Circulating via email, a series of preposterous quotes attributed to Repubican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin on the subjects of evolution, oil drilling in ANWR, and Alaskans serving in the military in Iraq.
Description: Email hoax / Satire
Circulating since: Sep. 2008
Status: Fake (see details below)
Example:
Email text contributed by Meredith G., Sep. 8, 2008:
Fwd: Fw: Fwd: re Sarah Palin & creationism
Below are some actual quotes by Governor Palin during a series of interviews by the Anchorage Daily News in 2006 when she was running for Governor... PASS THIS ON. As you can see Iʼm not giving up on this, itʼs way too important to us as Jews.
On Creationism:
The simple yet elegantly awkward moose proves God's creation and not evolution is the source of all life. How could something as oddly shaped and silly looking as a moose evolve through so-called "natural selection?" Is evolution a committee? There is nothing natural about a dorky moose! Only God could have made a moose and given it huge antlers to fight off his predatory enemies. God has a well known sense of humor, I mean He made the platypus too.
On oil exploration and drilling in the ANWR:
God made dinosaurs 4,000 years ago as ultimately flawed creatures, lizards of Satan really, so when they died and became petroleum products we, made in his perfect image, could use them in our pickup trucks, snow machines and fishing boats.
Now, as to the ANWR, Todd and I often enjoying caribou hunting and one year we shot up a herd big time, I mean I personally slaughtered around 40 of them with my new, at the time, custom Austri an hunting rifle. And guess what? That caribou herd is still around and even bigger than ever. Caribou herds actually need culling, be it by rifles or wolves, or Exxon-Mobil oil rigs, they do just great!
On Alaskans serving overseas in Iraq:
Well, God bless them, and I mean God and Jesus because without Jesus we'd be Muslims too or Jewish, which would be a little better because of the superior Israeli Air Force.
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Analysis: No statements even resembling these turn up in a search of the Anchorage Daily News archives — and small wonder, given that they were invented by a blogger to satirize Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's views.
Predictably, they've been repeated as "actual Sarah Palin quotes" often enough that some folks are convinced they're real. As we've seen in previous cases — e.g., when barbs meant to caricature the positions of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi were passed off as real quotations, this happens all too often in this era of viral gossip.
For the record, we do know the following about Sarah Palin's views on these subjects, as reported in the mainstream media:
- She supports the teaching of Creationism alongside evolution in public school science courses.
- She advocates oil drilling in ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) to increase domestic production.
- On the subject of Iraq, she once told the congregation of her church: "Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do also what is right for this country — that our leaders, our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."
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Sources and further reading:
Fake Governor Palin Quotes
TUBOB blog, 30 August 2008Where Palin Stands
Washington Post, 4 September 2008How Religion Guides Palin
Chicago Tribune, 6 September 2008
Last updated: 09/12/08
