Palin

It's pretty clear to me that the media are hyping Palin's family situation out of a complete misunderstanding and complete lack of knowledge of what they sneer as the "religious right". They want, they are salivating, they are thrilled with the idea that the "religious right"--of which they know nothing--will throw out Palin because of her daughter's indiscretion. "Unmarried sex!" cry the media, while giddy over their belief that the "religious right" won't tolerate such a thing.

Clueless, absolutely clueless.

I doubt many of the heavy hitters in the media know any, and certainly aren't close to, anyone who would consider themselves "religious right". In that complete ignorance, they make a fundamental miscalculation:

Assumption: The religious right is intolerant--a girl who gets pregnant as an unmarried teen would be run out of town on a rail by the Jesus freaks, shunned by her family and community forever!!! The more we hype Palin's daughter's pregnancy, they think, the more sure it will be that Palin will be forced by the Hezbullah wing of the Republican party to drop out--thus discrediting McCain and striking a mighty blow for Obama! Obama! Obama!

Truth: The religious right are religious people who try to walk in the footsteps of Jesus--a guy who put forgiveness and acceptance of sinners awfully high on his priority list. The Sermon on the Mount for starters: "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven...And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" Or how about a little John: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

If they actually weren't creatures of the metropolitan coasts, and actually got out more, the media might have a clue.

As it is, while they think they are trashing the Republicans, they are actually helping them. That's how clueless they really are.