Hurricane Sarah Continues to Blow

Never has a vice presidential selection caused such a firestorm of con and pro--or generated what can only be called hatred in some of her opponents. The conservative columnist Mona Charen thinks, as I do, that a lot of this is about Trig: From her column:

Something about Sarah Palin set them [the MSM] off before their own politically correct impulses ("Must Avoid Sexism") could inhibit them. By the ferocity of the response, you might have thought Palin was a secret member of a polygamous cult or had forced her daughter to give birth after a rape. But no, she was just the mother of five, hunting, fishing, NRA member, and governor.

I wonder if it was that baby.

However, nothing stays static and the media hurricane over Sarah Palin is heading in a new direction, away from the baby and Bristol Palin, and toward her religious beliefs. Thus, a columnist in Salon named Juan Cole has said Palin is no different than radical Muslim fundamentalists. From his column:

Palin has a right to her religious beliefs, as do fundamentalist Muslims who agree with her on so many issues of social policy. None of them has a right, however, to impose their beliefs on others by capturing and deploying the executive power of the state. The most noxious belief that Palin shares with Muslim fundamentalists is her conviction that faith is not a private affair of individuals but rather a moral imperative that believers should import into statecraft wherever they have the opportunity to do so.

CNN has also gone poking into Palin's church life and investigated the practices of the Assemblies of God church that she attended until about five years ago. Did Palin speak in tongues? Inquiring minds want to know! I don't see how it is any of our business. But at least contra Mr. Cole, CNN had the decency to note at the bottom of the story:

Palin has done little while in office to advance a social conservative agenda. She told The Associated Press in an interview in 2006 that she would not allow her personal beliefs to dictate public policy.

I don't do religion here, and so I am not going to follow this vein any further unless it directly leads to issues more germane to SHS. Meanwhile, for those interested in finding the facts about Palin amidst the sturm and drang, an LA Times blogger points us all toward FactCheck.org, which is apparently performing yeoman's duties sorting through the lies, rumors, and facts about Palin. From the story:

One of the little-known resources available to voters during these heated political campaigns is a small band of independent, non-partisan groups that check the accuracy of the countless statements and ads flying around that can confuse voters...Now, those independent fact-checking groups have swung into action on all this Palin info drifting around the internet. Probably the most prominent such group is FactCheck.org, a branch of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

In the group's first report we learn that Palin did not try to ban books or cut funding for special needs children. Since I am not going to turn SHS into an all Sarah all the time obsession, I have linked the first report on Palin from FactCheck.org for those interested in the veracity of the many charges that are flying.