I’ve seen a couple stories flying around the blogosphere regarding one of the pastors at Gov. Sarah Palin’s current church, the Wasilla Bible Church.  Up until six years ago, Palin was part of the Wasilla Assembly of God, a Pentecostal church.

The stories that have gone around largely involve Larry Kroon, the Senior Pastor at WBC.  The two passages I’ve noticed today were brought up by Max Blumenthal, who’s a left wing journalist and blogger.  I know right that’ll be enough for many people to disregard this entry, but hear me out.

Of the two passages, I think at least one is of no concern.

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Posted by by Michael in Election 2008 at 10: 46 PM | Add to del.icio.us | No Comments »
Tags: election2008, palin, Religion

I need a laptop again so I can “liveblog” these things.  Oh well.  I was able to Twitter some notes again.  First things first: I think this speech was one of McCain’s better ones.  He’s done worse, and prepared speaking has never been his strong point.  He did well tonight.

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Posted by by Michael in Election 2008 at 1: 18 AM | Add to del.icio.us | No Comments »
Tags: election2008, mccain, speeches

For the most part, I found it comparable to Joe Biden’s speech.  It did what it was meant to do, attack the other side’s candidate.  Although, Palin also had to introduce herself, which I think she did well.

McCain is about to speak, so I can’t get into specifics right now, but I have two nitpicks I’ll expand on after an entry on McCain’s speech.  The first is that she faltered a little when she got to foreign policy.  You could hear it in her voice; she was clearly uncomfortable there, though she did make a partial recovery, and made it quickly.  The other was her statement on opposing the “bridge to nowhere.”  That one was…incomplete.

Posted by by Michael in Election 2008 at 12: 41 AM | Add to del.icio.us | No Comments »
Tags: election2008, palin, speeches

Gov. Palin doesn’t have to even speak about her political experience; fellow Republicans do it for her.  However, some could find themselves with foot-in-mouth syndrome.

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Posted by by Michael in Election 2008 at 9: 21 PM | Add to del.icio.us | No Comments »
Tags: election2008, gingrich, palin

The New York Times has a story up chronicling the journey of Sen. John McCain’s Vice Presidential selection.

I still stand by my decision to not post my full opinion on the choice until after Palin’s speech this week, so I’ll let you all take the story as you will in the comments.

Posted by by Michael in Election 2008 at 9: 20 PM | Add to del.icio.us | No Comments »
Tags: election2008, mccain

Depending on who you support, John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin for his Vice Presidential running mate is either the best or worst thing since sliced bread.  The truth, I think, may not be so clear cut.

It’s been about 36 hours since John McCain made his announcement that he chose Palin.  While she definitely has pros and cons, I’m not sure we know enough to make an educated decision yet (sound familiar?).  We’ve had 18 months to get to know Obama, and while you can make the argument that we still don’t know enough, I think we do.  This just isn’t the case with Palin.

I’ve think I’ve pretty much read every argument for and against Palin that is out there from bloggers and news sources left, right, center, and outer space.  I’m not sure that’s enough.  Therefore, I will reserve my judgement until after she makes her speech (hopefully) next week.  That means Gustav, you can go ahead and dissipate now so the Republicans can have their convention as scheduled.

As if.

(Cross-posted from Poligazette)

Posted by by Michael in Election 2008 at 11: 00 PM | Add to del.icio.us | No Comments »
Tags: election2008, palin

If the stakes were high for the Democrats - what with having to unify the party and all - the stakes are undeniably higher for the Republicans.  Why?

John McCain’s selection of Vice President could have the effect of creating disunity among the Republicans.  The Republicans can’t chance that, seeing as how they’ve been relatively unified for some time now.  Even many of those who were starkly against McCain at the beginning are beginning to shelve their pride (publicly at least) and are backing McCain.

So, it is a fine line that John McCain walks as he decides on his running mate.  The wrong choice could cause him major headaches.

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Posted by by Michael in Election 2008 at 2: 27 AM | Add to del.icio.us | No Comments »
Tags: election2008, mccain

The “he’s an elitist” story of the day is all about Barack Obama’s plans to give his acceptance speech tomorrow in front of a replica of a wall of an ancient Greek temple, column, lintel, and all.

Besides the fact that the entirety of Western culture largely owes its existence to the Greeks, those people who were paying attention in 2004 noted that the setup seemed oddly familiar to one they had seen before.

Oh yes: the stage set up at the Republican National Convention where George Bush gave his acceptance speech.

When blasting someone for doing something, it would do well to make sure your side hadn’t done it before.

Posted by by Michael in Election 2008 at 12: 35 AM | Add to del.icio.us | No Comments »
Tags: democon2008, election2008, elitism, speeches

Libertarian Presidential nominee Bob Barr, the former Republican Congressman from Georgia, is getting a lot of flack from his former party for daring to run.  According to this New York Times article, party officials are trying to tell him, “Don’t do it, Bob!”:

“‘Well, gee, you might take votes from Senator McCain,’” Mr. Barr said this week, mimicking one of the complainers, as he sat sipping Coca-Cola in his plush corner office, 12 stories above Atlanta. “They all said, ‘Look, we understand why you’re doing this. We agree with why you’re doing it. But please don’t do it.’”

The argument seems to be that if Barr gets enough votes, particularly from Republicans, that John McCain’s chances of winning will be diminished that much.

Gee, you think?

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Posted by by Michael in Election 2008, Politics at 1: 22 PM | Add to del.icio.us | No Comments »
Tags: barr, election2008, mcain, Politics, republicans