This weekend I set myself the task of reading her first book, Thanks But No Thanks: The Voter’s Guide to Sarah Palin. It gave me chills. No, I mean it. I had to plug in and lean against a heating pad for most of the afternoon because Katz’ prose made me shiver in my Uggs. So, let me cop to the fact that I love the way she writes. I subscribe to her blog, Consenting Adult, and if you’re an adult over 50 interested in all things, or anything sexual, then you should too, but back to Sarah Palin.
Beloved, Sarah Palin scares me because of how she understands and relates to God, and that’s saying something because mostly God things of any kind thrill me. She truly believes that a Kenyan pastor who has been praying for her to “go national” is responsible for this nomination to the Vice Presidency.
Sarah’s god isn’t mine at all, and that means, as a committed omnifaith person, that I need to check hers out lest I be caught in the same kind of judgment that dear Sarah is. She thinks the war in Iraq is God’s war. No really. I suppose, on some level, it is, but it has to do with Islam, and I’m pretty sure Sarah’s God has nothing to do with Islam in her book.
I’m appalled that this woman has been nominated for the second highest post in the land, and Katz’s book only increased that feeling. Despite her own democratic leanings, Katz searched source after source both nationally and internationally to find the facts for her book, written in just four weeks. She reports the facts, ma’am, and for the ma’ams who are reading this post, we have to look out!
If we live in Alaska, we have to pay for our own rape test kits!
If we live anywhere in America, we will not be entitled to have an abortion.
Or marry whom we love, unless we are one man and one woman.
Or expect our schools to teach sex education.
Or count on the support of our government against violence against women.
We’ll have to put up with creationism in schools.
We might have to suffer her arbitrary edit of our school library shelves.
We might have a loved one who loses a job because he or she offends the new veep.
We might have to live with a Vice President who is more Vice than Virtue because she lies and considers it cute, folksy, allowable!
Katz ends her Palin whirlwind with a chapter called “Mavericks to Nowhere.” If you’ve read my God’s Dictionary, you know that another way to look at the word nowhere is now + here. Well, Beloved, look at where our country is now and here. Do you want it to stay that way? I sure don’t.
This is why everyone who even mentions politics in discussion between now and November 4th ought to read Sue Katz’s trenchant, chilling book.
2 comments:
"If we live in Alaska, we have to pay for our own rape test kits!"
False.
http://townhall.com/Columnists/AmandaCarpenter/2008/09/11/the_palin_rape_kit_myth
"If we live anywhere in America, we will not be entitled to have an abortion."
False. The VP does not have that kind of power. If the VP did, Cheney himself would have done it the day after he was inaugurated. Even IF Roe v. Wade was overturned, that wouldnt make abortion illegal. It would become a states rights issue.
"Or marry whom we love, unless we are one man and one woman."
Okay then. You love your Father. Why dont you marry him?
"Or expect our schools to teach sex education."
Not their job. They cant even teach our children to read and write. Why have thenm teach our kids sex education when they cant even teach our kids the other subjects?
"Or count on the support of our government against violence against women."
Another falsehood.
"We’ll have to put up with creationism in schools."
Again, no. The VP doesnt have that kind of power. How many Republican administrations have we had so far? Has abortion been banned since then? Has creationism been taugh in all schools yet? Has sex education in the schools been stopped? No to all questions. A McCain administration wont be any different.
"We might have to suffer her arbitrary edit of our school library shelves."
Another falsehood.
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/sliming_palin.html
http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/bannedbooks.asp
"We might have a loved one who loses a job because he or she offends the new veep."
Where do you get this nonsense? Thats not going to happen.
Dear Susan,
I've been wanting to write to thank you for your close reading and generous review of my book. Then I saw this comment. In some ways, I find this comment very optimistic. The commentor (named oddly enough "Anonymous") doesn't deny that Palin would like to change our lives and options in the ways you mentioned; the commentor is simply saying that as VP, Palin wouldn't have the power to do so.
However, this misses two important points. First, Palin in the VP debate was totally upfront about the fact that she would increase the amount of power assigned to the VP. Following on from the most powerful VP in the history of the world (Cheney), that's saying something! She called the constitution "flexible" in this regard.
The other point - as I say in my book - is that one out of three vice-presidents becomes president - for a variety of reasons. With a McCain/Palin win, we would definitely expect to see her as President eventually.
As it is, it seems that she is the head of the Republican Party. As we saw during the bailout deliberations, none of the Republicans paid much attention to their President Bush, to their congressional leaders or to John McCain. She's the one drawing the crowds. She's going to be in charge.
Susan, you're more generous that I am. I never print "anonymous" comments on my blog. If someone has something to say, let them be accountable for their words.
In respect,
Sue Katz
Author: Thanks But No Thanks: The Voter's Guide to Sarah Palin
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