McCain has clearly caved to the Christian Right on the choice of VP. America should be concerned that if he caves to those in his own party that he's called "agents of intolerance," how can he stand up for America? Especially concerning issues that are unpopular with the base of right wing extremists?
However, there are serious implications for international relations, and I want to focus on this. Not the inexperience issue, but what it will say to other nations that someone with her views has been nominated. And worse, what it will convey if someone with her views is elected. I fear it’s even worse than George Bush in that respect; follow me over the jump...
First, it's pretty clear that the Christian right dictated this pick. Richard Land from the Southern Baptist Convention suggested Palin on Aug 8:
CBSNews.com: Who’s on the list of people mentioned for VP that you think would most excite Southern Baptists and other members of the conservative faith community?
Richard Land: Probably Governor Palin of Alaska, because she’s a person of strong faith. She just had her fifth child, a Downs Syndrome child. And there’s a wonderful quote that she gave about her baby, and the fact that she would never, ever consider having an abortion just because her child had Downs Syndrome. She’s strongly pro-life.
She’s a virtual lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. She would ring so many bells. And I just think it would help with independents because she’s a woman. She’s a reform Governor. I think that, from what I hear, that would be the choice that would probably ring the most bells, along with Mike Huckabee, of course, who’s a Southern Baptist.
How does this affect international relations besides her inexperience? Let's look back at some much lower level government employees whose ill-considered Christian comments or proselytizing has caused tension with other countries.
There was the Christian Embassy video which resulted in difficulties for the American general Peter Sutton with his counterparts in Turkey.
"Maj. Gen. Sutton testified that while in Turkey in his current duty position, his Turkish driver approached him with an article in the Turkish newspaper 'Sabah.' That article featured a photograph of Maj. Gen. Sutton in uniform and described him as a member of a radical fundamentalist sect. The article in the online edition of Sabah also included still photographs taken from the Christian Embassy video."
Sutton's job in Ankara "included establishing good relations with his counterparts on the Turkish General Staff," the report continued. "He testified that when the article was published...it caused his Turkish counterparts concern and a number of Turkish general officers asked him to explain his participation in the video."
There was the coin incident, which outraged Iraqis when a marine proselytized by handing out coins with biblical quotations in Arabic.
There was General Boykin,
This June, for instance, at the pulpit of the Good Shepherd Community Church in Sandy, Ore., he displayed slides of Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and North Korea’s Kim Jung Il. "Why do they hate us?" Boykin asked. "The answer to that is because we’re a Christian nation
Our "spiritual enemy," Boykin continued, "will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus."
and
This is what Boykin said about one Somali warlord who believed Allah would protect him from being captured by Americans: "I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol." ...
But President Bush received so much heat about Boykin from Muslim leaders that even he took a shot at the general: "Gen. Boykin’s comments don’t reflect the administration’s comments. ... He doesn’t reflect my point of view."
[my emphasis added]
So what would it mean if Sarah Palin was VP of the USA?
The Middle East could ponder quotes like these:
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."
Add that to her pastor's statement
What you see in a terrorist -- that's called the invisible enemy. There has always been an invisible enemy. What you see in Iraq, basically, is a manifestation of what's going on in this unseen world called the spirit world. ... We need to think like Jesus thinks. We are in a time and a season of war, and we need to think like that. We need to develop that instinct. We need to develop as believers the instinct that we are at war, and that war is contending for your faith. ... Jesus called us to die. You're worried about getting hurt? He's called us to die. Listen, you know we can't even follow him unless you are willing to give up your life. ... I believe that Jesus himself operated from that position of war mode. Everyone say "war mode." Now you say, wait a minute Ed, he's like the good shepherd, he's loving all the time and he's kind all the time. Oh yes he is -- but I also believe that he had a part of his thoughts that knew that he was in a war.
What other nations will see is that John McCain is now owned by the Christian Right, whatever his personal views. Those nations will take away that the Christianists dictate his most important decisions. And those nations will make decisions knowing that the woman McCain selected to be a heartbeat away from a 72 year old's presidency believes that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are "a task from God."