Sunday, March 18, 2012

Christianity, Sarah Palin and Game Change (the movie)

Dont judge a man until you walk a mile in his boots is one of Americas oldest and most quoted proverbs. The wisdom of that advice and the simplicity of the phrasing have survived generations, upheavals in society, and changing values.  We have a troll here at The Palin Place who likes to accuse me of misjudging the Palins. Resident troll has never quoted that idiom, our troll is not succinct, but the message of not judging is Ms. Trolls favorite theme. The Palin Place isnt alone in attracting this defender of the Palins, our troll frequents all the anti-Palin blogs with her (Im assuming this is a female troll, maybe even Sarah or Bristol) one consistent argument - You dont know them, Ive met them, you are wrong.”  Or maybe, Dont judge Sarah until you walk a mile in her bunny boots. 

Today, Im sharing a little more about myself to establish that Sarah and I have walked some miles on the same paths, experiences which I draw from when I analyze her actions.  Along the way, I've been a daughter, a sister, a Christian, a woman, a wife, and a mother. I was raised in a family where I was the middle sister, I had one brother (I mentioned him at Christmas),  my dad taught in the public middle school in our small town, and my mom worked outside the home, too. Sarah played the flute. I played it better than she. Sarah started wearing glasses quite young. I was seven when I got my first pair. By the time I was nine I couldnt read the blackboard without them, I think Sarah's were pretty thick, too.  Sarah Heath married her high school boyfriend. Ditto. 

But looming larger than any of these things is the fact that Sarah Heath and I both had mothers who found Jesus and left establishment churches to join evangelical Bible-believing, soul-saving, homeschool-promoting, speaking in tongues and laying on of hands congregations. So when the troll says you dont know Sarah, I think, yes, I know her quite well. I understand the impact the preaching of the  Word of God can have on a young girl who finds herself sitting in the pews on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday nights, maybe even Friday nights. I walked in those boots, hearing that there is only One Way and by grace (ie Gods unmerited favor) you have found salvation.  I know why Sarah Heath was leading her teammates in prayer, and feeling smugly better than the lost souls who attended other churches, believed differently or  didnt believe at all. I get it. Been there, done that, wore the John 3:16 t-shirt.

In Game Change the movie, Sarah says I know what I know. Steve Schmitt and Nicole Wallace may have been baffled by that, and the director may have never has a script with phrases  like a servants heartand prayer warriors,”  but any kid who had an evangelical parent knows what those things mean. Those were in my personal lexicon before I took my SATs. But unlike Sarah, I dont use them today any more than the French I took.  Im very different than my high school self. Life experience and an intellectual curiosity worked to lessened some of my religious certitude. College and graduate school opened my mind further, and widowhood in my forties and single parenting of teenagers took me places Sarah has not been - places I do not wish on anyone. But I do wish she would grow up.
Even though she is a grandmother approaching fifty, she is often compared to a mean school girl. She's  as self-centered as an adolescent; she thinks she knows it all, she puts herself before others, and when you add to that a heavy dose of religious conceit,  you have Sarah from Alaska. Next time shes called a mean girl, remember, shes a religious mean girl. 

Religious superiority is partly responsible for Sarah Palin's lack of shame. She has what I call bumper-sticker Christianity. Bumper stickers can be passive-aggressive ways to preach or brag or say which team you support. Like the one given to Sarah that reads "My Kid Has More Chromosomes Than Your Kid," Sarah might just as quickly gravitate to one that says "My Boss is a Jewish Carpenter."  The depth of Sarah's Christianity matches the thickness of a bumper sticker. But she really doesn't have to worry. She knows once saved, always saved.  Sarah knows she's mean. Sarah knows she lies. Sarah knows she's greedy. But she can dismiss it by repeating another bumper sticker phrase, Christians arent perfect, theyre forgiven.  

Shes incorrigible. I dont think she will ever change because the path she took brought her fame and money.  She seems to have forgotten the story in  Luke 4:1-13 when Jesus was tempted by the devil "All this authority I will give You and their glory;"  in exchange for Jesus' worshiping Satan, he refused. He did not bend to the temptation of authority and glory and riches in exchange for denying God and serving Satan. 


I doubt Sarah can apply that to her own story. On the contrary, in her immature and convoluted thinking, she equates money as proof that she is walking with God, doing his work, pleasing him and being rewarded as a good and faithful servant.  Neither you nor I can tell her shes wrong. She has proof – her bank account balance.

We may have walked the same paths in early years, but we have gone far apart.  Its unlikely I will ever make seven million dollars from my memoir, and I'm never going to be portrayed in a movie. Even if that very unlikely thing happened, there wouldnt be a scene where I am bowing my head in prayer before going onstage to debate Joe Biden.  Now, Sarah may read this and say that's proof that her lifes experiences have been more valuable than mine, a or proof that she's been blessed more than I have. But I would disagree. 


I admit my bank account is modest, but the fact is, Im far wealthier and happier than Sarah from Alaska. You see, I know that there is no money in my name that came from exploiting women, sex trafficking, or selling lies. Unlike she, I have more compassion for Shailey Tripp than I have admiration for Bristol Palin; I have more admiration for Shailey Tripp than I have for Franklin Graham; I have deep loathing for Todd Palin and I love President Barack Hussein Obama; I have adult children who not only love me but they like me; I have grandchildren and their birth dates and stories are real and I can brag like a grandma about all of them; I am happily married to a kind and devoted man; Im  not hiding deep dark secrets or worrying that the FBI will be knocking on the door; and I no longer believe everything that is preached by another imperfect human being standing in a pulpit on Sunday morning.

Sarah and I have other experiences in common, but its the born-again one that gives me insights I use more often than others.  Like Sarah, I know what I know. I know that Sarah Palin does not have a servants heart, she is all about herself. She doesn't serve, she exploits. Sarah is not honest.  She is a deceiver.  She is not a family person. Being a good wife and mother is not Sarah's priority. Evangelical women can't avoid hearing about the high standards of the woman in Proverbs 31. Sarah Heath Palin makes a mockery of that image."Game Change" recreated the most memorable examples from her run for national office that showed McCain's running mate was the opposite of that ideal-She openeth her mouth with wisdom," is says in verse 26 of Proverbs 31, "and in her tongue is the law of kindness. (It was Sarah who was itching to bring up Bill Ayers, and use Jeremiah Wright to turn the campaign into something ugly. There is no kindness in Sarah Palin. Neither does she care about laws, kind ones or otherwise.)

But people who love her are as stubborn as she to see the truth. Many of them are good people who think she is walking by faith. They think this because they don't pay attention. She has them fooled.  
 I have hope for them. I have hope we can show them the truth. If we can expose Todd Palin via national media, or if we get Babygate solved and publicized, some people will see and hear and understand who she really is.  That is why I will continue blogging and exposing Sarah Palin and her political cronies. These politicians who put Sarah on the public stage and continue to keep her there are not good people. They are not harmless.

The message of Game Change was that an ugly, hateful spirit was unleashed in 2008 by a VP candidate wearing six inch heels.  The  Republican Party was transformed in Sarah Palins image. Its a holier-than-thou image. Its ignorant. Its a mean-girl and frat-boy political party that acts as if God loves rich people best.  Its very Sarah Palin.  In the name of God, we have politicians trying to stomp out compassion in our government and in our national policies. Whatever your beliefs or mine, we cant let that happen. Not in 2012. Not in our life time. Not while we can blog, twitter, talk to our neighbors, and vote. 

Do what you can, whenever you can. It all makes a difference. That's what I believe.


PS - Let's all contact the IRS this week and ask them to investigate Todd Palin's income from prostitution. Did  he report it? Did he pay tax on it?  


You are not required to identify yourself. Here is the website:


http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=106778,00.html


30 comments:

Gles said...

I worry that Todd or one of his cronies is hoping the IRS will investigate Shailey.

Allison said...

Hi Gles,

Don't worry.

Shailey reported her income. Even the sexual massages. That was why she lost some of the public assistance for her kids and then had more difficulty with her bills.

It's in the book.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful post !

It's so rich that -- no exaggeration -- my head is spinning ...

Until it sinks in (which may require a careful re-reading or two) all I can say is THANK YOU !

Anonymous said...

Allison-

I really enjoyed this post tremendously. It touched me.
Thank you.


Conscious at last

thepianist said...

Very insightful analysis. Thatnkyou. I look forward to reading more of what you have to say.

PurpleAlaska said...

Amen to that . . .

Anonymous said...

You can't rationally back up any of the things you claim about Sarah Palin as a person. I, FOR ONE, don't say "you don't know her, i do, blah blah." I merely say, "You don't know her. PERIOD." You've never met her. Gryphen's never hung out with her. No Anti-Palin blogger even knows her closest friends, her son's sometimes babysitter, or any real specifics that would help one to get to know her.

What's entertaining is, Trig's sometimes babysitter has been named (well first name).

At least get it right, and don't put words in people's mouths. I do not claim to know any of them. I only say it is IMPOSSIBLE that you do if you've never met them. The. End.

Btw, there is lots of proof to the contrary of your words (or more than not). You're just so deluded and closed-minded you'll never see it.

Anonymous said...

Great post, Allison. Very thought-provoking, but not so much for Anon at 10:55.

Ms. Palin grabs every opportunity she can get her claws on to put herself and her family out there. This troll wastes her time and ours trying to deny it.

Let the truth be told far and wide about Tri-G, Tawd-the-pimp, and all the other tawdry secrets they're trying so hard to keep hidden.

--Melanmoney

Anonymous said...

Very insightful post. You are correct that Sarah has never grown up. She is still that "mean high school girl."

Anonymous 10:55 - please post your proof that any of this post is incorrect. And please, if you have proof of Trig's birth, post it here, we would love to see definitive proof that Trig is Sarahs. BTW - I won't be holding my breath.

Anonymous said...

I think you are the one with the ugly, hateful spirit. Read what Pastor Steve Foss said about those who receive Obama's words:
http://musingsofanoldpastor.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-2008-prophecy.html #ImpeachObama #Nobama

Your post is an example of calling evil good and calling good evil.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't it say in the Bible, "By their fruits you will know them"?
Sarah put herself and her history out on the world stage, and now she whines. Well, she's failed all her life, and she's been a mean girl all her life. Why should we expect better? It's not Biblical.

But I wouldn't say that her followers haven't been paying attention. I'd say that her followers don't want to pay attention. They live in some fantasy world where if somebody claiming to be a Christian says something, then it's believed. It's not so much that they're not paying attention as that they're stupid and ignorant.

Ivyfree

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU
As for once saved, always saved,it's my understanding that when you are "saved" you then have the responsibility to try to change and NOT commit the same sin's again and again. Sarah seems to believe this gives her a free pass, with no responsibility.
So, she continues through life, hitting, spiting, kicking and lies. this treatment is for everyone who gets in her way.

Anonymous said...

My IRS letter went into the mail a couple of minutes ago. It is only one letter and One letter might get ignored or buried or shredded. SEND ONE YOURSELF IF YOU BELIEVE TODD PALIN SHOULD HAVE TO OWN HIS ACTIONS!!!!

Anonymous said...

Tax fraud was the way Al Capone got caught.

Allison said...

IVYFREE,

What an opening you have given me -

YES, "by their fruits ye shall know them" is scripture, and below some of those "fruits" are spelled out.

Look what Paul wrote to the Galations and to future Christians Todd and Sarah Palin:

Chapter 5, verses 19 - 26

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;

20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions

21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

'Nuff said. Here's where I found it:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+5&version=NIV

Brisduhl said...

Well, now we have "Bristol" blogging away, essentially screaming for attention, as I suppose it will enhance her reality tv marketability.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Allison. What a life you have lived an came out on top!You have walked the walk and now you can talk the talk....the truth. I hate what they have done to the name Christian. I don't want anyone to think I am one of them! What hurts so much, is seeing my childhood friends who have bought into this. I hope they will change, but I doubt I could do it. I just tell them that I don't like this and please don't send me anymore of this Right-Wing garbage...I just delete it. Or I tell them they better do some fact-checking before they send out these lies and tell them where they can find out too. I'm hoping this anti-woman thing will wake them up..not so much for us but for our daughters and grand daughters.
Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Allison. I grew up in a catholic charismatic household with a narcisstic abusive and neglectful mother. I know that is why Palin pushed my buttons from the gitgo . Some standout memories of my parents charismatic friends is that many were grifters. Had a bunch of kids but the dads couldn't keep jobs. One man with 6 kids was an LPN, but found nursing too hard, so Jesus told him it was OK to become a lounge singer in Atlantic City casinos.and it was ok for his girls to become cocktail waitresses when they were of age. I am very familiar with prayer warriors and laying on of hands and praying in tongues and spiritual warfare and evil attacks and evil opression and dormition. There are years of my life spent in church that I'll never get back. The kicker for me though was when my abusive neglectful mother told me that she has forgiven herself and god has forgiven her for her abuse and neglect..it matters not if I forgive her.
Oh, back to the grifting family with six kids in six years..they used to drug their kids with nyquil so they could have date night. They also fed their kids hot dogs and macncheese so that they could have surf and turf on date night.
My mom doesnt go to church now, she doesn't need to. In her narcissism, god understands.Also, although she smoked since she was 13 a pack a day and got lung cancer with brain mets (which she is a five year survivor!!) it is all gods fault. How could HE allow this to happen to HER?

Allison said...

Anon @ 4:38 Thanks for adding your experiences here. I think you and I could enjoy a long talk.


Anon @2:01 I got some of the craziest email in 2008 from old friends I knew from an Assembly of God church. Crazy is being kind, hateful and panic-stricken might better describe them.

Have either of you read Frank Schaeffer's book "Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All)" ? It's funny and honest. Highly recommend it.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your personal history, Allison. I can see how it might give you unusual insight into Palin's upbringing. There are other things, of course, which, one hopes, you didn't experience. Mainly I refer to her bullying father who also taught her to cheat to be sure to win. He may have done other things with her which damaged her psyche; she sure shows all the signs of such abuse. In many ways I feel sorry for her, she is such a pathetic figure.

WRT your trolls, it's most annoying when they assert some "fact" without backup and then turn the conversation to the President and produce other "facts" without citation. I'm so tired of fighting any discussion about the Quitler with a defense of our President. It's exhausting.

~physicsmom

Anonymous said...

Very insightful and well-written.

Stefanie said...

Excellent post Allison, thank you for sharing. It's so obvious that Palin does whatever it takes to keep the money rolling in. Money trumps all is the Palin family motto.

Stefanie said...

Excellent post Allison, thank you for sharing. It's so obvious that Palin does whatever it takes to keep the money rolling in. Money trumps all is the Palin family motto.

Anonymous said...

Outstanding post, Allison. So well written! I will be following you!

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful post. Your beautiful, gracious spirit really shines through your writing.

Like others commenting here, I've become immersed in all this Palin muck because I was raised by a malignant narcissistic mother, and good ol' Sarah re-e-eally pushes my buttons. But my mother never tried to have power over the entire world, just her family. These kinds of people always leave a lot of pain and heartache in their wake. I hope the education we're all getting about this type of person will, at the very least, save a few others from the same fate. I used to feel very sorry for Bristol, but I no longer can. I got out of my hell hole as soon as I turned 18. I felt the shame and horror of the terrible things my mother had done to me and others, and I wouldn't have wanted to do any of them myself. I chose a different path. I wish Bristol had done the same. She could have set a better example for her siblings.

Anonymous said...

OT, but I've been reading some of your past posts and I wanted to draw your attention to something you might have missed. On 3.30.2011, Nicolle Wallace gave a talk at Rutgers in which she says that Bristol was 7 1/2 months pregnant when Palin was first picked as VP. See the discussion that begins at 30:00 here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqb73mf3Ev8

According to Nicolle, this conversation took place after Sarah was already picked, at 1 am the night before the announcement was to be made. Nicolle says, "We weren't prepared...the reporters got there before we did."

Now, according to the announcement later made by the McCain campaign, Bristol was only FIVE months pregnant, just enough to preclude the possibility that Trig was her child. So why did they shift the due date? If Bristol was 7 1/2 months at the end of August, that means she would have delivered in mid October ( probably right after the Walmart diaper-buying video). I think the due date was fudged so that the press wouldn't be covering the 17-yr-old's illegitimate delivery right before the election. That would not have been where they wanted the press's focus at that moment. In their thinking, by the end of December, the election would be over and Bristol would be 18. So they lied. Later in the video Nicolle talks about the need to make sure that the lies you are telling the public aren't too far from the truth, otherwise you might be found out.

I have long believed that Bristol delivered a premature Trig in December 2007, then became pregnant again 1-2 months later. Once Sarah realized that Trig would survive AND that Bristol was pregnant again, THAT is when she knew she had no choice but to take the huge risk of faking a pregnancy. She knew she could spin one of Bristol's pregnancies into a "we chose life" treacle tale, but with TWO pregnancies Bristol would be seen as an emotionally disturbed slut and Sarah as a terrible mother.

Trig's birthdate was fudged because he was already born, in secret, and Sarah needed time to pretend to be pregnant. The fact that he was very premature helped to camouflage the truth when he was trotted out as "newborn". Their success with that lie inspired them to then fudge Tripp's birthdate. The famous video of Bristol running across the ice on her way to the makeshift church in December 08 shows a girl who was no longer pregnant.

This is the answer to your $300,000 question; The Palins couldn't take the magazines up on their juicy offers for first photo rights because they had already committed to the lie about the baby's birthdate and by late December Tripp no longer looked "newborn." I've no doubt it really, really rankled with them, just as I've no doubt that Sarah sold the interview Greta did with Bristol a startlingly large "7 week" Tripp in February 09. By then they could just claim he'd had this amazing growth spurt so that he looked like he was 3 1/2 months old.

I know a reporter mentioned seeing Bristol with a belly by the pool right after the election in November 08, but she could easily still have been dealing with postpartum slack/fat at that point (and shouldn't have been swimming in a public pool whether it was right before or right after her delivery! Idiots.)

Incidentally, Nicole also blasts the lie Sarah told blaming Nicole for the clothes. Nicole says Sarah only brought one suit with her (remember Sarah talking about the McCain staff flipping dismissively through the clothes in her closet? Couldn't have happened.), and that all Nicolle did was send a personal shopper with clothes. The Palins then went crazy; Wallace calls it "a caper."

Allison said...

Anon@ 1:26pm I think I agree with everything you wrote. Levi's book was full of statements pointing to a Feb conception for Tripp. If you read my older posts then you know. I will checkinter the Nichole interview. On another blog they said they thought she misspoke, but I won't be too quick to accept that. Thanks for linking it here. Every piece of the puzzle helps bring out the picture.

Anonymous said...

I recognized Palin for the fake she was the minute I saw and heard her. I, too, was raised by a narcissistic mother who was very, very abusive to me in every way. Palin makes my hackles go up. She is an utter fraud. I also got into the "Jesus movement" as a teenagero so I spent years off and on in the crazy, charismatic church. It really does make you crazy. I loved Crazy for God. I had a number of ex church friends look me up on FB. I offend them all the time now. lol Some of them definitely think the devil has gotten hold of me and Im sure they pray for me. They haven't changed a bit. I still believe in Christ, but I don't believ ein most of these people all Republicans, all seem to hate the president. They pretty much disgust me, they think Sarah Palin is good and when they like her page, they meant it. Ugh. Fraud, fraud, fraud. How she and Todd get away with their crimes, I'd like to know! They infuriate me. I know she makes me so upset because of the narcissitic connection. When are their protectors finally going to throw the under the bus and why won't the feds go after them??

Marz said...

AMAZING post. Thank you for sharing. I was raised in a dysfunctional Mormon family, and it scarred me physically and emotionally. I read this post while pondering how differently I'd feel about Sarah's actions were she Mormon instead of Evangelical. You shared some very good insights.

AKRNHSNC said...

I don't think Nicolle mispoke regarding the state of Bristol's pregnancy. She specifically said 7 1/2 months, not 7 months. Palin lies, let's face it, we know that to be absolutely 100% true. They even changed Bristol's birthdate by a year so she'd be a 17 year old pregnant teen giving birth at 18 rather than a 16 year old, giving birth at 17 years old. The reason why I am sure she had her birthdate changed was that I googled the family immediately after she was named on TV and within a few hours, I knew more about Palin than I think the McCain campe did when they selected her. I read the rumors about Bristol being pregnant and was sympathetic to her because she was the same age as my youngest, born in the same month and year. This was on the Alaska Governor's website. I also found a post on Reddit.com that backs it up because they copied the info about Palin's kids, their birthdates, ages, etc. from the same website and it's clearly listed as 1991. Being a mother, I can't imagine being so ambitious that I'd sacrifice my child's reputation and her well-being in order to satisfy my own selfish ambitions. That's what Palin did, there was no family meeting to decide whether or not she should run and it's probably because she knew how Bristol would react. It was easier to present it as a fait accompli and be done with it.