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Last Updated: Sep 8, 2008 - 9:07:48 AM |
WASHINGTON: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s religious life and her beliefs
have become a topic of intense interest and scrutiny here — due to her
recent meteoric rise from relative obscurity to Sen. John McCain’s vice
presidential running mate.
Press interviews with the two pastors she is most closely associated
with in Wasilla, her hometown in Alaska — the Assembly of God and the
Wasilla Bible Church — say her foundation and source of guidance is the
Bible, and with that has come her conviction to act as God’s servant.
“The churches that Sarah has attended all believe in a literal
interpretation of the Bible,” Janet Kincaid, who has known and worked
with Palin for the last 15 years, told reporters. “Her principal
ethical and moral beliefs stem from this.”
One of the music directors at the church, Adele Morgan, who has known
Palin since she was in third grade, told reporters the Palins moved to
the nondenominational Wasilla Bible Church because its ministry is less
“extreme” than Pentecostal churches like her previous church, the
Assembly of God, which practices speaking in tongues and miraculous
healings.
Some Jewish groups, meanwhile, have raised concerns about Palin since
the announcement that she would be on the Republican ticket.
Just last week, Sen. Joseph Lieberman “helped introduce Palin to
officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the
leading pro-Israel lobby,” noted The Washington Post on Friday.
“In a meeting Tuesday, the day before she delivered her primetime
address at the Republican National Convention, Palin assured the group
of her strong support for Israel, of her desire to see the United
States move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and of her
opposition to Iran’s aspirations to become a nuclear power,” said The
Washington Post.
Curiously, The Washington Post repeated the AIPAC tidbit at the bottom
of the same story.
“One of Palin’s few meetings this week with outside groups was with
AIPAC, a sign of how politically important it is for the GOP ticket to
demonstrate its support of Israel,” noted the newspaper.
“We had a good, productive discussion on the importance of the
US-Israel relationship, and we were pleased that Gov. Palin expressed
her deep, personal commitment to the safety and well-being of Israel,”
AIPAC spokesman Josh Block told The Washington Post. “She also
expressed her support for the special friendship between the two
democracies and said she would work to strengthen the ties between the
United States and Israel.”
Israeli newspapers have already vetted the Republican candidate for
veep. “Palin displays an Israeli flag in her office window despite the
tiny Jewish population in her state. Republicans say, ‘That says it
all.’ An online video interview of Palin that is currently making the
rounds appears to put to rest liberal rumors that she is no friend of
Israel,” notes a recent article in Israel Today. “In the interview with
Alaska HDTV, an Israeli flag is clearly seen hanging near the window of
Palin’s office.”
Israel National News blogger Tamar Yonah points out that these
appearances of the Israeli flag are made more significant by the fact
that the video “was not made by a Jewish organization, nor is (Palin)
speaking before a Jewish audience or catering to any Jewish vote.”
Palin has yet to travel to Israel, and she traveled outside the US for
the first time last year.
The Israel-based Jerusalem Post recently called her “an odd choice” for
the job.
“Palin is another story. She is an exceedingly odd choice for a party
which has spent the better part of the past year loudly exclaiming that
it was reaching out to Jewish voters and made much to do about
considering two Jewish legislators — Joe Lieberman and Eric Cantor — as
vice presidential possibilities.
“First, Palin has absolutely no foreign policy experience — it is
ironic that McCain has spent his spring and summer telling Americans
that the most important characteristic he is looking for in a vice
president is an individual who is ready on day one to assume the
presidency. Moreover, Palin has never visited Israel and besides
signing a pro-Israel resolution passed by the state legislature, she
has apparently never spoken out or focused on the Jewish state.”
And the Israel-based Ha’aretz compared the newly named vice
presidential nominee to her Democratic counterpart Sen. Joe Biden. The
statement went on to say “The contrast with Joe Biden could not be
starker and more unfavorable for the soon-to-be Republican nominee.”
In contrast, the Republican Jewish Coalition issued a very different
response to McCain’s running mate selection, saying that the choice
demonstrated his good judgment and commitment to challenging politics
as usual.
“As governor of Alaska, Palin has enjoyed a strong working relationship
with Alaska’s Jewish community. She has demonstrated sensitivity to the
concerns of the community and has been accessible and responsive,” said
Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matt Brooks.
Politico.com writes, “John McCain may have helped Obama with his Jewish
problem by choosing Palin as his running mate.
“McCain and Obama are battling over a portion of the Jewish community:
Older, conservative Democrats, largely in South Florida, some of whom
backed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary. McCain’s secular,
hawkish credentials appeal to many in that group, who are skeptical of
Obama’s relatively short record and have been deluged with rumors about
his pro-Palestinian leanings.
“But Democrats hope Palin’s social conservatism, her paper-thin record
on Israel and — perhaps most importantly — her cultural roots in
evangelical Christianity may be a major turnoff to Jewish voters, just
as Republicans have tried to reach women disappointed that Obama didn’t
choose Hillary Clinton.”
Politico.com also noted: “A prominent Obama backer, Florida Rep. Robert
Wexler, has attacked Palin for appearing at a 1999 event with Pat
Buchanan — who has attacked the influence of the Israeli lobby in
America. And the same factors that are rallying the evangelical base to
Palin may push away the Jews.”
The executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, Ira
Forman, cited the “cultural distance” between Palin and almost all
American Jews.
“She’s totally out of step with the American Jewish community,” he
said. “She is against reproductive freedom — even against abortion in
the case of rape and incest. She has said that climate change is not
man-made. She has said that she would favor teaching creationism in the
schools. These are all way, way, way outside the mainstream.”
In the meantime, however, there’s simply little information available
about Palin’s views. Two of Palin’s prominent Alaska Jewish allies,
Rabbi Joseph Greenberg and businessman Terry Gorlick, told Politico.com
they consider her a friend of the Jews. But they said they’d never
heard her discuss Middle East policy in detail and that she’d never
visited Israel, though they cited a boilerplate Alaska-Israel
friendship resolution she signed.
Source:Ocnus.net 2008
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