Palin Is A Distraction

One way Sarah Palin has helped the Republicans is by distracting us and the media. McCain-Palin is Bush Lite, their campaign has no new ideas, their convention thusfar has been a boring, lethargic bust, and that we are receiving zero in the way of substance. These should be this week's storylines.

The Republicans know they can't win on the issues, which is why they avoid them, and Karl Rove's introduction of Sarah Palin into the mix at this late stage has us distracted and screaming about The Culture Wars all over again. The Republicans knew all about Bristol Palin's pregnancy (how could McCain trust her as his #2 if she had withheld such explosive information?) and held off from detonating that particular bombshell to maximize it's effect a few days after the bombshell that McCain has picked an unknown to run with him.

The fact is there are millions of people in this country whose "faith" is being used to get them to ignore the actual state of affairs. That is how Bush got 55 million votes in 2004, and that's why McCain is polling in the 40s instead of in the 20s like his buddy Bush. They were told by Sarah Palin's pastor in 2004 that if they voted for John Kerry or even dared criticize Bush they'd go to hell. I wonder what lovely things Pastor Ed Kalnin has to say about the Democratic nominees now that one of his own is on the Republican ticket. Here are some of his sermons (beware anyone who is partial the peaceful, loving good Shepherd Jesus, Kalnin preaches that Jesus operated in "war mode").

But here we are. Talking about Sarah Palin's pastor.

Maybe we should be talking about the hypocrisy of Palin slashing funding for teen moms and pushing abstinence instead of sex education, while her pregnant out-of-wedlock daughter is about to become a teen mom. Now there's a success story for the good folks at Abstinence Clearinghouse!

Or maybe we should grow up and be discussing the opportunities we see for renewable energy sources, how we're going to treat the planet better so we can leave it how we found it (if not better) for generations to come, how we're going to improve education so our increasingly asthmatic kids don't continue being left behind the rest of the developed world, and other issues that have importance outside of which fairy tales one chooses to believe or not believe.