I had planned to take lunch at about 12:30 today, but I was working on a project and looked up and found that it was well past 2:00. I turned on Hardball. I am somewhere between amused and frustrated (but mostly amused) at watching the northeastern media elite try to parse the current, controversial statements from Sarah Palin. For better or worse, growing up in the south means that I generally understand what evangelicals mean when they open their mouths. The coded way in which they often speak means that you have to be precise in parsing their words.

Sarah Palin said, in reference to the folks at the McCain campaign that she couldn’t find anyone that she wanted to hold hands and pray with. Repeatedly, Chris Matthews and his guests have stated this as “she couldn’t find anyone to pray with” and then saying that she’s accusing the McCain staff of being godless or something. The operative word in this context is “want”. It’s a judgment that is as much about social attitudes and relationships as it is about religion. Where religion comes in on the thing isn’t “I’m a Christian and you’re not”. It’s something closer to “you’re not my kind of Christian”.

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