to marry this guy. Wasn't my happiest moment, being atheist!)
My oldest grandchild is a boy, five, and she is home schooling the kids, so he's starting that schooling. She actually started a bit early, just after they got the Catholic Home Schooling package a couple weeks ago.
So my wife was sitting there, while the kids took their nap, and for something to read, picked up the "history" book that is part of that package.
Long story short, she had me read it after seeing what it contained.
It is the biggest piece of crap, full of more tasteless stuffing than a thanksgiving turkey! the entire book revolves around not just Catholic teachings, which I can understand, it being produced by the RCC, but the crowning touch is that every major figure in the book that supposedly had anything to do with American history seems to be Catholic! ...and most of them are saints! (or are about to be...) The major figures of American History they cannot avoid talking about that are NOT Catholic (Jefferson, Washington, Abe Lincoln) get no mention of their religious affiliation, or lack of it.
According to that book, C. Columbus was not only a good Catholic, but the Indians welcomed him with open arms, and he treated them well. No mention, of course, of the European diseases that killed 90% of them...
And remember the Aztecs? THEY welcomed the Spanish overthrow of their "evil rulers"! Even converted 9 MILLION people at a time, once they found out how much the Pope cared for them!
No mention of the huge amount of Azrec gold the Spanish stole from them, no mention of the enslavement of those same Indians by the Spanish when, in the segment on the War Between the States where they claim that "most Catholic nations" had outlawed slavery!
This book so twists American History, if they hadn't mentioned America, I'd have never recognized the story!!
Of course, what my daughter fails to see is that when her kids get older and recognize the outright lies they have been told, that will tarnish the entire spectrum of education that she has taught them! If you've been lied to about one thing, what else have you been lied to about?
Educating your kids outside of the public system in order to add your religion into the mix is one thing, and that is perfectly legal.
But I have a HUGE problem with twisting that education to the extent that the Catholic Church has done in that program. It should not be allowed.
Thanks for the last comment, rwahrens. Interesting perspective. It reminds me of a cartoon my husband and I were very fond of in our early years and still reference occasionally. It has a middle-aged couple in matching comfy chairs sipping their brandy while she sews and he reads the paper. He comes to an article on how children rebel from their parents and poses the question: Perhaps we owe it to our children to become stinking reactionaries?"
twisting that education to the extent
And that's the real problem with all the religious nuts. They twist everything to fit. And they have the one true way. The ends justify the means. And anyone who disagrees will just be bloody gore in the end anyway, so why worry about them now. God save us from his self-appointed minions.
Of course, what my daughter fails to see is that when her kids get older and recognize the outright lies they have been told, that will tarnish the entire spectrum of education that she has taught them!
I really hope your grandchildren will be able to discern facts from the myth, when they grow-up. It has been my experience that many go about life in a religious fog - always seeking some higher truth.
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Pot, kettle, black!!
Palin's experience is no different from Obama's, in reality. And the real issue is whether a President can surround him/herself with people that DO have the proper experience - and will listen to them!