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Sarah Palin says war is God’s will.
I don’t know if there is a God or not,
But I know that this is not my will.
I know that war is not my will.
Sarah Palin says she speaks for God.
But she only speaks for her own good.
Sarah Palin will bring us all to war.
Sarah Palin? Not In My Name.

You want to see what God’s will is?
Take a look then at what goes on in Palin’s war.
This is what Sarah Palin says God wills.
This is Sarah Palin’s God swill.

Last month I wrote about Random House’s craven decision to revoke its publication of the historical romance The Jewel of Medina on the grounds that some unknown terrorist somewhere might bomb someone after reading it and getting hypothetically homicidally upset. The new Random House rule: If It Might Miff a Muslim, Muffle it. Oddly enough, Random House proudly carries a number of titles that harshly critique Christianity, and The Jewel of Medina doesn’t even try to act as a critique of Islam, but those are just tiny little facts hit by the wave of Random House’s peevish publishing panic.

Good news emerged yesterday: The Jewel of Medina has found a publisher with the aptly named Beaufort Books. The novel will be released in October of 2008, and NPR has published an excerpt of the novel.

Strangely enough, not one person at Beaufort Books or NPR has been killed by an Islamofascist. One clerk at Beaufort did get a hangnail after the announcement, though. Now more than ever, we must persevere. Cue the tinkly piano music of mourning.

A few days ago, I placed the following video online, so that people could see the bizarre ideas being promoted by Sarah Palin’s church in Wasilla. This is the church at which Palin gave a speech on June 8th this year, proclaiming that the fighting and killing of American soldiers in Iraq is a part of God’s will, and a fossil fuel pipeline in Alaska is too.

In response to the video a supporter of Sarah Palin wrote,

“Fuck you heathen, I bet you can see Hell creeping up on your life already, can’t you?”

Every time I see journalists refer to people like this as “values voters”, I feel the urge to vomit.

Senator Sam Brownback gave an exceptional example of the incoherence that results from the mixing of religion and politics. Giving a speech to warm up the crowd for John McCain, Brownback tried to reconcile the belief that God has given America a destiny with the political assertion that the fate of America depends upon who we elect as President this year. Brownback said,

“I believe in American exceptionalism, that this is a special land and that to whom much is given much is required. We are blessed to be a blessing, but for America to fulfill its God-given destiny, we need leaders to help take us there…. John McCain is one of those leaders.”

So, on the one hand, Senator Brownback claims that America is a special nation that has been chosen by the Christian God to lead the world. He says this destiny is “God-given”. That’s past tense, which means the deal is already sealed. The destiny of world leadership has been given to us already.

Well, if that’s really true, and not just a lot of pretty meaningless God-talk babble, then we don’t need to do anything. It’s destiny, and destiny cannot be changed. If destiny can be changed, after all, it’s not destiny, but mere possibility. So, Sam Brownback is asserting, through the power of his religious faith, that the success of the United States of America is all wrapped up. It’s for sure, and nothing can stop us.

That’s in accordance with the religious belief of American exceptionalism that Sam Brownback claims to believe in, but it seems that as he was writing his speech, it occurred to Brownback that his religious pronouncement was giving Republicans permission to sit at home and do nothing - not even vote. You see, if God had guaranteed American leadership of the world as destiny, then it would mean that it wouldn’t matter if John McCain were elected or not. Whomever the titular President of the United States would be, God would be the real one in charge of the USA. So, why bother campaigning for John McCain?

That’s where Sam Brownback’s 180 degree turn begins, with the nonsense phrase “We are blessed to be a blessing,” which doesn’t mean anything except to express Senator Brownback’s feeling that he really has no idea what he’s talking about.

Then, Senator Brownback gives the internally inconsistent declaration that if we are to fulfill our God-given destiny, we need leaders to take us there, and that John McCain is one of those leaders. The clear implication is that if we do not choose John McCain as our President, America will not achieve its destiny. So, says Brownback, vote McCain!

That’s nonsense, of course. First of all, Senator Brownback never explained how he could tell that it was John McCain, and not Barack Obama, who would lead America toward the destiny already given to us by God. Did God come down out of the heavens and tell Senator Brownback? Did the angels send a memo to Senator Brownback’s office, or maybe, did Senator Brownback just make it all up and just pretend that he knows what the destiny of America is?

That’s the trouble with destiny. You can’t really know if something is destiny before it happens, because, well, there’s still a chance that it won’t happen. Even after something happens, you don’t really know if it was destiny for it to happen, or if there could have been another outcome. You don’t know, because you haven’t had the chance to try out that alternate reality, and you never will get the chance.

But, in spite of all the reasons he can’t possibly really know what America’s destiny is, Senator Brownback says that there is a destiny for America, and that it’s for America to be successful, and that God has made it a sure thing as a gift to us all.

So why was it that religious Americans need to elect John McCain again? Oh, yeah. It was because God has given us a destiny, but the destiny won’t ever take place unless we ourselves work to make it happen. It’s a tricky kind of destiny, see, kind of like a matching funds donation drive from God.

Only, where are God’s matching funds in this deal? According to Sam Brownback, God has told him that America has been given the gift of a destiny of successful world leadership, only it won’t take place unless we do the work ourselves.

Well, that’s not really a gift, is it? I mean, if I tell my nephew that I’m giving him the gift of a wooden sword, but he won’t get it unless he goes out into the forest and finds a big branch, and then carves the sword, then I haven’t really given my nephew the sword, have I? No. All I’ve done is tell my nephew what to do. I’ve just been a big talker. Talk, talk, talk.

So, according to the second half of Sam Brownback’s statement, God is a lazy, good-for-nothing spirit who won’t actually follow through on his promises. So, why bother paying attention to what God wants? Really? What’s God going to do about it if we ignore him? Will he doom us to Hell? Well, if God’s doom is like his destiny, then it’s all just a bunch of empty promises he’ll eventually forget about.

Neither version of Sam Brownback’s idea of God’s destiny makes sense. It’s ridiculous to claim that it doesn’t matter what Americans do, because God has America’s future all pre-arranged. It is equally ridiculous to assert that God is a great divine being who claims to direct the course of American history, but then lets the American people actually make the choices.

The sensible alternative that Senator Brownback never seems to have considered is that there is no God, and no destiny, and that the future course of history is not at all predetermined, but is created by our actions in the present. It’s a model of reality that gets rid of all the outrageous logical contradictions of Sam Brownback’s beliefs.

Unfortunately, the no-God model is not popular with voters. Apparently, the American people get rather nervous when they’re told that the future of their nation depends upon their choices today. They’d rather have a destiny that doesn’t make sense than a responsibility that does.

I’ve been trying to make patient, careful, reasonable arguments to people about the problems with Sarah Palin’s claims that she knows the will of God, and that God supports her political agenda - on war and even on fossil fuel pipelines.

This afternoon, I was engaged in one such effort to persuade someone, with sedate logical argument, about the problem of Sarah Palin’s claim to know the will of God. I stopped midsentence, and I realized the absurdity of what I was doing.

For a politician like Sarah Palin to claim that her political agenda is the will of God is not just problematic. It’s absolutely insane.

Sarah Palin thinks that the creator of the entire universe, with its trillions of galaxies, each with billions of stars and planets, across countless light years, is a political supporter of her plan for the war in Iraq, and a booster for a fossil fuel pipeline in Alaska. That isn’t just mistaken. It isn’t just overconfident.

It’s nuts. Nuts. Nuts.

If Sarah Palin really believes that her political agenda is the will of God, she doesn’t need to go to the White House. She needs to go see a psychiatrist and get some medication for the treatment of schizophrenia.

If you believe in God, that’s your business. It’s your right to believe with what you want, and I don’t want to interfere with it. However, I am sick and tired of politicians getting up on stage and pretending that there is a cosmic consciousness behind the entire universe that has endorsed their personal ambitions.

Sarah Palin isn’t just using politics to promote her religion. She’s using religion to promote her politics.

That’s crude. That’s rude. That’s crazy.

You’d have to be insane yourself to vote to put someone like that in the position, as Vice President, to become President and have control over the nuclear arsenal of the United States of America.

What will happen if Sarah Palin hears a voice in her head that she thinks is God, and it tells her to push The Button?

I don’t want to spend the next four years of my life worrying about that question. Sarah Palin is too mentally unstable to be trusted with the power of the White House. Let her go back to Wasilla and inflict her prophecies there.

Sarah Palin Word of God video podcast

The backlash was inevitable.

Last week, the Democratic Party filled its quadrennial convention with references to gods, appeals to gods and even the claim that gods are working for the Democrats. Well, that’s not entirely accurate; actually, all of the many references to gods during the Democratic National Convention were references to one, single, provincial God: the Abrahamic God of the Bible. That involved a fair amount of exclusion of Americans whose religious identity just doesn’t fit within the concept of an Abrahamic God. Americans who’ve been told they no longer fit inside the shrinking Democratic Party tent are understandably upset.

But even within the Abrahamic religious boundaries squabbling has broken out as members of various religious traditions and sectarian denominations ask why their religious viewpoint hasn’t been represented, or why on earth those other chaplains got a chance to get up stage. Take the Catholic News Agency, which is outraged — outraged!! — on behalf of Archbishop Charles J. Chaput because he was not invited to bless the Democratic National Convention in a benediction of his very own:

Democratic Convention’s non-invitation of Archbishop Chaput an “insult,” Democrat says

…Raymond Flynn, former Democratic mayor of Boston and former ambassador to the Vatican during the Clinton administration, said not inviting the archbishop to pray or speak was “a serious oversight.”

“Chaput is one of the most respected leaders of the Catholic Church in America,” he said, according to the Washington Times. “His record is a strong commitment to social and economic justice and the principles of the Catholic faith. He’s also a strong patriot.

“Pro-life Democrats who are proud Catholics like myself feel this is an insult to our values… The party should be aware there are strong pro-life people who are politically successful,” Flynn continued.

Brian Stuckey of Denver followed up:

The fact that the bishop—an ardent pro-life Catholic—is committed to defending the unborn may not sit well with liberal Democrats who do not share his conservative views. As he put it, “I am trying to convince people that they should not be embarrassed at being Catholic and not buy the supposedly American notion that people should shelve their faith when they enter the public square.” In an era when moral absolutes have been relegated to a lesser role in society, the omission of Archbishop Chaput is an outrage to many conservative Christians—Catholic and non-Catholic alike—who do not embrace the moral relativism in our society.

Then there’s Peter S.’s response to a mushy-mouthed half-protest against humanist exclusion at the DNC by Greg Epstein:

This is a bunch of liberal horse-squeeze.

Religions differ radically from each other in their basic beliefs on God and the meaning of life and what comes after death. These beliefs govern to some extent the follower’s actions in this life. Some of these religions are subversive, violent, controlling, and militant. This is not acceptable.

If you want to be all-inclusive (which I think is a mistake) there should be at least some standards held by all in order to participate or the whole concept will break down. IE: denounce violence, freedom of speech, gender equality, no bondage/slavery, etc.

Well, I guess that would exclude all the religions based on the Old Testament then, Peter. But Peter and Brian and the Catholic News Agency are all following the same impulse: seeing that the Democratic Party decided to invite some religious sects into the political fold, they began a fight over which sects would garner the DNC stamp of approval and which would would be ostracized. The result was not a demonstration of religious inclusion, but rather a scuffle over the boundaries of religious exclusion.

The lesson from the DNC experience this year is clear. Want to start a religious civil war in America? Then by all means turn government into an instrument of religious proselytization. The mitres will be doffed and the crescents will be drawn before you can shout “Our Father who art in…”

One June 8, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin gave a speech at which she declared,

“I can do my part in doing things like working really really hard to get a natural gas pipeline, about a $30 billion project that’s going to create a lot of jobs for Alaskans, and we’ll have a lot of energy flowing through here. And pray about that also. I think God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that.”

Sarah Palin thinks that a fossil fuel pipeline in Alaska is the will of God.

I think we all deserve an explanation about that. How is it, Ms. Palin, that a pipeline in Alaska is the will of God?

Do the teenage prophets of the Wasilla Assemblies of God church now preach that it is God’s will that the Big Oil companies make extra big profits?

I can’t find that verse in the Bible.

“There’s been so many words, Ed, over the state of Alaska, we being the head and not the tail, and, um, I see things now in the works it seems like, things like, that’s coming to fruition. Things are perculating! Things are coming along, and just, you know, uh, praying for an outpouring of God’s spirit here, that revival to be here in Alaska.”

– Sarah Palin, June 8 2008

Earlier this morning, Rowan talked about the ideology of totalitarian nationalism represented in the motto of the Republican National Convention: Country First. That totalitarian nationalism is much more than a slogan, unfortunately. It is reflected in the legislative agenda the Republicans promote.

The new Republican Party platform, passed this week, supports the creation of a nationalist cult of the American flag. Think it’s going too far to describe it as a cult? Well, the Republicans themselves describe the American flag as sacred. The GOP platform promotes laws that would outlaw the “desecration” of the American flag:

“The symbol of our unity, to which we all pledge allegiance, is the flag. By whatever legislative method is most feasible, Old Glory should be given legal protection against desecration.”

“Desecrate” means to take something that is sacred and treat it as if it is not sacred. A thing is sacred if it is given religious worship. By saying that the flag should be given “protection against desecration”, the Republicans are saying that the flag should be regarded as a sacred religious object, with special status to protect its worship.

Of course, the Republican Party platform doesn’t just stop at saying that the flag’s status as a special protected religious symbol should be protected and respected. They want to compel all Americans to take part in the worship of the American flag, by making it against the law to treat the American flag in any way that is not compatible with respectful religious worship.

Republicans want to use the power of government to compel all Americans to join their cult of nationalism and worship the flag. They want to use “whatever legislative method is most feasible”, meaning a law or an amendment to the Constitution.

An amendment to the Constitution requiring Americans to take part in the worship of the American flag as a sacred religious idol would override the first amendment’s prohibition of government establishment of religion and would override our right to free speech as well. It would create an official American state religion with the flag as the cult’s primary symbol.

Of course, the flag would just remain a symbol in this Republican cult. The worship of the flag would really be an indirect worship of something else. As the American Heritage Dictionary explains in its definition of the word “sacred”, a sacred object is something “dedicated to or set apart for the worship of a deity”.

Christians who think that John McCain and Sarah Palin are on your side, take note: The deity of the Republican’s cult of the flag would not be the Christian God. No, under the cult proposed by the GOP platform, the deity to be worshipped would be the state itself. The nation of the United States of America would be elevated to the status of a god.

That’s the danger of Country First. In a totalitarian state, absolute devotion, even religious worship, is expected to be given to the state.

The Republicans say that they’re for small government, but their own political party platform proves that they only support shrinking the parts of the federal government that actually serve people and protect our liberty. As their platform shows, the Republicans want to expand the actual scope of the government, and make it something that we do not have the freedom to defy or disrespect.

We liberals oppose the Republicans’ attempt to create a cult of totalitarian nationalism. We support the freedom of all Americans to show disrespect to their government and its symbols. In fact, we believe that any nation that attempts to compel respect through the force of law is unworthy of respect, and must be defied and disrespected by all citizens of conscience.

As recently as this summer, Sarah Palin has been involved in a program run by her home town Assemblies of God church to teach teenagers to proclaim prophecies directly from God, like Nostradamus. That’s an approach to planning for the future that’s a bit out of date, but it would be merely a personal eccentricity, except that Palin doesn’t keep it personal.

Sarah Palin makes her Assemblies of God prophecy political. She mixes it into her her government work. She says that the prophecies made at the Wasilla Assemblies of God church by those teenagers are revealing a plan by God that she will implement in her work as Governor.

Sarah Palin also suggests that she thinks that God’s plan, as revealed to the teenage prophets of Wasilla, should direct the military of the USA as it fights in foreign wars. Sarah Palin revealed, as she spoke to the Wasilla Assemblies of God church earlier this summer, that she believes that the wars being fought in Afghanistan and Iraq are being fought in order to bring about the prophecies discovered by the teenage prophets in the Wasilla Masters Commission program. She talked about, “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 out on a task that is from God. 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.”

If John McCain is elected President, it’s quite possible that he will not survive to the end of his first term in office, and Sarah Palin will become President of the United States - Commander in Chief. As you consider who to vote for, remember that Sarah Palin believes that prophecies discovered by teenagers in her church in a village of a few thousand people are the divine source of America’s foreign policy and the force guiding the wars fought by the American military.

If Sarah Palin ever becomes President, what wars will she send American soldiers to fight in next? That’s up to the teenage prophets of Wasilla.

The Republican National Convention now features a speaker, Miles McPherson, who is giving a “prayer” in which the McPherson is telling God what God wants.

God forgot, but the Republicans remembered, see.

That pretty much sums up the attitude of the Republican Party.

The following is a text transcript of remarks made by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin speaking at the Master’s Commission in Wasilla, Alaska on June 8, 2008:

Oh, thank you so much for letting me be here! Thank you, Pastor. It was so cool growing up in this church, and getting saved here, getting baptised by Pastor Reilly, and little [inaudible] camp, freezing cold summer days that we had at camp, my whole family getting baptised when we were little, and, um, I want to tell the Master’s Commission students that, um, uh, just be amazed.

The umbrella of this church here, where God is going to send you from this church. Believe me, I know what I’m saying, where God has sent me from underneath the umbrella of this church throughout the state, and Alaska is all over the world map right now. There’s something going on in Alaska where, you know, we get calls in our office all the time from national media outlets and international media outlets just wondering what’s going on in Alaska. And I think there’s something going on here with where you all are going as Master’s Commission students and now graduates and what’s going on in the state of Alaska.

And a lot of people are looking at the state for our vast wealth that we, uh, are embracing right now. We’re the richest state in the union in terms of natural resources: our oil, our gas, our minerals, the gold that we have under the ground. We’re very very rich. But our most important natural resource of course is our people, and I’m thinking what I need to do is strike a deal with you guys as you go throughout Alaska. I can do my part in doing things like working really really hard to get a natural gas pipeline, about a $30 billion project that’s going to create a lot of jobs for Alaskans, and we’ll have a lot of energy flowing through here. And pray about that also. I think God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that.

But I can do my job there in developing natural resources and doing things like getting the roads paved and making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns and making sure our public schools are funded, but really all of that stuff doesn’t do any good if the people of Alaska’s heart isn’t right with God. And that’s going to be your job. As I’m doing my job, let’s strike this deal, your job is to going to be to be out there reaching the people, hurting people throughout Alaska, and we can work together to make sure that God’s will be done here. Um, let me go back to growing up here in this church. So many good memories here, Ed. I remember when you first got here too. And here I’m looking at your son Devon going, “You kind of look like him when you first got here.” Ha ha! And who am I to talk though, all those years ago? But

Todd and Christy, this is before they got married and I remember you guys hooked up at the Alaska State Fair, ’cause Christy, she was our, um, she was my nanny when my kids were real little and now my kids are real big. I have a new little one but my oldest, my son Track, he’s a soldier in the United States Army now. He’s an infantryman, and, um, so Track also sends his love to his former nanny Christy. And Track — pray for our military. He’s going to be deployed in September to Iraq. 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 out on a task that is from God. 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.

So bless them with your prayers; your prayers of protection over our soldiers. And speaking of Track also, he just turned 19 and when he turned 18, right before he enlisted, he had to um, get his first tattoo. I was like, “Nah, I don’t think that’s real cool, Son,” until he showed me what it was and then I said we did something right, ’cause on his calf was a big old Jesus fish. So that was OK. And then on his shoulder was, then he had to get another one on his shoulder, a big old map of Alaska with “the Valley” inked in the middle of it. But I was, “that’s enough with the tattoos, son!”

But, um, so, having grown up here, and having little kids growing up here also, this is such a special, special place. The Assembly of God here has been a real center point in the Valley for all these years, and the Valley has been a center point for the state of Alaska. So what comes from this church I think has great destiny. And I say this to the Master’s Commission students who have been here under this umbrella, who are going to be sent out now and bringing people in.

And I just say bless you. And you guys are just a bunch of cool looking Christians also. Ben, I don’t know you well yet, but looking at you I bet people are thinking they’re going to be interested in Jesus Christ through you because of the way you look: this red-headed Sasquatch for Jesus! You look good!

Times are really changing, and with the change looks even change. And that’s something that I noticed about you guys: hip and, uh, uh, uh, creative. I see a lot of creativity in all of you.

I just want to bless you, and oh, because I didn’t know if I was going to get here tonight, I flew in from Juneau last night and I fly again to Juneau tomorrow. So I didn’t prepare anything, thinking my schedule wouldn’t allow me to be here. But I have a word, but really I’m cheating ’cause it’s a, I think it was given to me today but I’m going to give it to the Master’s Commission students because I think it’s so applicable to they are headed. And this word was given to me, bless his heart, by Pastor Ed Kalnins this morning at our big Valley-wide church service.

It was called Ephesians 1:17, and this is what I want to pray over you guys too: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give to you a spirit wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, and that spirit of revelation also including a spirit of prophecy, that God’s going to tell you what is going on and what is going to go on, and you guys are going to have that within you, and it’s just going to bubble up and bubble over and, and it’s going to pour out over the state of Alaska. Again, good good things in store for the state of Alaska. Let us pray for God’s will to be done here, for all of your destinies to be met in this state.

There’s been so many words, Ed, over the state of Alaska, we being the head and not the tail, and, um, I see things now in the works it seems like, things like, that’s coming to fruition. Things are perculating! Things are coming along, and just, you know, uh, praying for an outpouring of God’s spirit here, that revival to be here in Alaska. So all you Master’s Commission students and all of your supporters, all of your friends and family and, um, your friends in this community and, um, throughout the state of Alaska, may you touch them all, and may Alaska be blessed through all of you guys, and I love you guys, and thank you so much for dedicating your lives to Jesus Christ! Thank you!

Transcription by, um, ah, may I say, and, like, um, me, and so any, um, er, things like you know errors are uh, my responsibility and so I just want to say sorry if, you know, like, uh, they happen, you guys.

In a televised speech this morning, the Reverend John Hagee declared that God doesn’t actually mind gays so much after all:

All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. Hurricane Gustav largely spared New Orleans after killing many others, despite the Southern Decadence gay pride week from August 27 to September 1 in New Orleans. I guess God doesn’t mind the gays so much.

Well, two of my statements are true. Hurricane Gustav did largely spare New Orleans, and there was indeed a gay pride week in New Orleans.

But one of my statements was a lie (forgive me for my sin, Reverend Hagee). John Hagee did not actually make a statement to the effect that God doesn’t mind gay people so much. It’s kind of hard to explain, considering that the last time a hurricane hit New Orleans, John Hagee jumped right out there and declared God’s Judgment:

All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are — were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment. And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.

Why, when he had declared Hurricane Katrina’s wrath to be the judgment of an angry God in the face of a gay pride parade, wouldn’t he declare Hurricane Gustav’s weakness to be the approval of a mellow God in the face of a whole week of gay pride celebrations?

Could it be that John Hagee hated gay people before God told him to?

I want to thank J. Clifford for pointing me to Sarah Palin’s responses to the 2006 Eagle Forum Questionnaire. My eyebrows hit the high mark when I read this passage:

Question: Are you offended by the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

Sarah Palin: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance.

That’s right: Sarah Palin, picked by John McCain to be his Vice Presidential running mate after they shared a phone call and an afternoon visit to one of his seven houses, thinks that the Founding Fathers put the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Even a cursory review of history reveals that there was no Pledge of Allegiance until 1892 and it wasn’t officially recognized by the U.S. Government until the 1940s. The words “Under God” were not added by the Founding Fathers, but by the action of… Dwight David Eisenhower. In 1954. This fact is well known to anybody who has followed the issue of the Pledge of Allegiance with any diligence whatsoever during the past two decades.

You know, this was a written questionnaire that Sarah Palin responded to. It wasn’t some pop question sprung on her by a reporter with a microphone. She had the time to research her answer. She very clearly didn’t. Palin’s response displays the kind ignorance that has its origin in intellectual laziness.

What other resolute “Not on your life” answer might Palin give without having a clue what she’s talking about? Is that the kind of President you want?