Author: Andrew Sullivan

The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin XCI: The MSM Backing Helen Thomas

Twitter : Sarah Palin: Helen Thomas press pals co ..._1275929124874

Matt Corley compares two recent examples:

Palin’s unsupported claim that Thomas would get a pass from “society’s enlightened elite” in the press is reminiscent of Glenn Beck’s assertion last week that “nobody” in the media except Fox News “seems willing to show” a video that the Israeli Defense Forces released to the press of the siege of the Gaza flotilla. But as The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart so ably demonstrated, Beck’s claim had no basis in reality since CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, CNBC and Univision all aired the video that week.

The View From Your Window Game

A reader writes:

Does anybody else do this?  In the view from the window, I try to guess where it was taken from (at the country level at least) before scrolling down to see the caption.  I’m getting pretty good at it.

Maybe once a week, we should post a window view without a caption and have a contest. The winner gets a free VFYW book.

Cool Ad Watch

HuffPo highlights a brilliant new campaign called "Make Homosexuals Marry":

Meet Devin & Glenn–two gents who met, fell in love, got married, and then had to deal with the consequences of that decision. From obnoxious in-laws (Tom Arnold) to passive aggressive fights over dinner, Devin & Glenn have the same problems that most married couples deal with–and that's the point. The folks behind this video wanted to show that marriage is marriage regardless of the sexuality of its inhabitants.

Money quote from the creators:

If you disagree with the homosexual lifestyle, why not overturn prop8 and make them get married, like the rest of us?

It reminds me of a Crossfire debate I once had with Patrick Buchanan, back in 1873 or something. I asked him: "Why do you not want to impose your values on us?" The unspoken answer: because we don't think you're really human. By the way, the fight over the pee splashed on the toilet seat? One of the longest fights Aaron and I ever had. And, yes, I was the sprinkler.

Netanyahu And Palin?

Peter Beinart makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up:

The Netanyahu government is filled with Americans. The prime minister himself attended high school in the Philadelphia suburbs. Ron Dermer, one of his closest advisors, was born in Miami Beach. His ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, hails from New Jersey. In addition, prominent Americans like Abrams regularly appear in the U.S. media to echo the Netanyahu line. But paradoxically, this familiarity breeds overconfidence and ignorance. When Netanyahu travels to Washington, he speaks before Jewish audiences that mostly dislike Barack Obama’s Israel policy, even though according to a recent American Jewish Committee survey, American Jews overall support it by a margin of close to two to one. When he’s not speaking to right-wing Jews, he’s speaking to right-wing Christians. And when he’s not speaking to right-wing Christians, he’s speaking to former Bush administration officials who expect to soon be back in their old jobs.

As an Obama official once told me about the Netanyahu team, with amazement, “these guys are actually waiting for President Palin.”

Of course they are. Then they get their war on against Iran and permanently occupy the West Bank. Remember Palin had one flag in her office beside the US one: Israel's. Remember also her position on the West Bank:

PALIN: I believe that the Jewish settlements should be allowed to be expanded upon, because that population of Israel is, is going to grow. More and more Jewish people will be flocking to Israel in the days and weeks and months ahead. And I don’t think that the Obama administration has any right to tell Israel that the Jewish settlements cannot expand.

WALTERS: Even if it’s [in] Palestinian areas?

PALIN: I believe that the Jewish settlements should be allowed to be expand.

Cheney, Palin and Netanyahu want their war back – with torture, pre-emptive attacks and every terrorist attack used to justify more aggression. And if you put the Christianist right back in the White House, this time purged even of the tincture of responsibility Bush inherited from his family, we have a world war on our hands.

A Quieter Christianity, Ctd

A reader writes:

I want to take exception with you on equating Palin's politics as Christian at all. She might use Christian language but I think she engages in apostasy which is what most of the Christian right has done for the past 100 years. I consider what Palin does is to take the Lord's name in vain with her pandering and her rhetoric . She equates her positions with the cause of Christ. Mark's gospel refers to the sin against the Holy Spirit. I believe the sin against the Holy Spirit is to give God credit for that which God has not done and to invoke God's name in order to gain power. I think this describes Palin and those like her.

Me too. To co-opt the Gospels for a philosophy of environmental rape, untrammeled pursuit of wealth and fame, the cynical use of children for political purposes, cruelty toward animals, ignorant contempt for other cultures and peoples, and constant self-serving lies is actually an attack on the Gospels, not an expression of them.