01 October 2008

Not so gorgeous

You remember how the U.S. media was all over Barack Obama for his connection to the iffy preacher, Jeremiah Wright? Media Matters wrote at the time about how the mainstream media was ignoring John McCain's connection to Rod Parsley, who, despite saying that the purpose of the United States of America's existence is to destroy the faith of Islam, has been described by McCain a "spiritual guide".

Well, Sarah Palin has connections which are even more kooky. And it is obvious that McCain, a maverick conservative with no deep attachment to evangelical Christianity of his own, drew on Palin precisely because she was the nominee of the Christian right, who believe in 'rapture', 'end times' and other such scary things. Again, for the American media, this is a story they don't seem to be covering...

Via The Real News Network:
Does Sarah Palin believe in the Anti-Christ? Does she believe true Christians will be whisked up to heaven sometime in the near future? Does she expect Jesus to come back to earth in our lifetimes and battle the armies of Satan? Would biblical prophecies about Armageddon influence her foreign policy positions on Israel and Russia? These are urgent questions the media have failed to ask. According to Chip Berlet, a leading expert on the Christian right, mainstream reporters tend to view apocalyptic fundamentalists as a "silly little side show" in American political life, when, in fact, one of their own may soon be a heartbeat away from the most powerful office in the world.


3 comments:

Srinivasan Ramani said...

Dear Siddharth,

This is off topic. We saw you as one of the various global journalists who were part of that promo video of Real News or rather the IWT. But apart from Aijaz Ahmad's regular and insightful videos, we haven't seen you or any other Indian analysts on the network. Is there anything of that sort soon in the offing? If yes, thanks in advance.

Btw, The Real News Network is one helluva (in the American parlance) site run on a very progressive and innovative viewer supported funding model. Three cheers to Paul Jay & company.

-- Srini

Siddharth Varadarajan said...

I sort of baled out when I went on sabbatical last year and never reconnected though they did try a few times to do a phono. But you are right, The Real News is excellent, and Paul Jay has really pitched the enterprise just right.

Will be sure to reconnect with them when I return to Delhi next week.

«AM» said...

Well, Sir, with due respect, I do not mean to berate you, but there are many more contentious issues, emerging everyday wrt Palin. To name a few:
1. Only a desparate victory-at-any-cost person as McCain has become will pick Palin with minimum background check.
2. Any person who claims she can see Russia from Alaska(which, by the way, is untrue because she hasn't been to the island yet where this is possible) is totally crazy. I can claim to be qualified to be Consul-General for USA in the same logic.
3. She doesn't know her running mate's policies.
4. She has no idea who Hamas is.
5. She has absolutely no idea what the current financial situation is.
6. She couldn't name a single magazine/newspaper she reads.
7. She has appeared for only 3 interviewers and almost zero press conferences.
Clips which will leave you scratching your head:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nokTjEdaUGg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8__aXxXPVc
http://www.huffpost.com/_129078.html

I only mean to say that religious beliefs... Are their own worry. A potential VP not knowing stuff she should, God save. McCain made a big mistake.

As for the American media, Fox isn't afraid to support the Reps, but noone is willing to do that for the Dems. That is as concise an explanation as possible.