If Sarah Palin Were Black....

It appears that Sarah Palin has a Church problem, and a problem with extremist affiliations, on top of everything else.

According to Andrew Sullivan, Palin was in Church (The Wasilla Bible Church) just two weeks ago during a sermon from visiting preacher David Brickner, where he stated the following:

Brickner described terrorist attacks on Israelis as God's "judgment of unbelief" of Jews who haven't embraced Christianity.

"Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It's very real. When [Brickner's son] was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment — you can't miss it."

Palin was in church that day, according to her Pastor Larry Kroon.

So who is David Brickner? He is the leader of an organization called "Jews for Jesus"... a group that has been denounced by Jewish groups around the World. Learn more here, and here.

Palin has also been affiliated with another ultra Conservative evangelical church - The Wasilla Assembly of God. This is the Church where Palin's view of the World and view of God were formed during her childhood. But some might see the church as too radically evangelical. During the 2004 Presidential race, Wasilla Assembly of God pastor Ed Kalnins warned his followers that whoever voted for John Kerry would not get into Heaven. This is really bizarre stuff.

During another more recent event in the Church, Palin herself describes the War in Iraq as God's mission....(like a Christian Crusade).

These revelations, combined with Palin's affiliations with a fringe Anti-American secessionist group, raise questions about whether she is the right person to deal with the complexities of leading the nation.

But why has the media allowed Palin to slide on these questions? Barack Obama certainly didn't get a break from the Jeremiah Wright controversy. When I went to bed at night... Jeremiah Wright was being shoved down my throat. When I woke up the next day, Jeremiah Wright was being shoved down my throat.

It is clear that the media has somewhat of a double standard when it comes to who gets scrutinized and who does not... and it's a racial double standard. Race is the primary factor behind the media's lack of diligence. The media has shown its cowardice on a number of occasions when it comes to who is covered and why. The bottom line is... we all know that if Sarah Palin were Black, the coverage would be completely different, just as it has been for Barack and Michelle Obama. It's as if Blacks are inherently saddled with this constant doubt about their Patriotism....so the media almost felt obligated to dig under every Rock in Obama's background to see if they could help the Swiftboaters in any way possible. It's as though scrutinizing Barack Obama was the media's duty.... yet the same standard just doesn't exist when the subject of discussion isn't Black. The same inherent duty just isn't there. All of a sudden, grassroots bloggers have to beg the big media to do more coverage. When it was Barack Obama.... no one had to beg... the media gave us more Jeremiah Wright than we could take... long after we had enough... they saw fit to give us more and more. I doubt if the Britney Spears of politics Sarah Palin will have to deal with the same questions about her Patriotism that Michelle Obama faced....even if such questions are actually legitimate this time. If you recall.... the firestorm over Michelle's patriotism started from an innocent comment Michelle made during a stump speech for her husband where she mentioned that her husbands journey made her feel more proud about her Country and that she didn't always have as much pride for a nation scared by racism and injustice. Folks took her comments completely out of context.

But here you have a woman connected with all sorts of characters who are out of step with the American mainstream...folks who have made extremist, anti-American comments. Yet, no scrutiny. Will Palin be branded as a Terrorist, be made into an AK-47 wielding caricature and placed on National magazine covers? Not likely... because she's white. it's easier to do these things to Blacks because, well... Blacks seem to fit these images so much better (at least in the minds of Whites).... and quite frankly, the pundits, the cartoonists, the newspaper and magazine editors, and radio commentators can get away with it. Not so with Sarah Palin.

The Race Card? Being White and enjoying the White Privilege that comes with it is the most powerful race card of all. We are seeing the power of White Privilege in action right now...as the media demonstrates its double standard.

Or will someone in the mainstream media find enough courage to at least raise these questions...or perhaps do a little investigative reporting? I know this is hard for cowards... but certainly there are one or two brave souls somewhere in the world of American journalism. But i'm not going to hold my breath waiting for them to do their jobs.