At this weekend's Values Voter Summit, the annual confab sponsored by Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, the Alliance Defense Fund, and American Values, the adoration of Sarah Palin was so intense that it eclipsed her running mate. The prevailing theme of the conference was that feminism was dead because Palin proves its supposed raison-d'etre, abortion, is unnecessary for rising to the heights of power. Glass ceilings could be cracked, the participants maintained, by a woman juggling five kids and a Bible.Well, ok, so it is a complex and technical read, and will require that people bring game. I must confess that I am glad:
But drill (you know, that's their favorite thing to do) beneath the surface, and you find that the source of religious-right excitement is not necessarily a love of Palin but the fact that Palin proves the movement's continued relevance. It was because of religious-right activists that McCain decided to forego a pro-choice running mate. It was because of them that the Republican Party has the most anti-choice abortion plank in history. If McCain wins, they will claim victory and demand payback from him.
[ cf The FundamentaList ]
Sarah Posner, author of God's Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters, has covered the religious right for the Prospect, The Nation, The Washington Spectator, AlterNet, and other publications.Someone has to do the leg work to keep track of which is the current fabtabulousNeff of our friends in the religious WhatEver...
Is the pipeline God's will? How does she know? It's a fair question, but Gibson didn't ask it.What if the Christianists were willing to stand up and actually address the issues, as if they really believed in their religion, and really believed that there were a real injunction against bearing false witness....
(op cit)
Would that really be influential?
Would that really be useful???
Or would it just be one more unpleasant moment when folks were more not sure....