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Bush family friend and insider, the man who coined the term "Compassionate Conservative, Doug Wead, seems to think John McCain has made the mother of all picks in choosing Sarah Palin. Could Wead, H.W.'s liason to the Religious Right and spiritual advisor to W, know more than we?
Upon learning the news, Matthew Staver, Chairman of Liberty Alliance Action, Chairman of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law said of the choice, "Absolutely brilliant. . . ."The excitement was palpable among conservative leaders when they heard that Gov. Palin was Sen. McCain's choice for Vice President. There is a high level of optimism among conservative leaders that the McCain-Palin combination is a ticket that will connect with values voters."
Rev. Rob Shenk, President of the conservative and pro-life National Clergy Council, was equally enthused, stating that Palin is all the medicine needed to excite and energize religious and political conservatives.
More troubling is the excitement Wead expresses regarding the battle lines being set up at this very moment between liberal commentators, or as he says, "MSNBC" and evangelical Christians. According to Wead, when the mainstream press comes out swinging regarding Palin's belief in Creationism or like thinking, they will give immeasurable if unknowing help to the McCain camp. How, you ask?
Remember "The War on Christmas?" Though contrived and silly to most, in and of itself, the supposed attack on Christianity was sheer marketing brilliance. The Religious Right, as does any group, never rallies the troops better than when crying persecution. Sarah Palin's beliefs and the liberal reaction to them are just another God-given opportunity for the Christian Right branders to don their hairshirts and bring out the vote. To think we have to fight yet another Scope's trial, and this one with a former beauty pageanteer, is ludicrous and absurd.
But it's not only her evolutionary disbelief we have to consider. The numbers that her virulent anti-choice beliefs and NRA love-of-the-hunt stances will bring in should concern us, and concern us greatly. Yes, we've seen this game before and thought ourselves past it. Nothing could be further from the truth. With Ken Blackwell helping write the GOP platform and Sarah Palin sexing up the values voter's charge, the evangelical network will come alive in force.
