Q & A: Dave Ramsey

The popular Christian financial adviser on why he thinks the bailout is a disaster.

Interview by Sarah Pulliam

YouTube: Answering the Atheists

An unauthorized, but pretty cool, video repackaging the bulk of one of my columns.

Election '08: The Perils of Pelosi

Last week President Bush displayed his statesmanship by refusing to point a partisan finger while urging government action to fix the mess. Yesterday Nancy Pelosi couldn't resist a nasty swipe at the Republicans before the bailout vote (evidently repeating the Obama campaign line). Then Pelosi expresses shock and anger when the bill fails.

Two things for the Democrats: (1) If Pelosi, Obama, and the Democrats really want a bill, they can get it any time they want. They control both houses of Congress, and President Bush has his signing pen in hand. (2) If you want Republicans to provide you with political cover for an unpopular bill, the least you can do is not insult and blame them moments before the big vote.

Lest we forget that this is a bipartisan problem, take a look at this video. The Democrats have their fingerprints all over this thing, too.

Election '08: For Palin, Fewer Rallies, More Retail

The Alaska governor and former Mayor of Wasilla is darn good from a podium in front of a big crowd, but her greater strength lies in her untapped gift for connecting with voters one-on-one and in small groups. The pros call it "retailing."

By J. Robert Smith, American Thinker

Election '08: The Optimist-in-Chief

The clearest sign that John McCain won last night’s debate is that the TV pundits immediately afterward called it a draw. Don’t take my word for it. Read the transcript. McCain clearly had the facts, figures, and experience on his side.

Barack Obama, of course, didn’t torpedo his own candidacy. He stuck gamely to his talking points and his previous positions (although he seemed a bit wobbly on the whole “without preconditions” thing). Clearly he has learned a thing or two in his long months on the campaign trail about attractively packaging his liberalism. I’m sure that those true-believers who tuned in already enamored of the first-term senator from Chicago saw nothing to dissuade them, so I won’t butt my head against that wall.

McCain, however, did something more than win this debate. He effectively refuted the insinuations coming from the Obama camp that he is old and out of touch. Fresh from the bailout negotiations, it was the 72-year-old who bubbled over with energy. As someone who initially saw the Arizona senator as the best of a mediocre Republican lot (Romney? Huckabee? Pu-leese!), I thought his command on every national security issue after little time to prepare for the debate was impressive. He had no senior moments and looked every bit the happy warrior: smiling throughout, patiently but persistently correcting his younger opponent with the telling phrase, “He doesn’t understand,” and talking about antiquated notions such as “victory.”

Obama, by contrast, while he committed no gaffes (though one could describe his whole approach to foreign policy as a gigantic gaffe), frequently seemed on the defensive and frowned a lot. One would not have been surprised had he barked at least once, Dole-like, “Stop lying about my record!” Clearly McCain has wrested the mantle of sunny optimism from the candidate of “change.”

Let’s get real. This is not a beauty contest. This is about who will be the next commander-in-chief. The candidates have talked much about that 3 a.m. phone call. Judging by what you saw last night, which of these two men is prepared to answer?

Election '08: Powerful Pro-Life Catholic Film

I'm not a Catholic, but if you want to see what this election boils down to, go to CatholicVote.com.

Election '08: Thoughts on Three Republicans in Crisis Mode

John McCain: Seeing his momentum starting to slip away as the economy takes hold of the national discussion, the wiley senator from Arizona executes another brilliant move. This afternoon, he announces a suspension in his campaign and says he will delay Friday's scheduled debate with Barack Obama so he can return to Washington and help solve the economic crisis. This is another master stroke, making himself look like a bold, statesmanlike, and nonpartisan leader. He has changed the national discussion once again.

Obama, initially muttering something about a president being able to "multitask," is clearly caught off guard. Chalk one up for the old guy who supposedly doesn't know how to use a computer.

George W. Bush: The president, his public approval ratings still in the toilet, could have sounded defensive and accusatory in his brief address to the nation tonight about the proposed bailout. After all, many Democrats-including Barney Frank and Barack Obama-bear a large part of the responsibility for the mess we are in. But Bush's priority is not to defend his "legacy" but to bring all sides together to solve the problem. He blames no one and admits his plan is a work in process. This evening reminds me of the man's basic decency and good will. Good job, Mr. President.

Sarah Palin: Amid the hounding of an angry media elite that she is not giving enough interviews, Palin today has a sit-down with Katie Couric. Again, she seems too deferential to a news person seeking mainly to embarrass her. When Couric asks her what measures McCain has taken to address national financial problems, Palin gives her a perfectly good answer. But Couric, sensing weakness, presses the Alaska governor for more examples. After some verbal stalling, Palin eventually admits she can't cite any more and will get back to her. You can almost hear Couric's triumphant "Gotcha!"

I wish Palin had instead said this, with a smile: "Katie, I've already answered this question. I think you might be trying to score political points here, and that's inappropriate, given the crisis facing our nation this week. Let's either move on to another subject, or this interview is over. Please don't waste my time, or the American's people's time." Palin, who is pretty new to the national spotlight, may not have all the answers on the tip of her tongue, but she should demonstrate to her adversaries in the press that she is not to be messed with.

Kind of like John McCain.

Infanticide and the Prime Directive

Fans of the classic “Star Trek” television series will be well aware of the Prime Directive, which prohibited Starfleet personnel from interfering in the alien cultures and societies they met. It was an immoral, unworkable rule, however, and Captain Kirk disobeyed it regularly, rarely losing sleep over his decision to do the right thing. Today anthropologists in South America seemingly have their own prime directive: no interfering in native cultures, even when those societies apparently practice infanticide. Christian missionaries, however, are playing the role of Captain Kirk.

Tonight “Nightline explores one such dispute. It involves Youth With A Mission workers who say “the Brazilian government is turning a blind eye to the killing of babies born with birth defects, many of which are treatable by Western medicine” and the Brazilian Department of Indian Affairs, which “is accusing the evangelicals of enslaving Indians and disguising their intent to evangelize.” The story is centered on “a girl named Hakani, a member of the Suruwaha Indian tribe, who has been adopted by evangelical missionaries Marcia and Edson Suzuki.”

Of course, missionaries have long stood not just for evangelism, but for defending the powerless from injustice. To cite just one example, William Carey, who has come to be known as the father of modern missions, led the fight against the ungodly practice of sati, or widow-burning, in India two centuries ago.

The program is scheduled for 10:35 Central Time on ABC.

Update: The program is scheduled for Wednesday night at 10:35 Central.

Missionary Myths

Why the Great Commission still applies.
By Stan Guthrie

Election '08: God, Patriotism and Taxes

The political left likes to score Republicans for claiming that God is on their side, but here we have Mr. Biden claiming support from both God and Caesar. If Sarah Palin tried this, she'd send the boys at the Daily Kos into cardiac arrest.

A Wall Street Journal editorial

Election:08: Why So Many Leftwing Charges Get Recycled

Astroturfing, the new propaganda plague.

By Clarice Feldman, American Thinker

Update on Persecution in India

ORISSA 2008 FACT SHEET FROM CATHOLICS IN INDIA
STATE GOVERNMENT ACQUIESCES IN VHP PLAN TO WIPE OUT
CHRISTIANITY FROM ORISSA

(With comments added by John Dayal of the Evangelical Fellowship of India.)

FOURTH WEEK OF VIOLENCE Sunday 14th September

[JOHN DAYAL'S NOTE: Late night I had two very disturbing calls
interrupting the unceasing messages and rings from Orissa on my two
mobile phones. The first was of two serrate gun battles between police
and armed mobs. One was a Sangh Parivar posse attacking the Church in
Tumuliband and apparently two of the attackers were killed by the
police. The second was apparently a Maoist attack on two villages in
the Raikia region, and a gun battle was reported still raging.

The second message confirmed something I had been told some days ago -
that Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader and surgeon Dr. Praveen Togadia {he
is still registered, apparently, with the Medical Council] had given a
call, almost a contract, to his cadres in Orissa that three prominent
Christian leaders, two of them living in Bhubaneswar, had to be
`eliminated'. Already, these three have been named in the Oriya
language Press, and pamphlets with their names have been distributed
in villages in Kandhamal and neighbouring district.

These alarming news came hot on the heels of perhaps even more
disturbing reports from the highest quarters in Bhubaneswar and
Cuttack [which is home to the state Police headquarters] and confirmed
from New Delhi that the State Government which Chief Minister Naveen
Pattnaik runs in collation with the Bharatiya Janata Party has agreed
with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh thesis that the State can move
forward only once it is rid of all Christians, specially from
Kandhamal and Sundergarh. These are the two districts in the State
with a sizable number of Tribals and Dalits. Orissa has just about 2 percent Christians in its population, less than the national
average of 2.4 per cent. It is also India's third largest Hindu
majority state. Coincidently, Kandhamal and Sundergarh are the only
two states where the Christian population is more than the State
average.

Last night, the police opened fire in Tumuliband, the small town close
to the Ashram of the late Vishwa Hindu Parishad vice president
Lakhmanananda Saraswati. Apparently, the assailants were bent upon
burning the Church and other buildings, so it can be presumed they
were not Christians. The second police encounter was with alleged
Maoists who attacked two villages in the Raikia-Udaygiri region. I am
awaiting details and confirmation.

Needless to say, every single Bishop, Priest, pastor and common man or
woman who has communicated with me - I am in Delhi, told by my friends
not to come to Kandhamal at this time - has said the people are in a
state of abject panic. Every eyewitness account adds to their panic.
Prayer is their only strength.

In Delhi we still have no information if any Church organisation has
been able to go, or allowed to go, to render assistance to the people,
some of whom are positively starving and on the verge of collapse. In
December 2007, it was the District Collector who had stopped Christian
aid till the Supreme Court overruled him months later. This time, it
is the sweep and brutality of the violence.

This is confirmed by what others in authority say.

"What we are witnessing in states like Orissa most recently is a
carefully orchestrated ploy by the BJP and its sister organisations to
inflame religious prejudices and passions," Congress president Mrs.
Sonia Gandhi told her Party's highest policy making body yesterday.
"This has been their (Sangh Parivar's) strategy all along. Every time
their position is weakened, every time elections are around the
corner, the BJP, RSS, Baring Dale and the VHP launch into the most
vicious communal campaign to divide and polarise society, with no
regard to loss of lives and livestock," Mrs. Gandhi said

The Supreme Court has asked for a report on the steps taken by the
government to protect the lives of the minority Christians. Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh has announced Rs 3 lakh ex-gratia to each
family of those killed. It has also sent 500 Central police personnel,
grossly insufficient according to the victims cowering in their
villages or still to return.

After we met in a delegation with President Mrs. Pratibha Patil and
demanding that Article 355 be invoked and the State government told to
act, Union Home minister Shivraj Patil did caution the state
government that unless it takes adequate measures to book and punish
the persons involved in "such incidents", there is possibility of
report of "unfortunate" happenings in future.

The government admits violence has now gripped 13 of Orissa's 30
districts after Lakhmanananda Saraswati and five of his associates
were killed on August 23 by Maoists.]

A VIOLENCE SNAPSHOT
STATES AFFECTED: Three --- Orissa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh
IN ORISSA, DISTRICTS AFFEFTED: 14
NUMBER OF VILLAGES AFFECTED: 300
NUMBER OF HJOUSES DESTROYED: Over 4,000
PEOPLE AFFECFTED: Over 50,000
HIDNING IN FORESTS About 40,000
IN GOVERNMETN REFUGEE CAMPS: About 12,000
IN PRIVATE CAMPS AND HOMES: about 1,000
NUMBER OF PERSONS KILLED IN POLICE FIRING: [presumed Non Christian]
2
NUMBER OF DEAD MISSING / ABDUCTED: [Christians or staff] estimated:
5

NUMBER OF DEAD CONFIRMED: 45
NUMBER OF PRIESTS / PASTORS / NUNS SERIOUSLY INJURED: 10
NUMBER OF INJURED MEN AND WOMEN: Estimated [18,000, most still in
forests]
NUMBER OF CHUCHES ATTACKED: 56 and counting
NUMBER OF SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES ATTACKED: 11
NUMBER OF NGOs ATTACKED: 4

Detailed fact-sheet available on request from catholicunion@gmail.com.

Election '08: The Financial Blame Game

With the expanding financial crisis moving from mortgage holders, to lenders, to banks, to insurers, it's only natural that politicians who didn't foresee it all or did nothing to stop it should start pointing fingers. As if on cue, Barack Obama is blaming the current Bush/McCain administration. Oh, wait, McCain isn't in the Bush administration. No matter; Obama's high-minded supporters who foam at the mouth any time Bush's name is mentioned think that all that has gone wrong in the world is the president's fault. However, blaming Sen. McCain when Obama, last I checked, is also a senator, is ludicrous. There is enough blame to go around. Let's blame:

-- Policians and community activists who browbeat lenders for not giving those with shaky finances mortgages;

-- the Fed for continually lowering interest rates to keep the economy afloat, causing many to take risks they otherwise shouldn't have;

-- lenders for enticing gullible borrowers to take on more debt-through complicated ARMs or other hard-to-understand financial products-than they could handle;

-- greedy borrowers who took on too much debt;

-- the Bush administration for not pushing through needed oversight and reform;

-- Congress for not regulating those they are charged to regulate.

As I said, there is more than enough blame to go around. Sen. Obama, heal thyself.

Election '08: Vendors asked to leave Values Voter Summit

Vendors asked to leave Values Voter Summit
By Sarah Pulliam

My comment: Please tell me the dunces who cooked up this scheme didn't include Aunt Jemima syrup. Barack Obama has plenty of vulnerabilities as a candidate. But racist campaign tactics (whether intentional or not) have no place in this campaign-especially at a Christian gathering.

Election '08: The Power of Story

Barack Obama is down in the polls because he has lost control of the story.

Obama, the charismatic first-term senator from Illinois, won the Democratic nomination for president because his story was more powerful than Hillary Clinton's. Clinton, you will recall, was the "inevitable" candidate, not because of the power of her oratory or ideas (she has neither), but because many people believe it is time to elect a woman to the Oval Office.

Then along comes Obama. With a C.V. that would make Dan Quayle blush, the young, lanky, smooth-talking product of Chicago machine politics has an elevated style of public speaking and a personal magnetism unfelt since a hungry "man from Hope" emerged from Arkansas in 1992. Yet what sets Obama apart are not his calls for "change" (everyone seemingly wants that) nor his political plans (warmed over liberalism). No, what Obama brings is a new narrative.

The narrative goes something like this: America, laden with guilt from its many "isms" (racism, sexism, militarism, consumerism), needs a fresh start. Enter stage left Sen. Obama, straight out of central casting. Yet unlike other prophets of change, Obama offers a restless America an historic bargain.

Obama, you see, is an African American definitely out of the mold of the grievance-mongering Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons of the world. (For one thing, according to rival Joe Biden, Obama is appealingly "clean.") Obama, like Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan before him, has transcended race in the public imagination. Vote for Obama, the "transracial candidate," and you will receive pardon for all your "isms." You will get a fresh, clean start. You will get change.

"Repent!" Jesus commanded. "The kingdom of God is in your midst." "Change!" Obama cries out. "We are the change we have been waiting for!" Hillary Clinton and her 18 million primary votes are unceremoniously shoved aside by the crowds throwing palm branches before the Obama bandwagon. Old-hand Joe Biden is brought on board, and no one seems to notice.

Everything seemingly hums along to the story's expected conclusion: America overcomes its racism, global warming is turned back, and the only people who will have to pay for it all are those with annual incomes exceeding $250,000. Poor John McCain, the Republican nominee. All he has going for him is his reputation as a war hero and political maverick. But he is old, definitely yesterday's news. Even his listless supporters seem to sense the new "inevitable."

But McCain, the wiley old warrior, knows something about story. Lying in the weeds after the Democratic Convention, the Arizona senator fires a salvo that an overconfident Obama never expected. He taps Sarah Palin, a first-term, pro-gun, pro-life governor from Alaska and mother of five to be his running mate. Palin, who just months before has given birth to a son with Down syndome, shocks the world with a speech equal to anything Obama has ever uttered.

The new narrative electrifies the Republican Party's conservative base and the nation. The resulting roar causes the young messiah to turn his head, and the bandwagon suddenly veers off course, landing in a ditch with an emphatic thud. Some of the women lining the parade route peel off to hear Palin.

Obama, shaken up, dispatches his minions in the press and the leftwing blogosphere to spread rumor and innuendo against the usurper. Perhaps they can find something-or invent something-to change the storyline. Promising a new politics, Obama shows he can be just as nasty as the brass-knuckle Clinton clan. And McCain/Palin show they can not only take a punch, but deliver one, too, getting a rattled Obama tangled up in a child's story involving pigs and lipstick.

Who will get to write the final chapter in this story? Only time-and the next seven weeks-will tell. But it is safe to say that the uplifting narrative Obama was hawking has been left in a muddy ditch somewhere by the side of the road.

Election ’08: What I Wish Sarah Palin Had Said to Charles Gibson

Sarah Palin set the bar very high during her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention—maybe too high. About the best I can say for her much-anticipated interview with ABC’s Charles Gibson is that she survived.

There were no horrible gaffes, nothing she will have to explain over and over for the next seven weeks. But like a lapdog, she seemed too eager to please, too deferential, nervously trying to demonstrate her competence and experience. And in that eagerness, she portrayed an air of inexperience. (Plus, Palin apparently blanked out when asked about the Bush Doctrine.) The best I can give the governor of Alaska is a C-plus.

Sarah Palin should have taken control of the interview. Instead, she obsequiously tried to answer every question on its own terms, and in the process looked like a harried waitress cleaning up Gibson’s messes in hopes of getting a tip.

Here’s what I wish the Republican vice presidential nominee had said.

“Do I believe I have what it takes to be president if something should happen to John McCain? Of course, or I wouldn’t have said yes when he asked me to be his running mate. I have more executive experience than the Democratic ticket combined, and I know how to make tough decisions. But John McCain is in great health and comes from a family blessed with long life spans. I expect to serve as his vice president for eight full years. But the question you should be asking, Charlie, is whether Barack Obama has the experience and judgment to serve as our nation’s commander in chief. Have you asked him that question, Charlie?”

“Do I believe Israel has the right to defend itself from a nuclear-armed Iran, which has vowed its destruction? Let me ask you a question, Charlie: Do you remember back in the 1980s when Israeli jets took out Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor? Some in the international community complained, but privately everyone but Saddam was grateful.”

“Do I believe in NATO membership for states such as Georgia and Ukraine, even though this might spark a war with Russia? Actually, Vladimir Putin already started a war, in Georgia, which is a democratic ally of ours, and he’s taken the first steps at reconstituting the territory of the old Soviet Union. There likely will be more land grabs if the West does not have a strong and unified stand. This kind of aggression, which threatens the peace and prosperity of Europe, will be dealt with in a McCain administration. You know, Charlie, Ronald Reagan defeated the Soviet Union without firing a shot. You know how he did it? By following a simple adage: Peace through strength. Like Reagan, John McCain has the experience and stature to rally free peoples to deter Russian aggression. John McCain knows all about the horrors of war, and he also knows how to keep the peace.”

“You ask about a prayer request I offered for the troops (including my son) at a church service? My goodness, Charlie! Whatever happened to the right to privacy? No, I don’t think the conflict in Iraq, which we are winning now thanks in no small measure to people like John McCain, is a holy war. But I believe that some of the things we’ve done there—bringing Saddam, who was guilty of torture, murder and genocide, to justice, opening schools, launching democracy for a people that had been under the heel of dictatorship for generations—are the Lord’s work. Don’t you? But I wouldn’t presume to know God’s ultimate plan in all this. No one does. We’re doing the best we can, humbly praying for God’s guidance. Abraham Lincoln said asking which side the Lord is on is the wrong question. Lincoln said, and I agree, that we need to be on God’s side. That’s what I meant by my prayer.”

“Do I believe that global warming is real and that it’s caused by human activity? I’m not a scientist, Charlie, and I don’t think you are one, either. But I am governor of a state that has a big stake in the answer, and I’m diligently searching for the best information, and new data are coming out every day. We Alaskans love the environment; we sure have a lot of it up here! I’ve done all I can to protect this beautiful legacy and pass it on to my children. I’d like to see all sides of the global warming issue come together to provide real solutions in a cost-effective way, balancing the need to protect the creation with the need to provide jobs and keep the economy growing.”

Seeking to demonstrate an encyclopedic grasp of the issues, Ronald Reagan had a shaky first debate with Walter Mondale. The president appeared nervous, prepackaged, even a bit confused. His supporters, realizing their error, came up with a new approach, captured in the mantra, “Let Reagan be Reagan.” In the second debate, Reagan looked much more relaxed and in command. Quipping, “I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience,” Reagan coasted to a landslide victory.

Perhaps Sarah Palin, like Reagan, was over-prepared for this first big interview by handlers seeking to prove her experience for the job. I have a suggestion: Don’t bother trying to cram all the details of governance into her head. She’s a smart woman and will pick all that up in time. She knows enough to lead. That’s what she’s done, and that’s why John McCain chose her.

Let Palin be Palin.

Election '08: Pigs and Lipstick

Despite months of kid-glove coverage in the mainstream media, Barack Obama is now complaining about their focus on his "pig" remark, saying it is a "cynical" distraction from the real issues of the campaign. And although the whole thing is indeed ridiculous, Obama has no one to blame but himself for the last two days of coverage, two days in which he has gone "off message."

Obama should have been smart enough to avoid the problem in the first place. He should have let Joe Biden attack Sarah Palin. (Perhaps he thinks the senator from Delaware is not up to the challenge?) But, having made the remark (which his audience clearly interpreted as a dig at the Alaska hockey mom), he should have quickly apologized and moved on.

Instead, he continues to whine about idiom usage and unfair coverage, in the process diminishing his own stature. The Republicans, who have faced one media slime after another, are only too happy to provide Obama with the shovel he needs to bury himself. While none of the attacks on Palin has stuck to her, this kerfuffle over pigs and lipstick has clearly rattled him.

If Obama can't handle this, how can anyone expect him to take on America's enemies?

Election '08: Faith-Based False Rumors About Palin

FactCheck.org has posted this list of the false rumors targetting Sarah Palin. Notice how many have a religious tie-in.

By Dan Gilgoff

Election '08: Time for Obama to Take Another Mulligan?

Whoda thunk this crazy political season?

-- The campaign of John McCain, one of the early Republican frontrunners, crashes and burns before rising from the ashes.

-- The crowning of the "inevitable" Hillary Clinton as the first female president collapses when a new "historic" figure, Barack Obama, steps into the race, prompting a dogfight that lasts for months, ultimately disappointing feminists for Hillary and bruising the "legacy" of Bill Clinton.

-- Then Obama, his campaign flush with cash and eager footsoldiers, reverses course and announces he will not take public financing.

-- Snubbing Hillary Clinton, the "change" agent chooses an establishment liberal, Joe Biden, as his running mate. Party faithful are underwhelmed.

-- McCain, seeking to close the "enthusiasm gap," chooses an unknown pro-life, pro-gun, young, Christian woman governor, Sarah Palin, igniting the party's conservative base and stealing Obama's thunder.

-- Early media attacks against Palin fall flat, her convention speech is a revelation, and the polls reveal a stunning switch of white women voters to the Alaska "hockey mom."

-- Obama's campaign suddenly faces a cash crunch, while donations flood in for McCain/Palin.

Obama is clearly flailing, overtaken by McCain/Palin in the polls. With Obama's growing track record of changing his mind, I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see the Illinois senator try something desperate to seize back the political momentum. Call me crazy, but I think he might take a mulligan on Biden and select ... a woman. Is Hillary still available?

Stranger things have happened ... and in fact already have.

Election '08: Where We Stand

After months of fawning media coverage, Barack Obama should be well ahead in the polls. We have had eight years of an increasingly unpopular president, we are in a difficult war, and the economy is perhaps sliding toward recession. Many more people now self-identify as Democrats than as Republicans. His is a historic, feel-good campaign about "change." By all rights, Obama should be coasting to victory by now.

Yet despite the coronation the Democrats attempted to portray in Denver the week before last, Team Obama finds itsellf in hand-to-hand combat. A successful Republican National Convention, the stunning selection by John McCain of Sarah Palin, and the sexist media attacks against her (including childish whining that the Alaska governor isn't giving enough interviews) have combined to produce a reversal in the polls.

Obama received no bounce after his convention; McCain apparently has received a substantial one. From 8 points down last week, the senator from Arizona is now 4 points up. It's a long way from over, but clearly the Democrats are back on their heels. Here's hoping the Republicans stay on offense.

Election '08: Community Organizing 101

At the Republican National Convention this week, Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin mocked to great applause Barack Obama's role as a "community organizer" in Chicago more than two decades ago. According to a story in the Chicago Tribune, Obama worked "alongside low-income residents in the Roseland community and the Altgeld Gardens public housing development." The work itself involved "pushing for asbestos removal at Altgeld, pressing for a local job-training office, even agitating to fill potholes and erect stop signs."

Obama was incensed by the mockery, asking, "Why would that kind of work be ridiculous? Who are they (Republicans) fighting for... They think that the lives of those folks who are struggling each and every day, that working with them to try to improve their lives is somehow not relevant to the presidency?"

These are valid questions for a party still trying to shake off the stereotype that Republicans are out of touch concerning the plight of the poor and care only for thhe rich. Certainly pro-lifers and others who help the poor do their own brands of community organizing in dysfunctuional pockets of society. Whether community organizing is the best way to help the poor is one thing, but to dismiss the work of someone willing at least to try to help is another entirely.

Update: Here's a dissenting view.