When Atheists Attack

What strikes (and unnerves) me about the anti-elitism of Palin's supporters is that they seem to be assailing meritocracy, not inequality. Americans have traditionally valued egalitarianism, in the sense of striving (with varied success over our history) to provide equal opportunities for all of our citizens. Barack Obama is a sterling example of equality of opportunity: the half-black kid of a single mom on food stamps who could rise on his own brains and hard work to aspire to be President of the United States. Palin's supporters, in contrast, don't seem to support equality of opportunity, but equality of outcomes: anyone who excels is the object of their burning resentment. It is not unfair social or economic advantage, but the gifts and achievements of the extraordinary individuals among us that they mock and revile. Palin is an anti-elitist icon not because she rose from poverty or oppression, but because she did not rise above the level of mediocrity that most of us inhabit.

Sarah Palin's religion is no different than any other follower of Billy Graham, a highly respected religious leader of all Pentacostal Religion, and who Sarah's church follows. She points out her personal views do not supercede her governmental decisions, where she would be sworn to uphold the Constitution. A world traveler, does not make a world leader, Lots of travel agents travel. People in alaska are all quite aware of how close Russia is to them, and you should be too. Her comment about seeing it from her window, means more than a frivolous statement. Perhaps Sarah, sadly, will learn that her endearing qualities are made fun of and criticized by so called "educated" people who have no real lives. Your long diatribe, was not helpful nor even useful, and you have no understanding of a real person.

Republicans are aghast at the sight of religious extremists taking over one country after another in the Mideast and central Asia. Their solution is to put Palin in the White House?!? Jon Stewart can be hysterically funny merely by reporting on what these loons are saying and doing, but it gets less funny as the election gets closer. It's so depressing to know that this election is even close.

Amazing article! I truly enjoyed reading it until the end. I strongly agree when you say that: "When it comes to politics, there is a mad love of mediocrity in this country". True! In any other developed country, the race would have been already over when a highly educated candidate (Harvard graduate) and his well versed VP go up against a C+ average student (894th out 899 in the academy) and a VP who took 6 years and 6 universities to get a college. degree. I guess this is AMERICA!

Clarification to my previous post; we've both graduated from college, Obama meanwhile graduated from the most prestigous college in the United States and doing so with honors. I could easily compare myself to Palin and one up her on the fact my degree is in business management, at least there I have actual experience in managing people and making executive decisions.

And before people get all; 'Eisenhower wasn't a CEO you moran' (yes deliberately mispelled in celebration of an internet meme). He was Supreme Allied Commander and that gives him all the executive experience you could have asked for in a President during a time of crisis. Ironically, even that didn't help him go down in history as one of our most well respected, historical presidents.

Anyone using the Lincoln argument is also pretty laughable, considering the parties were -vastly- different prior the Great Depression and almost do not even closely resemble what we have today. Even then, Lincoln was more closely comparable to Obama than to Palin. Truman was inexperienced, but he was also raised in an era of hardship and troubles that far exceed what Palin has had to deal with and his use of the nuclear weapon on civilian targets is still cause for debate today. I could go on, but my work day is over with.

Re: When Atheists Attack:
Your article was well written. I'm NO fan of Sarah Palin! The beauty queen thing was background stuff until last week, when she pronounced "nuclear" as "new-cue-ler"! As a woman with a degree in Journalism, and a former TV announcer, Palin should have KNOWN better! Obviously, she did not! I wonder if she still carries that tiara around with her? This is the LAST person I would want to see in the White House!!

A previous poster compared this to a 'modern dark ages'. I find the use of that misnomer to be really amusing, considering it was the Christian church in power during the first, maligned Dark Ages. Unless you are choosing to specfiy Catholic church, in which case I would argue there is little difference between the religious practices and dogmatic focus; the bibles you both worship are otherwise the same.

Palin is an amusing diversion from McCain. She is the lipstick put on the pig of a Republican party and just as substantive. She is an empty skirt and an insult for the feminist movement that sought to empower women, not deride them with an inexperienced 'gag'. While the Republican party pats themselves on the back for being 'progressive' lets not forget the Democrats did it almost twenty years ago and we had a qualified, experienced female candidate running for the highest office. What the Republican party is doing is basically patting women on the head and telling them 'good girl, heres your treat'.

I'm an atheist, but I don't care about Obama's Christian faith or even if he was the much laughably rumored Muslim. He draws a line between his personal religion and the office he would take. He is an elitist and good. He is far smarter than me just from having graduated college and I know I don't have the answers to fix this country, the intelligence or the dedication that his balance between work, family and community has taken. Palin 'running' her state when most of the work fell to employees doesn't even come close to registering as executive experience. Come back to me when she's a CEO or a large multinational corporation, as that is the sort of 'executive experience' that would be necessary for running this country. Since none of our officials have had that since Eisenhower, you can take that right off the plate for Palin. That leaves her with nothing. Absolutely nothing. I don't want my mom in office. I want a leader. I'm an adult now, time for the rest of America to be.

Newsweek/MSNBC: why would you name this opinion piece "When Atheists attack"? If Sam Harris were black would you call it "When Blacks attack"? Or if he were Muslim, "When Muslims attack"? The annswer is clear.

Anyone who thinks they are appointed by God scares the hell out of me.

Jack Dempsey says that the people that like Palen because she's a mom, are all wrong. How about the Millions who Support Obama because he is black? If she is a nutso christian because she goes to a certain church, then Obama, must be a raging bigot because he spent 20+ years listening to Jerimia Wright., in his church. Mr. Dempsey opinions like yours reviels you bias and that to me deminishes your credability.

Superb piece and one that should be carefully perused by every voter. Among Ms. Palin's quite literal beliefs (or so I've heard) is the notion that the earth, and presumably the balance of the universe, are approximately six thousand years old. That gem of religiolunacy is traceable to one Bishop Usher, a seventeenth century Irish cleric who "calculated" that the "creation" detailed in Genesis occurred in 4004 B.C.E. William Jennings Bryan even trotted out Bishop Usher during his testimony in the Scopes "Monkey" trial. When Darrow showed him the famous rock found locally and estimated geologically to be ten million years old, Bryan sang out his oft-quoted reply: "I am more concerned about the Rock of Ages than I am about the age of rocks." I suppose Gov. Palin holds a similar view. It is equally apparent that her mental processes are on a par with Bryan's in another way. She evidently does not, to paraphrase another of Bryan's priceless Scopes trial responses, "think about things she does not think about." I am not really surprised by any of this. When I forced myself to listen to the Governor's carefully crafted and promptered speech in St. Paul, I felt somehow as if I were witnessing a sequel to the Coen brothers' "Fargo."

Jack Dempsey says that the people that like Palen because she's a mom, are all wrong. How about the Millions who Support Obama because he is black? If she is a nutso christian because she goes to a certain church, then Obama, must be a raging bigot because he spent 20+ years listening to Jerimia Wright., in his church. Mr. Dempsey opinions like yours reviels you bias and that to me deminishes your credability.

Excellent, I beleive in god very much so but I also have common sence. this is what my sence tells me...

This is what Bush and Cheney basically told the nation they were going to accomplish on day one of their tenure! Some people didnt listen!

Socialize the debt and privatize the wealth!


Heres a short line item of "their conservative' legacy" during the past eight years...

The worst election fraud in history - the 2000 presidential election...

The first Major attack against America in the lower 48??? (9/11)

The first American attack against a sovereign country in history - Iraq, all based on subversion and duplicity...there were no WMDs!

The worst federal handling of a catastrophic even in American History, Katrina...

The worst time period in American history for privatizing the federal institutions of war, education, prison, etc.
They are still trying to get our social security and give it to the stock market!

The largest federal debt in American history...from great prosperity to collapse in just 8 years!

The worst collapse of our mortgage, banking and lending institutions to date...
I could go on all day...but I get sick to my stomach!

So is this what happens when you elect two GOP ex-oilmen to run our nation?

And now the right wing wants to give us McCain, a 95% mirrored image of past failed GOP policies and Palin, who is more to the right then Bush/Cheney: an absolute dolt, no intelligence...
just more of that self-righteous underachiever garbage that Bush represents!

The nation obviously needs oversight , regulation, and political change.
Dump the GOP presidential candidate. "This is real change we can beleive in!"

And Harry Truman was a haberdasher. So, what's your point? Commom people with commom backgrounds can't become successful? Don't think so.

And Harry Truman was a haberdasher. So, what's your point?

First off, any comment on Obama here is the pure definition of fallacy; it shows the weakness the Republican party has in defending Sarah Palin with anything of substance.

Anyone who calls liberals "close-minded" needs to acquaint themselves with a dictionary. It actually says "open-minded" as a definition of the word liberal. The Republican party should rename itself "the Rhetoric Party" because they can't argue an issue with any credibility. Time after time, the conversation will turn into fear-mongering "watch out for the terrorists!!" or flat-out lies to keep the money rolling into their pockets. Oil company profits at an all-time high-- we have a President whose family has a history in oil. Coincidence? You make the call.

Sarah Palin isn't qualified to even hold the governorship she has, let alone govern the Senate. Her foreign experience consists of watching it on television and making up rhetorical statements like "I can see them out my backyard". She can see 90 miles out of her backyard? And discuss diplomacy from there? Those glasses aren't that thick. I'm astounded that McCain actually found someone to run with that is even more out of touch than he is. That is quite an accomplishment; the most populous county in Arizona has more people than the state of Alaska...how would she run a country and represent the majority of Americans, which would be her job?