When Atheists Attack

much mcuh much more experience!? where ? name it! Approval rating approval schmating - she gave them money!!!! --- Of course the common folk in Alaska approve of her! DUH!!!! and she's such a reformer - easy to do when compared to the senator Tom Stevens!! is facing charges !!! The LONGEST running serving Republican senator in the nation!!!! Just because he is there - doesn't make it right And her approval rating is dropping ------ For Gods sake Bush had a 80% approval rating back in 2001

Gov. Palin has much, much, much more executive experience than Barack Obama (Newsweek conveniently ignores her service as Governor, for which she has very high approval ratings (lately at 80%). And where is the scrutiny of Obama and Joe Biden? The mainstream media would be laughable if their bias wasn't so dangerous.

Gov. Palin has much, much, much more experience than Barack Obama at running an executive office. What are his qualifications? And where are the attacks on him and Joe Biden? The mainstream media would be laughable if it wasn't so dangerous with its bias.

A-hem, she's seeking the THIRD most important post in the world;
You forgot about Santa, who, I'm sure, she's met being so close the
country of the North Pole, and all.

She hasn't a clue, and I don't know WHAT McCain and his campaign co-horts were thinking when they asked her to come aboard, but...
Thank you!!!

P.S. - People, quit using the "War Veteran" card...while we honor that part of his HISTORY, it has no bearing for this election,
And remember, from Mark Twain:
"...the true patriotism, the only rational patriotism, is loyalty to the Nation ALL the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it." -the Czar's Soliloquy

High native intelligence and a capacity for rational and logical thought does not guarantee success, of course, but it certainly improves the odds which, in the imperfect world, is the most we can hope for. It can offset lack of experience and make up for wrong experiences by learning from them. Experience, by itself, is over-rated especially if you do not learn from it. Let's face it, the most experienced presidential candidate in 2004 was GWB. A lot of good that experience did for the last 4 years.
Caddieo

What a great article! I hope that you all know that Sam Harris believed that he had an enlightenment experience while tripping on Ecstasy when he was at Stanford. This article is yet another example of his drug-induced dysphoric relationship with american religious expression. He joins the prestigious cadre of Marx, Stalin, Pol-Pot and many others who believe that organized religion is the source of mankind's woes. Ha! Maybe spending some time in a goulag would convince him otherwise...

...i meant to say that i do not support barack obama simply because of his lack of experience. i support barack obama for a great deal of reasons that i do not even have the time to get into. but he is everything i want my president to be.

to DR1088.
you make an interesting point, but maybe you will be eating your words. what you said was experience or being a member of the elite does not necessarily make someone a great president. while barack obama definitely has a good resume, many attack him for his lack of experience, and some would view him as NOT a member of the elite. i do not necessarily agree with them but it is true that that is what people believe. however, no one can deny that john mccain is a member of the elite with his many years of experience. therefore, while you point out that palin should not necessarily be disregarded because she is fairly average - you also say that obama should not either.
none of that is what i really believe, i think it must all be taken with a grain of salt because while what you say may be true in theory, it does not mean that it is true in this particular case.
personally i agree wholeheartedly with sam harris and his assertions that palin is not fit to be vice president and i do not want mccain to be my president for many reasons. finally, i obviously do not support barack obama for his lack of experience.
i think what harris was partly trying to say was that many people SUPPORT palin because of her lack of credentials, which is obviously not an intelligent way to go at all.

Mr. Harris - I am only bemused by most of your obsessions concerning Ms. Palin's religious faith. Saying that some one???s religious background and history allows you suggest that they seem to you to be the ???real McCoy??? (fanatic religious extremist) suggests you have a belief of faith rather than an argument based on any real certain knowledge or factual reality.

What I found more bothersome was your obfuscation in describing Palin's "shades of conservative hypocrisy on view here???. To strive or even vocally support an ideal and then fail to reach or live completely up to that ideal is not in and of itself hypocrisy. To suggest otherwise is to ignore a person???s fallibility. And to compare Palin to Spears ??? Only one is known to have actively profited off marketing themselves exceptional examples of a good Christian family to a consuming public, and that their children were virtuous (if not virginal examples of young womanhood). The other while stating their strong religious based ideals for family did not actively seeking financial gain from people who did not know any better.

Not that it concerns you but if I were to take your view of hypocrisy to it???s logical conclusion, everyone must be a hypocrite because everyone fails from time to time to attain the ideals we hold up for others and ourselves.

The history of our Presidents have told us that ???elite??? levels of intelligence, intellect, virtue, or morality does not guarantee us a great presidents (Carter). Neither does elite history of public service experience guarantee a great VP candidate (Truman). You owe it to yourself and your readers to be more honest. I my opinion all you have done is make a successful ad hominem attack on Palin the VP candidate and little more

As one of those pesky born-again, Spirit-filled believers....however, very left-leaning Democratic...I take no particular exception to your article. I would simply like to add that you have nothing to fear from Palin's dogma. She offers only lip service to her faith, as evidenced by her continual lies, her self-aggrandizing behavior, and her hypocrisy. She's no religious threat....but worse....she makes other believers, and even God, look stupid.

Helper; Nazi Germany, Mao's China, and Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge are shining examples of regimes that institutionalized the rejection of intellect. indeed the Khmer Rouge simply executed the educated. To claim that a Vice President need only to be equipped with "guts, determination and sacrifice" is akin to claiming that a surgeon needs only a scalpel and a desire and willingness to start slicing. In fact we can all agree that a surgeon needs vast and specialized knowledge in order to navigate surgical procedures successfully. A person cannot just jump into an airplane and successfully pilot that craft based on inherent personality traits; they cannot succeed simply because they are brave, daring, and determined. All would agree that intense focused training, and the knowledge gained from such training are the key to successfully piloting aircraft. Sarah Palin has failed to demonstrated that she has the executive level knowledge or command of contemporary national issues required to properly pilot the country should something tragic happen to McCain. This is not to say that she cannot be an effective governor in the state of Alaska. She was born and raised in Alaska and is well versed in the unique issues facing that particular state. Alaska has a population of 670,000 people, about the same number of people that live in Austin Texas. But just as the surgeon must possess focused knowledge of surgical proceedures, so must VP candidates possess knowledge of national, global and international affairs. Palin has failed to make the case that she is in possession of the global and national knowledge base necessary to make well informed decisions. The McCain campaign has only allowed her to conduct three interviews. Why? The Obama campaign has not felt the need to place limits on Joe Biden (over 90 interviews) regarding interviews. Why? The McCain camp knows her knowledge base is limited in scope (Alaska) and the limitations they have placed on her conduct of interviews is direct acknowledgment by the McCain campaign of such weakness. You are better off simply stating that your support is based on a gut feeling, or the blind party affiliation taught to you since birth, or that you also believe that Noah's Ark was large enough to house and feed 2 of each of the 1.5+ million identified species on the earth, or that dinosaur bones were planted by god in order to test the faith of those who believe the earth to be more than several thousand years old. Maybe your kid plays hockey too and you can relate to that. Maybe you have a deep disdain for the highly educated and their "intellectual spew." The constitution and the founding fathers ensured that your disdain for intellectual spew would be protected but I for one, am ready to give the smarties a chance!!

"The problem, as far as our political process is concerned, is that half the electorate revels in Palin's lack of intellectual qualifications. When it comes to politics, there is a mad love of mediocrity in this country."
this reminds of a comment made by Daniel Shore about the first Bush administration. "America has selfish tolerance for mediocrity and corruption."

Correction--the quotes I referenced are on the second page, second paragraph of Harris' essay. Thanks

"The problem, as far as our political process is concerned, is that half the electorate revels in Palin's lack of intellectual qualifications. When it comes to politics, there is a mad love of mediocrity in this country."
this comment reminds me of an observation made by Daniel Shore during he first Bush administration, and it has always stuck with me. "America has a selfish tolerance of mediocrity and corruption"

We should want the best and the brightest as leaders of our country. I already have enough people with whom I can enjoy a beer. The leader of the free-world should be someone a bit more distinguished. I believe the problem with Palin is not her lack of experience, but rather that she is obviously not contemplative. I want a leader who takes the time to understand all sides of any and all issues. Not someone who jumps first and asks questions later, a la our current pres. I would also like to point out that religion and education are NOT mutually exclusive, even though it can seem that way when hypocritical, right-wing "christians" open their mouths. I do, however, see an extreme danger in tying politics to religion. To all the pastors who preached politics from the pulpit this past weekend, all you must do is look at the nations we are currently fighting to see what a bad idea it is to mix politics and religion. Really, how far are we from an evangelical suicide bomber or catholic, protestant and muslim gangs battling it out in the streets?

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