Senator John McCain's selection of his vice-presidential running mate continues to raise questions that I find downright fascinating: questions about McCain's motives, questions about his judgment, and questions about how all of us voters will ultimately sort out the myriad contradictions in having Todd Palin as a candidate for Vice-President.
Todd Palin? Todd Palin?!?
We turn to Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, Professor of Theology at Chicago Theological Seminary:
"Wives be subject to your husbands, as unto the Lord." So says the Christian scriptures in Ephesians, 5:22. What I would like to know, first of all, is who is going to have the final authority as Vice-President if Sarah Palin is elected, Palin or her husband? In fact, I think the first order of business with Palin is to ask her to give the same kind of speech that was demanded of John F. Kennedy re his Catholicism. Kennedy said he would obey the Constitution over the Pope. Will Palin obey the Constitution over her husband? [Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, "Palin: Is She Subject to Her Husband?" WashingtonPost.com: On Faith, 2008.09.03]
Got time to slip that into tonight's acceptance speech, Sarah?
Rev. Thistelthwaite lays down the gauntlet for the Palins and their fellow evangelicals:
Palin, the presumptive Republican vice-presidential candidate, belongs to an Assemblies of God, the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world. Members of the Assemblies of God believe that the Bible in its entirety is verbally inspired by God, is the revelation of God to humanity and is "the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct." That means, in a literal reading of scripture, that the authority in the Palin family rests with her husband.
The "evangelical base" who are reported to be so "energized" by Palin's nomination as vice-president need to ante up here. Do they believe in the literal word of scripture or not? And if they believe in the literal word of scripture, then they need to demand that the we vet not only Sarah Palin, but more importantly, her husband, Todd Palin. Todd, by the way, works for British Petroleum [Thistlethwaite, 2008].
The good Reverend commits no sexist double standard here: she questions whether the Palins and the evangelical community are about to commit a theological double standard.
That passage of Ephesians goes on to say, "But as the assembly is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their own husbands in everything." Everything. A literal reading of that line, the type of reading called for by Palin's church and other evangelicals, says Todd Palin would be the de facto Vice-President and immediate successor to the Oval Office.
John McCain is such a rebel, such a maverick, that this could be exactly his plan:
- McCain wanted an Independent as his running mate: Todd Palin's party affiliation is "undeclared."
- McCain is sick of pandering to the Christian Right, so he's tricking them, picking a woman from their ranks to throw all their contradictions wide open.
And whichever they answer, they will raise even more fascinating questions.
Dude:
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit rusty on the Greek translation, but I believe the original Greek word for "head" can also be interpreted as "source".
Paul has some very difficult and sometimes conflicting teachings. Many of his directives were dependent on the situation he was addressing.
Obviously every president is very dependent on their spouse for counsel.
I am trying to figure out why you are so much against a woman candidate.
It would be nice if we had another choice for president, but we don't.
I short list of candidates I'd like to see:
Jesse
Arnold
Colin Powell
Dude: I'm against a candidate who contradicts many of the major arguments the GOP was making against Obama less than a week ago, who is in bed with TransCanada (that's still foreign oil, kids), who thinks creationism should be taught in public schools, who would support SD's IM11 and make women second-class citizens, who might be obliged by her church's dogma to turn over the decision-making authority invested in her by the electorate to her spouse, and who is trying to convince inattentive voters that the Republican Party represents a change from eight years of Republican control of the White House. Her sex is irrelevant to my opposition.
ReplyDeleteOn your Greek and understanding of Paul in context: very good, Anon. Unfortunately, the AG church doesn't see it that way. The question isn't what you or I believe, it's what the Palins and her evangelical literalist supporters believe: is the husband the head or not?
Hi Cory,
ReplyDeleteSarah was baptized Roman Catholic, grew up Assemblies of God, but her family now attends a non-denominational/post-denominational church. Nothing has been put forward as to Sarah's (or the church's) belief about marital duties.
Kind regards,
David
Cory, I think you are running scared as well as the Dems and thus the attacks on any aspect of Palin that you can find.
ReplyDeleteWho says Palin is in bed with foreign oil? She wants to drill in ANWR for pete sake, and that is definitely NOT foreign oil. She does not think creationism should be taught in public schools; she thinks it should be allowed to be discussed if students want. Hearing her tonight, I have serious doubts that she would favor making women second-class citizens in any instance; she certainly is an example of a woman NOT being a second class citizen. And I highly doubt that she is going to go to her hubby before making decisions in her job capacity.
Keep on attacking her, and Dems will find this backfiring big time.
A short list of Presidental candidates I'd like to see:
ReplyDeleteDennis Miller
David: And something needs to be put forward so we're all clear on whom we're voting for.
ReplyDeleteAnon 1:14: "Running scared"? The GOP is working at least as hard to denigrate Obama and his record -- are they not "running scared"?
Second-class citizens: Palin supports banning abortion, which as I've argued before translates into denying women a fundamental personal autonomy not denied to men. That's second-class citizenship.
Stan: Dennis Miller? Well, he does share Palin's experience as a sportscaster. I suppose that might sell with the inattentive voters... ;-)
The question that should be asked is if she wants to enact policies that will make it easier for women, especially women who do not enjoy privilege, to perform this family/work balancing act that she seems to have mastered.
ReplyDeleteWhere does Palin stand on S-CHIP? On fair pay? On paid family leave? I have no idea. We know where John McCain stands on these issues.
I could overlook her “Pro-life” stand if she was against the death penalty and supported efforts to eliminate the need for abortion. I would accept it as a true religious belief, I would still disagree but I’m not a one issue voter.
The real story here is not how Sarah Palin chooses to balance her own life. It’s about whether she is committed to making these choices easier for all women. And clearly, for John McCain, the answer is no
I see why this is called Madville.
ReplyDeleteAt first look the article on Palin seems extreme, but if you read it entirely it raises good questions. You have to look no farther than Wednesday's Madison Daily Leader (front page) for a quote from someone who has volunteered for Palin: "The power that she has in her is God-given." I hope Palin respects her own thinking mind and those around her, but it scares me when people see her that way.
ReplyDeleteThat's it exactly! When you don't pay any attention to what Dennis Miller is saying, he makes perfect sense.
ReplyDeleteHe is the Chinese Finger puzzle of rhetorical illogic. Even better than Joe Biden.
If we elect McCain as President, Todd Palin will (in a way) be one heartbeat away from the Vice Presidency.
Hi Cory,
ReplyDeleteNo one seemed to mind in '93-'01 that an under-qualified Hillary Clinton was de facto President while Bill was busy getting his knob polished.
And there seems a much less likely chance that Todd would usurp Sarah's office... Bill and Hill were always acting as a 'team' in whatever they did... political positions, Whitewater, etc. Todd seems content to have his own non-political career (he was working a night-shift on the North Slope the day before Sarah was picked) and provide for his family, rather than being the omnipresent adviser to everything his spouse is involved in.
I really didn't expect you to slouch to such low journalistic standards. Not one shred of evidence that Sarah has this opinion, and yet we single the good governor out as if this was her campaign slogan. I haven't heard you openly ponder whether any male politicians are hen-pecked. Nor have I heard you raise this baseless question about any other female politicians or activists. Why are you so prejudicial and unfair to Sarah Palin?
By the way, how about some taking some of this 'fact-based' investigative journalism to Senator Biden? He's a Catholic... so wouldn't that mean electing Biden VP equates to the Pope running the vice presidency? (Or, perhaps, Mother Mary?) Atheists of the nation should run scared from that prospect.
Or don't the tenants of his religion count?
Kind regards,
David
I minded.
ReplyDeleteBiden: he supports abortion rights, so evidently he's not taking his political marching orders from the pope.
Palin has offered no evidence that she rejects the contemptible doctrine of male headship. She needs to; otherwise, given her membership in a church that openly professes such doctrine, we might as well be voting for her husband. And male headship has been a topic of discussion of late here on the Madville Times, so Palin's position on this theological point is particularly salient.
Hi Cory,
ReplyDeleteSo we can infer that Biden does not consider himself subject to the Pope based on how we've seen him act... But we cannot infer that Palin does not consider herself subject to her husband based on how we've seen her act?
Sarah, who has clearly decided many political events on her own, has to explicitly declare her independence from her husband. Whereas we can just assume Biden is independent from the Pope based on one political event he decided on his own.
Well, there's only one way to beat a double-standard like that. I hope that Sarah finds your thread here, forgives your disgusting prejudice, and addresses this matter directly. Otherwise it doesn't look like she will be able to win your vote.
Kind regards,
David
Evidence: Todd Palin, "shadow governor."
ReplyDeleteHi Cory,
ReplyDeleteI see we use the term "evidence" loosely around here... The linked article came to the "shadow governor" conclusion based on some fired guy's speculation that his "offence... was to fall foul of Palin’s 43-year-old husband, Todd."
Were this legitimate, I would think there would be a little more to the story than that... like... what did he ostensibly do to offend Todd? Seems like a fair question given the allegation that Todd is a "shadow governor". Maybe this guy disagreed with Todd's favorite sports team... or maybe he threatened Todd's life...
If "falling foul" is something serious, I would hope that Sarah did something about it. (Were I governor and someone threatened the life of my wife, I would have the common sense to fire him.) If it was something minor, this guy would probably have articulated the exact scenario for the press. (It would certain boost the credibility of his story to show that hot-tempered Todd can't even stand to be near guys with other sports-team allegiances.)
But then the article shows that it's truly a rag with totally bogus allegations that Palin had an affair (based on the National Inquirer) and that Trig is Bristol's child, not Sarah's.
Kind regards,
David