Or I guess I should say "lying still." Nevertheless, This recent commentary by Glenn Beck, of CNN provides a pretty good example of how conservative commentators distort Sarah Palin's record.
In this diary, I'll tackle only one of Beck's talking points. The money quote and the rest below the fold.
"Sarah Palin believes God told her to go to war with Iraq!"
There has been some hard-core journalistic malpractice on this one. The Associated Press ran this headline about a speech she gave at her church: "Palin: Iraq war 'a task that is from God'"
First of all, let's note that Beck doesn't provide any attribution at all for this quote. I actually have not heard anyone say that Sarah Palin believes God told her to go to war with Iraq. I have not seen that said on Daily Kos, on Keith Olberman, on Rachel Maddow, anytime on CNN, nor have I even heard my friends say it in private. In other words, Glenn Beck made this allegation up.
He goes on to allege that:
In the story, they omit the first part of the sentence they're quoting along with the entire previous sentence for good measure.
Now, this is posted on CNN's web page, so it wouldn't be too hard for Glenn Beck to provide a link to the story. There isn't one and Beck does not say what story he is referring to. Thus far, he is dealing with a fictional attack on Palin that I have never seen.
Glenn Beck finally does provide an attribution and quotes Sarah Palin directly, trying to put her into context (curious that this same courtesy was never shown to Jeremiah Wright and I hasten to point out that here we are talking about Palin's words, not her minister's words-which I'll get to shortly). Here is the full Palin quote-you've probably seen the vid.
<"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 them out on a task that is from God. 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." </p>
Taken by itself, Beck's interpretation of this quote,and the one Sarah Palin now proffers (that she is being humble and just praying for God's guideance)is plausible.
But let's put this into context and provide the deep background. First of all, the remarks were made at the Wasila Assemblies of God to the Master's Commission (sorry no link-I haven't found a good source that will not be readily dismissed)an event that some on DKos have argued can be linked to the Dominionist movement. I suspect this is true, but as of yet have no firm proof. I do know for a fact however that growing up in the AG as a teenager there was no separation of God's mission and American's mission. So already, I know from personal experience that the Abraham Lincoln interpretation (we should pray to be on God's side) is already suspect.
But let's look at some other background on Sarah Palin. Her Her current pastor has said that God will punish every "unjustifiable act of violence" even those committed by "slippery, slidey nations like America".
And here is the quote from A visiting minister representing "Jews for Jesus":
"Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the
television. It’s very real. When Isaac (David Brickner’s son)* was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment—you can’t miss it."
Put into the wider context therefore, it is pretty clear that Sarah Palin has not been smeared by the media, but in fact, the media has let a significant and pretty damning part of the story go under reported.
Incidentally, this diary is part of my ongoing Sarah Palin Project which I have since Updated with the story on book banning. If you can help with links that go to the rest of Glenn Beck's commentary (linked above) please do so in the comments section. My goal is to provide a comprehensive, fully documented resource on Sarah Palin that is true and accurate and documented as much as possible by non-partisan sources or even sources friendly to her.
btwThe New York Times story is absolutely bone chilling.