The Palin / Quayle Connection

Much has been made of the similarities between Sarah Palin and Dan Quayle as Vice Presidential candidates. Both both picks were relative unknowns lacking any serious experience. Both were young and attractive in the hopes of appealing to young and female voters.

And now it appears as though Sarah Palin shares Mr. Quayle's penchent for not really thinking before she speaks. This comes from her responses to a questionaire sent to all of the candidates for Alaska Governor in 2006. You can read them all here.

There are several things to point to, here, but the one that prompted me to write this blog entry:

Q: Are you offended by the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

A: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance.

Apparently, Governor Palin is unaware that not only weren't the words "under God" in the Pledge when our founding fathers were around, there wasn't even a Pledge, it was not written until 1892, with the "under God" phrasing not added until 1954.

(While confirming exact years, I did find out a few interesting facts. Apparently, the addition of "under God" was not the first time the Pledge was ammended. The original Pledge was "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." It was also originally said with the hand over the heart and then extending the arm toward the flag, palm up. This practice was apparently stopped when a similar gesture became associated with the Nazis.)

To me, this is just an extreme example of the revisionist history which allows for the claim that we were founded as "a Christian country", or that the term "strict constructionist" in any way refers to an actual strict following of the original intent.

Liam.