McCain-Palin, 2008


Looks like the Veepstakes goes to Sarah Palin…
The AP is not so sure, but all signs point that way…
CNN says it is so.
Here is what the McCain campaign is saying about the pick:

My Friends,
I am honored to announce that I have chosen Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as my choice for the Republican nominee for Vice President. As a father with three daughters, I can’t express how proud I am to choose the first female Republican Vice-Presidential nominee.
Sarah Palin is a trailblazer and a reformer. As the first female governor of Alaska, she challenged a corrupt system and has been a tireless advocate for reform – passing a landmark bill on ethics reform. She has taken on the old politics in Alaska and reformed the state’s energy industry. She rejects wasteful pork barrel spending. She’s fearless – exactly the type of leader I want at my side and the type of leadership we will bring to Washington.
My friends, together Sarah Palin and I make the strongest presidential ticket and I know that she joins me in asking for your support as we head into our Convention week in Minnesota. We’re shaking things up in this campaign – and Governor Palin and I are ready to bring real reform to Washington.

From the FOXNews account:

Born in Sandpoint, Idaho, on Feb. 11, 1964, Palin moved with her family at the age of three months to Wasilla, Alaska, though she returned to her birth state to attend the University of Idaho, where she studied journalism and graduated in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree.
Palin is the mother of five children — Bristol, Willow, Piper, Track and Trig, who was born in April with Down syndrome.
She grew up in Wasilla, just outside of Anchorage, played on Wasilla’s state champion girls’ basketball team in 1982, wore the crown of Miss Wasilla in 1984 and competed in the Miss Alaska contest.
She began her professional career as a television sports reporter, but after she married her husband, Todd, she helped run his family’s commercial fishing business. Other professional endeavors included the ownership of a snow machine, watercraft and all-terrain-vehicle business.
She ran for Wasilla City Council in 1992, winning her seat by opposing tax increases. Four years later, she was elected mayor of Wasilla at age 32 by knocking off a three-term incumbent.
At the end of her second term, party leaders encouraged her to enter the 2002 race for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Against veteran legislators with far more experience, Palin finished second by fewer than 2,000 votes, making a name for herself in statewide politics.
Palin had exceptionally high approval ratings through mid-2007 and received high marks for her accessibility, a change from Frank Murkowski’s administration.

The information about Sarah Palin is pouring in (Did someone give a speech last night?). Here is an interview with Newsmax where she discusses social and energy issues.
And a long Anchorage news article regarding her run for Gov.

18 thoughts on “McCain-Palin, 2008”

  1. Well I had a nice long post but it had too many links in it and the Throckmorton blog-system bear ate it…. ;~)
    There was a SPLC article on Joel’s Army recently.
    Theocratic Sect Prays for Real Armageddon -SPLC
    Members of Joel’s Army are fighting to bring about the millennial reign of Christ.
    http://www.alternet.org/story/96945/theocratic_sect_prays_for_real_armageddon/?page=entire
    And this is a good article from more mainline, evangelical people.
    Joel’s Army: Discernment~Ministries Inc.
    http://www.discernment-ministries.org/JoelsArmy1.htm
    There was a Daily Kos article on whether Palin was a associated with the Pentacostal sects but I don’t give it much shrift. But she did speak at a meeting of the Assemblies of God, Alaska “chapter” while she was governor and spoke highly of them (could she do otherwise?). The website of the Juneau Christian Center has this one ministry or such to kids with “Destiny” in its name. But that is conjecture.

  2. LOL…sorry about the weird spacing in my last comment. It was a copy and paste on my sister-in-laws computer and I don’t know what happened….

  3. I got my info from an Associated Press article. It tends to concur with the Juneau Empire story.
    “The 44-year-old mother of five, who led her high school chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, was baptized as a teenager at the Wasilla
    Assembly of God Church, where she and her family were very active, according to
    her then-pastor, Paul Riley.
    She now sometimes worships at the Juneau Christian Center, which is also part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, said Brad Kesler, business administrator of the denomination’s Alaska District. But her home church is The Church on the
    Rock, an independent congregation, Riley said.”
    I really don’t know anything about The Church on the Rock–but, in Dallas, the
    church by that name is huge and is most definitely ‘Charismatic/Pentecostal’.
    Graduates of Christ for the Nations, my alma mater and featured in that thread
    where we discussed the I-35 prophecies, often moved on to The Church on the
    Rock. I’m also pretty sure that the Dallas area Church on the Rock was started
    as a split-off from Beverly Hills Church of Dallas, who later changed their name
    to “Church of the King”. Beverly Hills Church was a Baptist congregation that
    experienced a notable ‘move of the Holy Spirit’ back in the 70’s and remains
    Charismatic to this day.
    I realize that the Alaska Church on the Rock may not have any affiliation
    whatsoever with the Dallas area version…but it may be worth looking into. To
    appeal to mainstream Evangelicals, I’m sure they would play down any
    Charismatic/Pentecostal connections and hype the more traditional Baptist roots.
    If the Assemblies of God connection is true, this doesn’t seem like much of a
    stretch.
    Lynn David: do you anything more about the groups that you wondered about her affiliation with? Dominion, Destiny, Joel’s Army, etc.?

  4. According to this guy, who quotes an Alaska Assemblies of God [http://www.alaskaag.org/] newsletter, the Juneau Christian Center [http://www.jccalaska.com/] is an AoG congregation. He goes on to report:

    “The opening night banquet of the 2008 Alaska District Council [of the AoG?] was honored to have Governor Sarah Palin address the delegates and guests. Governor Palin spoke of her appreciation for the Assemblies of God and requested that the Council pray for both her and the State of Alaska.
    Superintendent Ted Boatsman, who was Palin’s junior high pastor at Wasilla Assembly of God, along with Pastor Mike Rose of Juneau Christian Center, where Palin presently attends church when in Juneau, laid hands on the Governor and led the Council in prayer.”

    And according to the Juneau Empire [http://juneauempire.com/stories/090108/sta_326213655.shtml]:

    The 44-year-old mother of five, who led her high school chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, was baptized as a teenager at the Wasilla Assembly of God Church [http://www.wasillaag.org/], where she and her family were very active, according to her then-pastor, Paul Riley.
    She now sometimes worships at the Juneau Christian Center, which is also part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, said Brad Kesler, business administrator of the denomination’s Alaska District. But her home church is The Church on the Rock [http://www.churchontherockak.org/about.html // http://churchontherockak.org/pdf/Doctrinal_Statement.pdf%5D, an independent congregation, Riley said.

    The Church on the Rock does not show up on the Assemblies of God directory search as an affiliate. But for some reason when you Google up “Church on the Rock” and Alaska you get a link to the Alaska Assemblies of God homepage, but I cannot find that wording on the homepage. Hmmm…..

  5. Eddy – Where did you get your info on Pailn? My understanding is that the family attends an independent Bible church in the Anchorage area. This is kind of like Baptist. This info comes from a preacher who shared the platform with them in Dayton and spoke to her and her husband.

  6. Ms Palin’s strongest church affiliation appears to be with the Assembly of God Church, which I believe is the largest Pentecostal denomination. Pentecostals believe that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) still moves and speaks in the lives of individuals. Beyond that, though, there are many subsets and groups who focus on different beliefs and experiences. I believe that Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God are Pentecostal groups but I’m not sure whether they are in any way connected to the Assemblies of God; I never heard of Destiny, Joel’s Army or Dominionist.
    LOL. I know that’s not much of an answer but thought it might be helpful to let you know that there are various factions of Pentecostalism. Hopefully it will help you to dissect what you hear. I was hoping that her specific beliefs would be discussed more on the Sunday morning political news programs–and perhaps they were–but I’m vacationing with my family and am off my normal Sunday morning routine.
    (I live in Minneapolis/St Paul and decided this was an excellent week to be out of town.)

  7. Is Ms Palin a member of a Dominionist church in Alaska with ties to Destiny/Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God/Joel’s Army?

  8. Where is Ron Paul when you need him? 😎
    I like Ron but voted for Romney and now I’ve settled on McCain.

  9. Evan,
    Correct, these choices do not speak to voters’ rational mind 100%.
    I’m still writing in my vote.

  10. David Lynn,

    Mr Biden: Ms Palin, I know Hillary Clinton, Ms Clinton supports this ticket wholeheartedly. Ms Palin, you are no Hillary Clinton. (Where are your 18,000,000 votes?)

    Clinton may support the Obama-Biden ticket but her supporters have a mind of their own. These choices do not speak to voters’ rational mind 100%.

  11. David Lynn,
    There are many cons against McCain’s choice, I know. I only speculated on his reason to choose a young woman as his running mate. The games look very symmetrical in this respect: Obama chose Biden in order to have an older, experienced man behind his back, while McCain tried to fish in the troubled waters that Obama left behind after snubbing Hillary Clinton.
    McCain probably had a number of good options on the table; it’s debatable if he took the best.

  12. I can’t wait for the press to hit Palin on her relative, political inexperience. Suddenly the reporters at MSBNC are going to think that experience is a really, important issue. 😎
    I’m going to get some popcorn and watch Fox news tonight.

  13. The morning I woke up and saw that Hillary wasn’t the VP pick I knew Obama was in trouble. A united Hillary, Obama ticket would have been unbeatable.
    I don’t know much about Palin other than she’s pretty. But unless she implodes this pick appears to be pure, political brilliance. The press has completely forgotten about Obama’s speech last night. It’s wall to wall Palin on TV.
    BTW
    Palin has an 80% approval rating in Alaska.

  14. What? McCain had to balance his supposed foreign policy prowess with a person who had absolutely none? And as to the Hillary factor, I can see a VP debate now……

    Ms Palin: And I would like to point out to the supporters of Hillary Clinton that she isn’t on the podium opposite me.
    .
    Mr Biden: Ms Palin, I know Hillary Clinton, Ms Clinton supports this ticket wholeheartedly. Ms Palin, you are no Hillary Clinton. (Where are your 18,000,000 votes?)

    Then there is this infamous quote from the former Miss Alaska runnerup:

    “But as for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell ya, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me, what is it exactly that the VP does every day?” – Sarah Palin, 8/1/08, on CNBC, “Kudlow and Company

    With Palin McCain makes a very weak choice only to pander to women and furthe to the religious right without who he knows he doesn’t stand the chance of an icecube in Death Valley. But McCain now loses all of his props as a true middle of the road candidate for all of America and he’s crossed into the looney-tunes land of Bob Jones U and Phyllis Shlafley.
    McCain doesn’t realize that this has been done once before, 24 years ago, by the Democrats with Mondale/Ferraro. It won’t work with McCain/Palin either.

  15. Clearly, the timing of this announcement is intended to steal some of the press coverage of the Democratic Convention. It will be interesting to see if Obama tries anything right after the Republican Convention. (although, Gustav may do the work for him).

  16. This is such a chess game. After Obama slyly picked Biden to steal some of the old-but-experienced aura from McCain (‘See, you got them both on the same ticket…’), now the Republican hopeful capitalises on Obama’s decision not to choose Hillary Clinton as his veep. So he took Sarah Palin onboard, a younger woman.
    I don’t know the entire background from past US politics, but I’ve been following the primaries closely since last year and you’ve got a captivating electoral process. I look forward to seeing some debates with the now nominated candidates and their running mates.

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