The Sarah Palin Digest

[filkertom]

Think Progress has a compendium of Gov. Sarah Palin's policy positions. Pretty straightforward and well-linked.

Comments

[musicmutt.livejournal.com]

They cannot get in! I've been reading Richard Dawkins lately. The religious right cannot get in! Don't let them get in!

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

Let's not go down that route please. I'm a religious person and I really grow tired of being told that people like me can't hold office for the singular reason that we're religious.

Granted I don't think that Christians should have tied themselves to any politcal party because it misses the point fantasitcly, but that's another matter entirely.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

There's nothing wrong with a religious person holding office provided they remember that they swore on Holy Texts to defend the Constitution... Not the other way around.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

I accept that, even endorse it because I understand that any law made that targets one group can be turned around to target me and mine.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

There are only two problems with the religious right.

They're not religious.

They're not right.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

The problem is that the "religious right" would rather turn this country into a Christian theocracy and woe to anyone who isn't their brand of Christian. Need I remind people of "G-D doesn't hear the prayer of a Jew," for instance? These people tend to forget that the person who financed the American revolution was Jewish, and he died penniless, forgotten by the country he financed in its creation.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

This is the first I've heard of THAT!

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

It happened back in 1980. "Rev. Bailey Smith, 1980 Religious Roundtable national affairs briefing in Dallas TX. The exact quote was: 'God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew.' Smith later enlarged on this comment by saying: 'I am pro-Jew…I believe they are God's special people, but without Jesus Christ, they are lost.'"

(from here (http://www.religioustolerance.org/jud_chrr.htm))

[kosaginolegion.livejournal.com]

Wow. Just... wow.

Like the tag for her, btw.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Thanks. But, credit where due: the term was created by lemmozine.

[kosaginolegion.livejournal.com]

It's a good one. Although so far, no one's had to do much digging to find her background.

One wonders, did they choose her in part so they could cry foul over any discussion that includes birth control and/or abortion? Suspicious little minds want to know.

And, I agree with Obama that Bristol and Trig shouldn't be pointed at. But then, there are plenty of teen pregnancies and overloaded families to use as an example. Ones lacking the social and monetary network that protects the Palin family.

[danceswithlife]

From what I hear today, the GOP party line--coming from Republican women--is that criticisms of her are anti-feminine. We couldn't possibly be criticizing her because she's got some serious problems. No we're criticizing her because she is a strong, maverick woman who isn't afraid to take on both serious family issues and politics at the same time. After all, we rejected another strong woman--Hillary Clinton--so we must be rejecting Palin for the same reasons. And now, according to both MSNBC and Charlie Rose's shows last night (Republican voices), since trade is a big deal in Alaska, she met often with representatives of foreign countries to discuss trade issues. This gives her both "foreign diplomacy" and "trade" cred. Both Olberman and Matthews last night were saying things like, "Well, it seems we've found out everything we're going to find out about her. Maybe the GOP made a good choice after all."

I have to take my hat off to whoever on McCain's staff took over the convention and the talking points for Palin. In less than a week they have shifted the discussion significantly, and probably made this a horse race again. SARAH PALIN SUCKS AS A VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, AND MCCAIN WILL CARRY ON BUSH'S POLICIES. But those facts are now getting lost under the "oooh...pretty" of the stories of McCain and Palin. They really are wooing the independents and the undecideds. I'm beginning to be very afraid.

[kosaginolegion.livejournal.com]

Any woman who was going to vote for Clinton and is now willing to vote for a woman whose policies are so completely at odds with Clinton's is a shallow self-absorbed nit-wit. Given, of course, that the reason they're voting for McCain/Palin is because they're actually voting AGAINST Obama.

The one thing I have to say about being afraid is, at this point, as close as the Democrats have come to winning, it's better to BE afraid, to keep on one's toes and very worried that McCain and the GOP will win. The worse thing to do near the end of a race is relax.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

The tag "palintology" refers to the fact that she keeps company with dinosaurs whose ideas all go back to the root idea of Barry Goldwater: Bomb 'em back to the stone age. Also refers to the republican platform being 90% based on a false system of economics of digging for long-dead dinosaurs, by offshore drilling, which by all reasonable reckoning will be more costly than profitable in our lifetimes.

[huskiebear.livejournal.com]

Wow. I can see why they love her so much - she's W-ette. Used hot button gut issues rather than relevant policy to get elected -check. Stormed in and replaced all the staff with plants to further her own agenda - check (no time to rig the supreme court yet). Pander to local big business and church while claiming to be on the side of God - check. Push for "cut tax and still spend" policies that leave the citizens drowning in debt ($20 million for a city of 4600???? c'mon now!) - checkity-check. She's the one, all right.

THis is....

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

This is really, really scary. (I was frightened anyway.)

Nate

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

She's mad, I tell you! MAD!!!!

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

I shake my head at some of this and point to it as a prime reason as to why the Christian community should not have tied ourselves to any singular party.

I'll be honest here. I'm pro-life, pro-second ammendment, I'm for limited, common sense government, pro freedom of speech. I do think that, at the very least, honest discussion of evolution should be encouraged in schools, including teaching the honest history of it, including the several instances of fraud and falsified tests and evidence. (This is in the interest of keeping people honest, which is an absolute for me) I believe in treating everyone with love, as Christ told us to. I very much believe that we should take care of the Earth and be the good stewards we were charged with being.

There are other aspects to be sure but that's where I stand, and it's why I'm leaning more and more to voting for Obama, despite his stand on abortion; and why I can't, in good conscience, support McCain because of his, and the Republican Party's, stand that the economic problems facing the poor and the middle class aren't that bad.

You've hit it.

[capplor.livejournal.com]

If the Republicans walked the walk, instead of talking the talk and running from anything resembling personal conscience, I'd consider voting for them. As it is, blues can consider me quite safe.

(Remember when the government declared the existance of a "Red Menace"? Wonder if they just had some bad timing there.)

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

limited, common sense government

That's been one of the frustrating things for me, for some time now. I've never been a Republican, but as far as I understood, the Republican party used to be the party that was about keeping government out of people's lives as much as possible-- that government governs best which governs least, and all that.

The current administration did a TOTAL about face on that, and they want to get in everyone's lives just about as much (and as illegally) as possible. They're not Republicans. (Which I suppose is why the term "neo-cons" cropped up.) The part that frustrates me is-- why hasn't the main bulk of the party noticed that? Why haven't they kicked these idiots out and taken back their party?

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

Because many of them have bought into the new party line and that's another reason why I'm leaning more and more towards the Democrats this year,

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan: "I didn't leave the Republicans, they left me."

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

Abraham Lincoln was the last of the old-time righteous republicans. It's all downhill from there. Although Ford is one president I kind of liked, because he pardoned the draft dodgers who fled to Canada and let them back in the country, under his own terms certainly, but a far more out-of-the-box action than I've heard of any republican taking before or since.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

Abraham Lincoln was the _first_ President of the Republican party. They'd fielded a candidate a couple of times before, but he's the first one that won, and that established the Republicans as a viable party (the Whigs died out not long thereafter).

If you've ever wondered why the South used to be heavily Democratic (prior to the 50s, say), that's why.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

OK, so he was the first - and last - decent Republican.

Is there still such a thing as a "liberal Republican" or "conservative Democrat" or have we become more polarized in the last 40- 50 years?

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

Charles Percy was pretty much the last "liberal Republican". I think there are still some "conservative Democrat"s.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

I have some respect for Theodore Roosevelt and Eisenhower.

If you have doubts that there are conservative Democrats, look up "Blue Dog Democrats". Or look at the positions of a lot of Southern Democrats at various levels of government.

Liberal Republicans...sure. By comparison, at least. Take a look at the positions of Republican governors of otherwise strongly Democratic states. (For example: I don't like Schwarzenegger in general and I don't like a lot of his positions or policies, but he's not a classic Republican in a lot of ways, either.)

Whether these examples fit your criteria for 'conservative' and 'liberal' is up to you.

[patoadam]

Yes, I think that anybody who is pro-life should logically care about making a better world for our children, as I infer that you do; I think that's one reason we need to be good stewards of the Earth.

I believe that Bush and McCain are consistently wrong on issues that affect our children, such as global warming and other environmental issues, the national debt our children must inherit, and the war in Iraq.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

I think we agree a lot there. I'll admit that, as much as I personally dislike violence, military actions such as war are a regrettable necessity at times. Its just a reality of the world we live in. So I think that our military should be the best equipped and the best trained in the world and that when we do send them into harms way in a war it should be done in defense of the nation or because an ally asked for our help.

And above all else they should led with courage, intelligence and the deep knowledge that you are sending them into harms way, and as such pray that you made the right choice.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

[in passing]

You, we can talk to. The fanatics (and this seems to include Bush himself, and Palin) who lead the religious faction of the current Republican coalition, there is no reaching.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

BTW, the police have gone insane for the RNC in Minneapolis (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/3/9419/62721/338/584431). Stuff right out of the USSR or perhaps Chicago in 1968.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised that the library censorship issue isn't there.

[patoadam]

Could you point out a web page giving her views on that issue?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

How about Time Magazine (http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837918,00.html)?

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

Ah! I was looking for that earlier.

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them.

... Oy. (And I wanna know which books, though I assume they're the standard ones..)

[devospice.livejournal.com]

One of my bosses- who is a self-proclaimed Republican and voted for W both times- told me yesterday that Palin scared him away. For the first time in his life he is voting Democrat.

I'm still scared as hell that this is going to be another close, contested, and probably screwed up election that the Republicans will end up "winning," but that little note from my boss gave me a little hope at least.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

In my office, I'm the only independent. I vote a mixture of my brain and my heart. Right now, this is what I see of the *4* announced presidential candidates. To be fair to all, I'm going reverse gender-neutral:

1. One refuses to accept the blame for her mistakes, and her parent blames people like me for her loss in a recent election;
2. One says that I shouldn't have been allowed to serve in the military because I'm not the right religion;
3. One is ready to cavort with known terrorists who would see this country destroyed, and her party listens to a known terrorist-supporting organization that would see ths country turned into a religious theocracy, where I would have to pay a tax for not being the proper religion;
4. One says that my service to my country was a mistake because of who I am, that the only reason I'm treated as a second-class citizen because of my faith is because of the Irreligious Wrong, who want turn this country into a religious theocracy and, again, if you're not of the right faith, you're a second- or third-class citizen.

Now you tell me: of these candidates, all of whom say I should not be treated as an equal citizen of the United States because I'm who I am, which one should I be voting for?

[ketira.livejournal.com]

Whatever state you're in now - please come to Florida. Here we have a nice little STATE law that prohibits any religious discrimination. We really are the "live and let live" state in regards to religion. (That question just does not get asked because of said law.)

Um... which candidate are you referring to in description #3? Just curious, so I know whether or not to vote for him/her.

From reading Tom's link (blowing a virtual kiss in his direction ;) ), I don't want anything to do with Palin. I was wondering why she was sounding so much like a Christian Preacher in what little bit of her Speech I heard; now I know. One question I'd love to see her answer: "When did you stop thinking for yourself?"

Hang on a sec; I thought something wasn't right.

[ketira.livejournal.com]

....and for some reason, you forgot two of them. Check out Presidental Candidates (Project Vote Smart) (http://www.votesmart.org/election_president.php) and maybe you'll find one to vote for --even if s/he doesn't get enough votes.

Re: Hang on a sec; I thought something wasn't right.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

Nah, don't think so. I think I'll write my name in again.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

You sure you want to know? OK, I'll tell you - #3 is Obama, and the organization which would see this country turned into a religious theocracy is the Council for American-Islamic Relations.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I do think you had better provide some links for your assertion.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

here (http://www.anti-cair-net.org). Click on the CAIR legal battle and legal documents further down. It'll show what you're looking for as far as my major contention. And if you click on the articles at the top and along the left-hand side, you'll find the rest of the answers. CAIR is supported by Hamas.

[patoadam]

For a neutral view of CAIR, I recommend http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_on_American-Islamic_Relations.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't surprise me if the "neutral view" was created by members of CAIR. Take a look at CAIR v. Whitehead and tell me CAIR is neutral.

[patoadam]

I agree that the organization looks suspicious.

On Obama's alleged involvement with CAIR, I did a web search, and I found that a letter to CAIR written by a blogger named Umar Lee was believed by some to have been written by Obama.

You've probably noticed that CAIR has met with George W. Bush.

[fredhuggins.livejournal.com]

If you're not too nauseated by this whole situation, Mr. Smith, I have an INSTA-FILK CHALLENGE for you, should you choose to accept it.

A parody of "Layla" (either version, your choice) called "Palin."

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Not too nauseated. Too busy.

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

foomf mentioned something to me earlier today in my LJ, which prompted me to make this:

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

BTW, we have this note on Palin (http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/kilkenny.asp), from one the people who opposed Palin's attack on the Wasila librarian. Snopes, you will notice, has verified the note, and I worry about Anne Kilkenny--she doesn't have a job to lose, but her husband does.