Category: Politics

Good morning and welcome today to “Meet The Suspicious.” I’m your host Bret McAtee and joining me in our round table discussion is Cookie Robertson, Stephanie Opolis, and always present in his trademark bow tie, Will George. Welcome friends for another week of “Meet The Suspicious.”

Today our guest is Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, John McCain’s Republican Vice President nominee.

Welcome to our show Governor.

Governor Palin — Thank you Bret, it’s always good to be around my friends in the press.

Cookie — Well Governor, it’s been over a week since you’ve been nominated. How are you doing 8 days later.

Governor Palin — Cookie, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind. Still, my family and I are doing wonderfully and we are so excited to be in a campaign that is for the future of America.

Stephanie — Governor, since we’re still making small talk, I’m just dying to know if you have a fashion consultant. Your ear-rings and pearls during your speech were simple yet elegant. Do you do make your own fashion decisions or do you consult with someone.

Governor Palin — Stephanie, my best advice is from my Husband Todd and my daughter Bristol. All in all though I make my own decisions. Thank you for your kind comments.

Bret — Let’s move on to serious conversation shall we?

Governor, having grown up in the Church, I was wondering if you would say that the Church is important to you.

Governor Palin — Oh yes, my family and I have a very strong faith.

Bret — That’s what we’ve heard Governor and we salute you on that score.

Governor Palin — Why thank you Bret.

Bret — Governor, given that your faith is so important and the your Church is so important could you tell us if you’ve ever received from someone in your church — your pastor or anybody else — what is called as a “word from the Lord.”

Governor Palin — What?

Bret — Have you ever acted on that “word from the Lord” when you received it?

Governor Palin — I don’t know how any of this is germane to the campaign.

Will — I think where Bret is going with this Governor is that we think it is important to know how your Assembly of God theology could potentially affect your leadership. If you’ve acted upon a received word of the Lord from somebody before it might indicate that you would do so again while in office and quite possibly touching policy decisions.

Governor Palin — I would never do that.

Stephie — Why not? Couldn’t the Lord conceivably have a word for you on policy decision or does he only speak about non policy issues?

Governor Palin — This is preposterous.

Bret — So, is that a “yes” or a “no” on ever having received from someone a “word from the Lord” that you then acted on?

Governor Palin — I’m just not going to comment on these kind of issues.

Cookie — Very well. The church you grew up in has a long history of believing that Israel is God’s people and therefore should never be opposed. Will this teaching you grew up with affect your foreign policy decisions?

Governor Palin — Israel is our friend in the Middle East and America has always stood by her friends.

Bret — Governor, given your theology, we want to know if it would even be possible for Israel to act in such a way where you would sanction them or does your theology require you to always stand by Israel?

Governor Palin — I just answered that question Bret.

Will — Do you believe that it is important that the Solomonic temple needs to be rebuilt where the Muslim Dome of the Rock now stands and would you, by way of policy, support the Temple being rebuilt?

Governor Palin — Will, it’s hard to predict things in the future that might happen. I’d rather not try to pretend to be Nostradamus on this show.

Bret — Governor, have you ever spoken in tongues and if you have, have you ever had those tongues interpreted?

Governor Palin — Really, Bret, I don’t know what this has to do with campaign 2008.

Bret — Governor, it has to do with campaign 2008 because we are trying to find out, as we were earlier, if the teaching of your faith and church, which you yourself said was important, is going to impact future Palin policy decisions. If God is speaking to you — if he is imparting to you ongoing revelation — and if His speaking could possibly impinge on policy decisions we think the American people need to know that your decisions are coming from God.

Governor Palin — Have there ever been any other candidates with whom you’ve felt compelled to grill them on their faith.

Stephie — No, Governor, but we’ve never had other candidates from a faith and church tradition that regularly get messages from God.

Cookie — And we’ve never had other candidates whose faith and church taught, by way of divine revelation, that modern Israel continues to be God’s people.

Bret — And we think the American people would like to know if you differ from your church on these teachings.

Governor Palin — I think my record speaks for itself.

Bret — Thank you Governor. We will be right back after we break for these commercial messages. When we return we will continue to chat with the Governor focusing more directly on political and legal issues.

Insert Trojan commercial

Insert Deodorant commercial

Insert Bob Dole Viagra commercial

Bret — Welcome back to “Meet the Suspicious.” I am your host Bret McAtee and we are pleased to have Alaska Governor and Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin with us.

(Bret gives a beaming smile and nods to the Governor)

Bret — Let’s begin the questioning with Will.

Will — Governor, you’re reputed to be a conservative small government candidate. Can you tell us how you understand the 10th amendment?

Governor Palin — I think America should be a place where the Government knows its place.

Will — That’s interesting Governor, but what about the 10th amendment?

Governor — Will, I just answered that question.

Will — I see.

Cookie — Governor, do you agree with the controversial Supreme Court Gideon v. Wainwright decision that explicitly embraced the doctrine of incorporation?

Governor Palin — I think all companies should have the right to incorporate. I am a big believer in free markets.

Stephie — Governor, could you give us your views on the proper relation of Church and State?

Governor Palin — Stephie, I’ve always believed that the America people ought to be free to worship God in the public square. I don’t believe that we should try to eliminate God from our public life.

Bret — Which God ought the American people be free to worship Governor?

Governor Palin — Any one they’d like.

Bret — Even a God who sends them on Jihad?

Governor Palin — True religion is peaceful. When it is no longer peaceful it is no longer true religion and so should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Bret — So the American people are only free to serve pacifistic gods?

Governor Palin — Yes, that sounds right.

Stephie — Then how will we ever man a military?

Governor Palin — What?

Stephie — Well, if the American people are only free to serve pacifistic gods then they would seem to have to be a pacifistic people. Pacifistic gods have pacifistic follower after all.

Governor Palin — Of course Stephanie Americans have to be willing to fight for their country when needed.

Bret — So they should fight for their country but not their God?

Governor Palin — I didn’t say that Bret.

Cookie — Governor, can we return to the faith aspect just one more time.

Governor Palin — I’d love to answer any question I can.

Cookie — Good. Governor as a Christian we know you follow the Bible.

Governor Palin – As best as I can.

Cookie — Governor, just as Americans in 1960 had concerns about Jack Kennedy being submissive to the Pope, many Americans today are concerned about you possibly being submissive to your husband. Governor, can you relieve American’s concerns, as Jack Kennedy did, that you will be your own person and not be an agent for your husband as Kennedy was no agent of the Pope?

Governor Palin — Cookie, Todd knows I’m my own woman and he understands that my work as Vice President as nothing to do with him. The American people don’t need to worry about me being in submission to my husband as it touches political issues.

Will — So if your husband said, “You can’t bomb Iran, or you must bomb Iran,” you wouldn’t listen to him.

Governor Palin — He would never do that.

Stephie — But if he did, you’d refuse to be submissive.

Governor Palin — I certainly would.

Bret — Unfortunately, that’s all we have time for. Thank you Governor for being with us here today on “Meet the Suspicious.”

Governor Palin — Thanks for having me Bret. I look forward to coming back some day.

Bret — And thank you Cookie, Stephie, and Will.

We will see all of you next week on…

Meet The Suspicious.

I strongly encourage everyone to listen to what John Lofton has to say about Sarah Palin’s pro-life record as governor of Alaska:

Another Palin question for Reformed Christians that I’ve been hinting at is put directly by Frank Golubski,

Should Christians who favor a non-dispensationalist eschatology even consider supporting a dispensationalist candidate? (Mind you, this isn’t merely a spitting match between differing theologies, but a question of how dispensationalist theology could reasonably be expected to influence the political decisions of national leaders who adhere to it.)

Joshua Luper had a great thought at his blog on how low American Christian expectations have become. Things have gotten so low in this country that we (and I include myself here) are massively impressed when a mother doesn’t kill her child. Think about all the kudos that Sarah and Bristol Palin are getting for not murdering their children. Now don’t get me wrong. I am ecstatic that they didn’t murder their children but is the ethic of not murdering your children one that should really impress us about somebody? What next … resume enhancements for not being a nymphomaniac? Career advancement for not being an embezzler? Husband of the year for not being an adulterer and wife beater?
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The argument for voting for McCain by those who say they don’t like McCain often reduces to…”I am fearful of an Obama presidency.”

I thought as Christians we were only to fear God. I thought as Christians that fear of God was supposed to be one motivation to do right. Instead we are doing wrong (voting for a wicked man) out of fear of an Obama Presidency. Most curious.
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Word is that Oprah doesn’t want to book Sarah Palin on her show. This is fantastic for Republicans as such an attitude will increasingly make it apparent that the election is about how one race often lines up with a particular ideology. Oprah not booking Palin will just make
typical traditional White people (to use Obama’s phrase) realize how much they are disliked by typical traditional black people.
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Over at Doug Wilson site he holds court on the voting for McCain in 2008 issue. If you want to see his latest argument supporting a vote for McCain in this election cycle you can go to Mablog and read his “Epistemological Pileup” entry.

What follows is how I respond to Wilson’s argument that voting for McCain / Palin may be a Biblical option.

Doug,

All you’ve proven is that in Scripture there are times, when confusion reigns, that exceptions occur. You have not proven

1.) That Deborah is prescription as opposed to description.

2.) That Sarah Palin is a prophetess the way that Deborah was a prophetess and so worthy of a Christian’s vote to judge in the civil realm in this exception time.

3.) That this is an exception time where Christians can disregard God’s normativity for social order.

4.) Also, I think we need to ask the question that if a woman can be the countries Commander in chief then how could we argue that women can’t be soldiers under the chief commander? Sarah Palin as a potential commander in chief paves the way for any feminist argument supporting women in the military. If Christians say a woman is qualified to command the troops its hard to see how we could argue that a woman isn’t qualified to be a troop.

5.) Finally, McCain’s speech last night made it clear he intends to be bipartisan. Now, given this reality, one can only believe that any voter trust of the Republican party would be a case of willful blindness that is suppressing the truth.

In short Doug, you’ve not made the case that it is Biblical to vote for wicked men — even if they lure us with putatively conservative women.

ABC opened McCain’s speech by focusing their camera on one lone protester with a sign protesting McCain’s voting on veterans in the convention hall.

McCain opened his speech complimenting those who ran against him on the Republican campaign primary trail. He then moved on to focusing on and thanking his family. He then moved on to compliment Barack Obama on his campaign but then immediately insisting that he intended to win this election.

McCain was then interrupted by a couple more stray female protesters passing their diversion off with a handsome off the cuff line. Clearly there was a concerted effort by some organization to disturb his speech.

McCain finally pushed on his speech to highlight Palin’s accomplishment. I’m not sure I ever remember a Presidential acceptance speech spending so much time speaking on their Vice Presidential running mate. McCain knows he has a winner in Palin. By focusing on Palin’s reform record he promised Washington fat cats that change was coming. He repeated the idea of change coming more than once, recalling his Maverick nick, thus seeking to steal the thunder from the Obama campaign. McCain continues to offer American’s a different kind of change from that which is offered by Obama. Again, I believe this really cripples Obama’s campaign. Will this be a campaign where the argument is going to be over who’s change is the preferable change?

McCain then tried to sell himself as a lone fighter against special interests groups of varied natures. All I could think of was the Keating five and his work fronting a George Soros organization.

McCain then recited how he fights for Americans. It was interesting that the three families that he mentioned by name all live in battleground states.

McCain then launched into a litany of how both parties in Washington have been corrupted and so have let America down. It was a bit difficult to take McCain seriously at this point. I mean after all, this is the guy who let America down with McCain – Feingold and who let America down in his pursuit of amnesty for illegal aliens. The Mr. pro stem-cell research made a reference to his party being the party that is committed to the culture of life.

Then McCain lied to us about how he will be a small government kind of guy and compared his administration to a possible Obama administration that would be pro big government.

McCain gave his version of compassionate conservatism by promising the governments assistance to help displaced workers in the global economy to find new jobs. He promised government aid to fill in the difference between the wages that people were making before their jobs were shipped overseas and the wages they are making while learning a new job. McCain promised government help in education. He implied that bad teachers need to find new work, (The NEA won’t like that) and he said that he wants to bring in market forces in education. (They’re not really market forces because all of the choices will still be government financed.) McCain promised to pursue energy independence by a implementing a several prong strategy that includes drilling now, building nuclear power plants, clean coal technology, natural energies, and electric automobiles.

McCain then turned to foreign policy issues. He spoke of the dangers of Al-Queda, Iran, and Russia, thus showing his neo-con Empire loving bonafides. If McCain is elected President there is going to be plenty of opportunities for American boys to bleed and die. McCain seemed to advocate being prepared for perpetual war in the interest of perpetual peace. This attitude, historically speaking, as been long on the perpetual war part and short on perpetual peace aspect.

McCain, promised, as Bush promised eight years ago to be bi-partisan. Historically, for McCain that means that he constantly moves to the Democratic side of the aisle. McCain made an implied promise to include Democrats and Independents in a McCain administration, and he promised that who gets the credit for governmental success in a McCain administration is something that he will be willing to distribute all the way around.

McCain ended by telling his POW story, which remains a compelling story. I’d like to believe that McCain is giving me straight talk in this story. His pirouette was to challenge Americans who are disgruntled with America to find a way to serve it and make it better, fighting in every way possible to advance the good of the nation.

The speech really was programmatic in the beginning and wasn’t that good until the end. John McCain isn’t a public speaker. McCain’s ending to the speech however, from the point of telling his POW story onward, was really quite good. McCain’s passion and earnestness came through in this portion of the speech.

The speech was strange because McCain chastised his party for being corrupted by Washington and so failing the America public. A nominee chastising his own party probably hasn’t happened since 1940 when Wendell Wilkie chastised the Republican party upon his nomination. The speech was also strange because McCain clearly communicated his intent to be bipartisan.