Sarah Palin Called Iraq War a Task from God

On Monday I quoted some of the extremist views expressed  by the Pastors of Sarah Palin’s church. Sarah Palin has made some rather fanatic comments of her own when speaking at church. Speaking in June she described the Iraq war as a “task that is from God” and even described the Alaska gas pipeline as “God’s will.”

Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.

“Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God,” she exhorted the congregants. “That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan.”

Religion, however, was not strictly a thread in Palin’s foreign policy. It was part of her energy proposals as well. Just prior to discussing Iraq, Alaska’s governor asked the audience to pray for another matter — a $30 billion national gas pipeline project that she wanted built in the state. “I think God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that,” she said.

Update on Sarah Palin’s Extremist Associations

Newspaper reports yesterday quoted the chairwoman of the Alaska Independence Party as saying Sarah Palin was a member. Today she has retracted her statement that Palin was a member.

While it appears that Sarah Palin herself was not a member, her husband Todd was a member until 2002 (when Sarah began to seek state-wide office running for lieutenant governor). Via Ezra Klein we also found that the AIP is the Alaska affiliate of the Constitution Party. The Constitution Party is a far right theocratic organization which seeks to place the country under Biblical law.

The McCain campaign was therefore correct when they denied Palin’s membership in hte AIP. However Palin has spoken before this group expressing support for their views and her husband was an actual member. Imagine if Michelle Obama was found to have been a member of such an extremist group on the left and that Barack had similarly spoken before such a group expressing support for their views.

We don’t even need to go that far. Obama has been attacked by the right (along with the Clinton campaign which used tactics indistinguishable from those of the right) for serving on a bipartisan board with sixties radical William Ayers despite having condemned the extremist actions performed by Ayers when Obama was eight years old.

The previous reports that Palin supported Patrick Buchanan are also in doubt. Patrick Buchanan has stated that she was a supporter of his third party campaign after old news stories surfaced showing Palin wearing a Buchanan badge. Palin claims that appearing in public wearing such a badge, as well as speaking to the AIP, do not indicate support for such groups but that she was merely welcoming such groups to her city.

Again return to the Barack Obama test. If Obama wore the badge of a far left third party candidate visiting Illinois, or if he spoke before such a group, how would the right wing interpret this? Maybe Palin was just being an exuberant hostess, but I remain concerned by the manner in which this has occurred with extremists such as Patrick Buchanan and the AIP. Has Palin had any similar appearances with groups which support defense of our civil liberties, which support abortion rights, or which defend our heritage of separation of church and state?