Is it just me...

Or is the whole McCain/Palin thing just a whole bunch of weirdness rolled up into a campaign type fruitcake? I've avoided writing about the campaign because there are so many other bloggers who are doing it much better than I. But with the headlines lately, I've just been unable to remain silent. Everyday something else occurs that makes me just shake my head at not just at McCain/Palin but at their supporters. I honestly just can't imagine why anyone who stopped to think for more than a minute would want the country run by a bunch of insane people. I'm not going to pretend I respect McCain like so many people do because frankly I don't. He's a liar, a rich man pretending that he understands the working class, he's slimy, and he's arrogant. Not, I think, admirable qualities. And lately the total craziness of the McCain campaign just drives me further from finding it even dealable to think of this man as winning.

First, let's take a look at Palin. Here's a woman with no experience to speak of, a woman who kills things with high power rifles, a woman who may or may not be lying about her youngest son's paternity, a woman who thinks it's great to marry off her teenage daughter to the guy the daughter happened to have sex with...ummm okay. But what I want to point out here is the fact that she is a religious extremist. Now Republican voters have a real bug up their ass about religious extremists which in Republican speak translates to Muslims. But they've been amazingly silent about Palin's religious beliefs. Palin is a member of the Assemblies of God which is a Pentecostal affiliated church. They believe in being born again, speaking in tongues, etc. They also believe that the mission of Christians is to convert the world. In other words, everyone needs to be a born again Christian with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This often takes on a rather militaristic tone as anyone who has seen Jesus Camp can attest. Like many Pentecostals, Palin is a creationist meaning she believes that God created the Earth in seven days just as stated in the number 1 tale of creation found in the Hebrew Bible. These people tend to veiw wars with Muslim countries as "holy wars" (sound familiar?). I know this group rather intimately as my family spent much of my youth in various Assemblies of God churches. I remember marching around the Church with the adults as they sang a song about being in the "army of the Lord."

. The group tends to have an escathological apocalyptic world view .These are the beliefs held for example by Tim Lahey and Jerry Jenkins, authors of the Left Behind series. Beliefs such as these include an end time world viwe in which Jesus will return to bring up the 'saved' to heaven aka. The Rapture. After the rapture, the Antichrist will rule the world for seven years before returning again to battle Satan, in what I guess could be called the ultimate slamdown. This kind of thinking lends, I think, a certain urgency to "saving" the would be sinners of the world.

I will acknowledge that a, AOG has become a bit less charismatic as they become more established. However, if you follow the link I offered, you will read that they publicly advocate the beliefs I've mentioned. Also Palin no longer attends a AOG church but she does return to give speeches as evident in the video floating around of her speaking of Iraq as a war from God. She now attends Wasilla Bible Church which if you read their statement of faith, you'll discover that their beliefs do not really deviate much from the AOG.

My problem is not so much that Palin has a religion but that it's an extreme religion that would find its way into her governing. She would not think about representation of all Americans but rather representation for "God" would be her top priority. For a group of people who profess fear of religious extremism, I find it ironic, and yes weird, that they would pick someone who is a religious extremist but then I guess most of these types don't think Christians can have religious exretmists...hmmm...crusades anyone? Abortion clinics bombing?

Second, the whole campaign worker story. Heard this one? A white female McCain campaigner goes to the police with this story about how she was mugged at an ATM by...wait for it...a black man (surprise, surprise)...a big black man as well. He sees her McCain sticker on her car after she's given him her money, hits her in the back of the head (now I admit to being tempted to do this when I see McCain stickers), beats her, and then CARVES a letter B into her check telling she better vote of Obama. Police said later this week that the story was a lie, and that this woman carved the letter B (which was backwards) into her own cheek. Ummm okay. Not only are the people running fucking nuts so are the people campaigning for them. I know this shouldn't have a bearing on McCain and Palin but it does make me wonder what kind of lunacy is going around is floating around ya know?

Third, from weird to sick...the supporters who shot a bear cub, pasted Obama signs all over it's head, and left in front of a college in NC. Again, one has to wonder why people are doing these things in the name of McCain...maybe it's the crazy air that surrounds McCain and Palin. Who knows?

Even since McCain choice Palin, this whole campaign took on a farce like atmosphere. The woman is an idiot with scary extremist views. She strikes me as a racist (which I've heard from a great many people). McCain with his snide sneering and his borderline racist comment during debate number 2 has just come across as someone smelling faintly of desperation. They've both become SNL skits of themselves. The overlty racist mentality that lingers over Repubicans right now leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I am honestly flabbergasted that Obama does not totally have this campaign in the bag.

Oh and just an end note...the latest NRA ad against Obama...cause you know that the fact you've never killed an animal with a gun makes you totally UNDESIRABLE as president. And yeah hunters really really need semiautomatic to bring down those ferocious deer....