More Palin-Couric

Choice quotes from Palin's most recent interview with Couric.

On homosexuality:

But what you're talking about, I think, value here, what my position is on homosexuality and you can pray it away, because I think that was the title that was listed on that bulletin. And you know, I don't know what prayers are worthy of being prayed. I don't know what's prayers are going to be asked and answered. But as for homosexuality, I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships. I have one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years happens to be gay, and I love her dearly. And she is not my "gay friend," she is one of my best friends, who happens to have made a choice that isn't a choice that I have made. But I am not going to judge people.

Global warming being man-made:

You know there are - there are man's activities that can be contributed to the issues that we're dealing with now, these impacts. I'm not going to solely blame all of man's activities on changes in climate. Because the world's weather patterns are cyclical. And over history we have seen change there. But kind of doesn't matter at this point, as we debate what caused it. The point is: it's real; we need to do something about it.

Here's the thing. It does matter if you believe global warming was man-made. If you don't accept the cause as the cause then I am at a loss for how you come up with a solution. Any solution will have to respond to the cause. And if that cause is man-made, the solution needs to address that.

Equally troubling about this answer is that it contains the tired tactic of responding to a question that wasn't asked as a way of deflecting from the question that was. The question is whether or not man's activities has been the catalyst for global warming -- caused, in the loosest sense, global warming. Palin responds not to this question but to the question of whether global warming can be attributed entirely to human activity.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008