Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Anatomy of a Smear, Part 425

You'd think after FactCheck.org wrote this piece debunking tons of crap that the crapmasters would be a little more careful in their sliming.

But nooooo.

Today, there's this load of crap so filled with crap that "crap" just doesn't seem like a strong enough word to describe it.

John McCain announced that he was running for president to confront the "transcendent challenge" of the 21st century, "radical Islamic extremism," contrasting it with "stability, tolerance and democracy." But the values of his handpicked running mate, Sarah Palin, more resemble those of Muslim fundamentalists than they do those of the Founding Fathers. On censorship, the teaching of creationism in schools, reproductive rights, attributing government policy to God's will and climate change, Palin agrees with Hamas and Saudi Arabia rather than supporting tolerance and democratic precepts. What is the difference between Palin and a Muslim fundamentalist? Lipstick.

What a crapfest. Here's what FackCheck.org has to say about a few of those accusations:
--Palin did not cut funding for special needs education in Alaska by 62 percent. She didn’t cut it at all. In fact, she tripled per-pupil funding over just three years.

--She did not demand that books be banned from the Wasilla library. Some of the books on a widely circulated list were not even in print at the time. The librarian has said Palin asked a "What if?" question, but the librarian continued in her job through most of Palin's first term.

--Palin has not pushed for teaching creationism in Alaska's schools. She has said that students should be allowed to "debate both sides" of the evolution question, but she also said creationism "doesn't have to be part of the curriculum."

But please. Let's not let facts get in the way of a good sliming, shall we?

Yesterday, I even wrote a post on the whole Thy Will Be Done thing, which is standard Christian belief about God's interest in the affairs of this world. But then again, Juan Cole probably thinks the average Presbyterian is going to fly airplanes into buildings because God told him to, right?

I mean, it's such a common thing for Christians to blow themselves up in marketplaces, teach their children that Jews decend from pigs and that America is the Great Satan. We have all sorts of links to those stories. Hell, we even have video to prove it. Now, granted, we have to stretch the definition of a Christian to include anyone ever baptized in a church (forget how often they've attended since reaching adulthood), but no matter! When you want to reach a false equivalency, we can't get all hung up on the little details.

So, yeah. Sarah Palin is exactly like those people flying airplanes into buildings, blowing themselves up on Israeli buses, and teaching all that nasty stuff about Christians and America to their preschoolers. In a liberal dream, that is.