Graham offhandedly claimed that Palin said that she was waiting "for a sign from God" as to whether she would run in 2012. Further distorting her comments, he claimed she was "confident God would show the way to the White House." But, once again, she said neither of these things. In fact, what she actually said is rhetoric that is pretty much in accord with what even elected presidents have said at one time or another.
Unfortunately, we have arrived at a time when the default position for Democrats as a party is to despise religion even if individually they consider themselves religious. They consider any expression of religious sentiment whatsoever to be an example of "extremism," and "bigotry" against others. Well, at least the second any Republican expresses a religious sentiment, that is. When anyone from their side does it, they wink, nod and assume that their politician is just lying and merely trying to get elected and doesn't really mean it -- which is still an expression of a hatred for religion when all is said and done.
This is an incredible logical disconnect that reveals their abject, illogical hatred of religion. None of them, of course, imagine that their religious belief is somehow "extreme" or "bigoted," yet they assume right off that any expression of religion by a Republican isn't just a sincere religious tenet and a statement about the candidate themselves, but is automatically an expression of intolerance and hatred for others.
But, what was most interesting is not Graham and his commenter's misconception of what Palin said. I am used to them distorting what people say because they really never actually hear the sound bites or read the actual words of their political enemies. What is really interesting is their disgust that Palin would invoke religion at all. It seems to incense them that a Republican politician would pray for anything at all.
Sadly, their hatred of religion overpowers even the tiniest bit of logic they might possess. To show what I mean, I use the report on Huffington Post about Palin's comment on Fox News as a prime example. Here is what Graham's Huffington Post excerpted from Palin's comments:
Faith is a very big part of my life. And putting my life in my creator's hands - this is what I always do. I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is. Even if it's cracked up a little bit, maybe I'll plow right on through that and maybe prematurely plow through it, but don't let me miss an open door. And if there is an open door in (20)12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I'll plow through that door.
Now, nowhere in that excerpt did Palin say God was telling her to run, that she was praying that God tell her to run, or that she even wanted God to tell her to run. What she said was that if she felt God was showing her that path, she saw no reason not to take it. In fact, she clearly said with her "maybe prematurely plow through" the door comment that she may be mistaken and flawed in her view of what God may be showing her. These are all eminently sensible things to say and quite in keeping with a modest religious belief. In no way did she hint that she has some direct pipeline to God or that he speaks to her like from the burning bush. Nor did she express any messianic conceptions.
In fact, what Palin said mirrors rhetoric from every single president we've ever had. They've all invoked God and prayer and they've all applied it to their leadership.
Yet both the Huffington Post blogger and its hundreds of hatemongering commenters purposefully misconstrued what Palin said. Nearly to a comment, these haters assumed that Palin was praying to become president and that God was speaking directly to her as if she were a modern Jeanne d'Arc sent on a mission from on high.
Their hatred for any expression of religion, especially from a Republican, so blinds them and incenses them that no logic can penetrate their black views.
