Palin drone

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God."
In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will."
Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there.
"Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."
"God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.
"I can do my job there in developing our 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," she added. "But really all of that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God."

Funny, I didn’t hear any of that last night during her rousing acceptance speech at the big Republican pep rally. I heard a lot of political rhetoric, which is expected, but none of that God stuff, which doesn’t play well with a prime-time TV audience. We’d rather she picked up her skirt and showed some leg than hear about her religious convictions. It will come out, though because it has to. Hey gang, let’s all pray for that pipeline because that’s what God wants – a big steel tunnel funneling natural gas to the people of America.

Among other things, she spouted on about funding coal and nuclear power, sounding a bit more like Wilma Flintstone than a progressive-thinking candidate. Haven’t we had it with junk from underground? Isn’t it time to start looking over our heads and around us rather than drilling more holes and digging up the Earth? They ate that stuff up.

Then of course, it was family night. She introduced all of her strangely-named children and her husband, the “snow machine racing champion” of Alaska. I’m not sure how I felt about dragging the infant out there. Whenever I go to a big event like a concert or sporting event, I wonder why parents would want to bring infants along. They’re little more than excess baggage, since they aren’t taking a thing in and mostly just whimper, fidget and cry through most of it. In this case, I suppose we needed to get the full effect of the baby with Down’s Syndrome, which is sad I know, but I couldn’t help but feel odd watching him passed back and forth between Sarah, dad and daughter so that one or the other of them could wave to the crowd. Don’t they have nannies in Alaska? I felt sad for the child but if we are using Bristol's pregnancy as a thing we aren't supposed to talk about, then why would the baby matter? He doesn't, which is precisely the point. Wave and smile kids, Mom is on TV.

Then, we were treated to her vast political experience which includes 20 months as the governor of the third least populated state and the mayor of her hometown, which I presume she won by default. That and the fact that we are supposed to elect John McCain president because he was a prisoner of war made for a rousing speech full of applause breaks and timed out so that it overlapped into the 11 o’clock news here on the East Coast. They keep saying (and I keep asking myself why) that McCain’s military experience qualifies him to lead the country.

It’s either short-sighted or naïve. There’s a Hell of a lot more to running this country than leading the military, but we’re being sold this whole “Commander in Chief” deal as though it’s the most important qualification. Maybe we’re being sold that because they don’t have anything else to sell us or they’re trying to distract us from the real issues.

I think that’s why Sarah Palin is here to begin with. She looks good on TV, and for now she’s a media darling. Maybe soon we’ll hear her talking about real issues.