I agree with everything said in this blog post, but wanted to add one point.Andrew's Palinophobia officially insulted and offended me with this post.
She is a long-time member of the Assemblies Of God. That's all you need to know.
In Sullivan's mind the conversation would be similar to this.
Sullivan: That's racist.
Someone else: I'm not sure. I think there is an innocuous point there.
Sullivan: David Duke said it. That's all you need to know.
In one easy swoop, Sullivan outed himself as a religious bigot. I understand that as a proudly gay man, Sullivan probably hasn't had the greatest experiences with evangelicals. But what he is practicing here goes directly against what he extols in his book. He praises the Oakeshottian view that faith rests on doubt, not certainty. The point is inarguable: faith requires doubt. There is no need for faith to believe in incontrovertible facts.
Look at Sarah Palin's prayer:
“That our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God, that’s what we have to make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan, and that plan is God’s plan.”
Because Sarah Palin never expected Andrew Sullivan to fisk her faith, she probably didn't worry about the wording. But the intent is clear to any reader who is not trying to denigrate her or her faith. She is making one of the most simple prayers any Christian can make: thine will, not mine, be done. It's a prayer I have uttered countless times myself. It's a prayer of uncertainty: Lord, I do not always know what you will is, but I ask that it be done. I ask that you give me guidance and wisdom. Or in this case: I ask that your will be done in Iraq. I am sending my son there and I ask that the plans of our leaders are your plans. Your will, not ours, be done.
Instead of showing the work behind his tortured logic, Sullivan dismisses it with the wave of a hand. "There is no need to for me to explain Sarah Palin's relationship with God. She goes to an Assemblies of God church, ergo she is a misguided fundamentalist bigot who thinks the Iraq war is a mission from God, Blues Brothers-style."
There can be no other way to put it: Andrew Sullivan is just as bigoted as the people who would deny him the love he feels for and from his husband.
