As the FBI took the unusual step late Saturday to confirm they have no active corruption probe underway involving Sarah Palin, she once again played the "I’m a victim" card:
"How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it’s about country. And though it’s honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make."I see. So you abandoned your state and your responsibilities, with no record of accomplishment to speak of, all for the sake of your country, because of a higher calling? If you re-read her explanation once again, she is clearly aiming at Barack Obama, claiming that while he gets to leave during his term for a higher calling [office] without criticism, she doesn’t. Puh-leeze!
Palin doesn’t even have the guts to come out now and say she’s running for president; instead Saint Sarah In Heels places herself on a pedestal as a victim, who is only trying to make the world and kids safe from Barack Obama. She feels that by cloaking herself in this higher calling, she can have all the benefits of being a movement candidate while bashing the media for subjecting her to scrutiny. A real profile in courage.
If we were thinking right, we’d look at Sarah Palin in the context of her life – growing up in the Wasilla Assembly of God Pentecostal Church. In these churches, one of the major tenets is to personally experience the "holy spirit" and to be guided by it – to be "called." My favorite waitress at our local "meat and three" is an ordained minister at such a pentecostal church [we practice "don’t ask, don’t tell" about such matters at lunch]. So when Sarah says "called," in her world, that has a very different meaning than it does to the general godless hippie that blogs about such things.
To the rational psychologically informed observer, this "calling" business looks like responding to one’s felt emotions or desires as if they come from some outside greater spirit. But in a pentecostal church, it’s simple – it’s the voice of God. And heavenly "calling" isn’t the only kind. There’s Satan’s "calling" too – like Jimmy Swaggart or Ted Haggard. But that’s generally about sex and such and requires some heavy duty repenting.
15: And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17: And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18: They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19: So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
20: And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
1: And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3: And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Now that the FBI has unequivocally said there is no investigation underway or planned — “not even any wiggle room in that statement,” the man said — I’m back to thinking maybe it is a political move.
Resigning as governor with 18 months to go in your first term and with no real accomplishments to your credit would not be a wise maneuver in running for president — except perhaps if you are Sarah Palin.
For the Republican establishment and for independents, it sounds sort of wacky and unstable. But for Palin supporters, it may be just the right thing. She will play it up as another instance of her being the maverick that they love, just-saying-no to the establishment and going outside to the people.
It is a typical Palin move. She can’t really compete in the usual way of politics. She doesn’t have the command of facts or the rhetoric to appeal to real thinkers, so she shuns it as “inside the beltway stuff” and appeals to all the others who feel left out, who fear that government will take their money and their guns.
Her anti-intellectual stance plays well in the small towns and redneck working areas — the “real” America, as she likes to call it.
The only trouble is that that’s all it will get her. She already has that base, and I don’t see her being able to expand it. So I predict that she will make a lot of noise and draw a lot of enthusiastic crowds.
But it won’t do much more than that. Unless the Republican establishment really wants to commit suicide — or is just looking for a sacrificial lamb to run against Obama in 2012.
I can just see the ads: “She wants you to trust to govern the country, but she couldn’t even govern Alaska and gave up midway in her first term.”
I can just see the ads: “She wants you to trust to govern the country, but she couldn’t even govern Alaska and gave up midway in her first term.â€
Counting time off for the VP campaign, she served 37% of a term. She also previously resigned from the Wasilla City Council to run for Mayor. Later, she resigned from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. When the holy ghost speaks, Sarah listens [and the holy ghost is monotonous – “resign Sarah”].
Maybe we’re misjudging the holy ghost. It monotonously repeats the same message because Sarah keeps misunderstanding the message. She takes it as: resign and go on to higher office. Maybe it really means simply, Resign. Period. You’re not the leader you think you are, and we want you off the stage.
PS: Coming from a family rife with cousins whose decisions are guided by the “calling” from the holy ghost, I can say that the calling often goes through a heavy filter of desire, ambition, and/or blindness.