Some never do, do they? The latest of these is the seemingly unstoppable “Sarah Palin is a YEC” assertion, which we debunked a couple of weeks ago. But now, it’s back, and both the LA Times (in a story which Mark Hemingway accurately describes as being a “heaping pile of factual carnage” ) and the reprehensible Huffington Post, the favorite blog of the latte liberal set, have finally decided to casually report the latest “eyewitness” allegation of Palin’s supposed YEC beliefs as unvarnished fact, after it has been bouncing around in the moonbat blogosphere the past few weeks. This supposed eyewitness is one Philip Munger, who claims that in 1997, after Palin gave a commencement speech to some homeschooled students (wow, a perfect storm of liberal boogeymen! How convenient!), she casually told him, after he asked her about her religious beliefs, that she believed dinosaurs and humans coexisted, and that Jesus would return to Earth in her lifetime. And who, exactly, is Philip Munger? Does he have a background in reporting or science any other qualifications which might make his claim credible? Not exactly. A musician by profession, he’s also a raving far-left moonbat blogger whose most notable prior claim to fame was a cantata canonizing Rachel Corrie.
But beyond the question of whether or not we can trust Munger to be an unbiased (*snort*) source of info on his former mayor and governor, has there been any further corroborating evidence that might confirm these claims of his? None so far, but they satisfy the left’s need for the “truthiness” which they like to project onto their opponents. They don’t need any actual evidence, corroboration or fact checks when it satisfies their gut feelings about what Palin, and by implication, anyone who dares vote for her, is all about. Even if Munger’s claims are fake, they’re still accurate! We want our biases confirmed and our prejudices pandered to! And if you press them some more, they’ll fall back on Ken Ham’s catchphrase: were you there ? No, I wasn’t there in Wasilla back in 1997, but I do know that Munger is not an unbiased and credible source, and in either science or politics, the verification of a source as credible is crucial in evaluating any sort of claim. Until Palin makes a genuine, wholehearted YEC statement which I can see and hear with my own eyes and ears, Munger is nothing more to me than another sludge driller.
(h/t to both lgf and the Curmudgeon)
Hmm. The latest instalment of the Palin/Couric real-life comedy sketch shows Bible Spice coming down personally in favour of evilution, but before there’s a knowing wink to the party faithful (should that be faithful party?) when she trots out the Teach All Sides mantra.
As I said on AtBC, the evidence of her being a YEC is thin to non-existent, so well done for pointing out Munger’s leap to conclusions that could rival the bridge to . . . ah to Hell with it, it’s a threadbare cliché at this stage. My own take on her is that she is probably most strongly committed to the pro-life agenda. The nods and winks to the the fundie base on the other issues (such as fighting God’s War in Eyeraq or Teaching the Notroversy) are less matters of personal conviction than of touching base with The Core Vote. She appears to have got herself elected mayor of Wherethef*illa by shifting the agenda onto hot-button issues like abortion etc. If it worked then, why stop now?
That said, I have to admit that she scares me. She’s not dumb, but she’s hopelessly out of her depth. Not someone you want to have a finger near the button.
Feel free to call me about this. My phone number is in the Wasilla phone book. I’ve had other discussions with Governor Palin about her creationist views, over the years. Her views have “evolved.”