That Eagle Forum Questionnaire

THAT EAGLE FORUM QUESTIONNAIRE.... If you haven't already seen it, be sure to take a look at the questionnaire Sarah Palin filled out during her 2006 gubernatorial campaign for the Alaska chapter of the far-right Eagle Forum, a religious right group formed by Phyllis Schlafly.

Before getting into the details, it's worth keeping in mind that Palin answered the group's questions at all. There were 11 gubernatorial candidates at the time, including five Republicans, and nine of the 11 had the good sense to steer clear of having anything to do with this far-right outfit. But not Palin, who not only answered the questionnaire, but told the group what it wanted to hear.

Among the highlights: Palin is a staunch opponent of abortion rights; she supports allowing parents to opt their children out of public school classroom content they "consider privacy-invading or offensive to their religion or conscience"; she supports abstinence-until-marriage education; she supports public funding of private schools; she opposes spousal benefits for state employees in same-sex couples, and wants to "preserve the definition of 'marriage' as defined in our constitution."

And then there's my personal favorite. Palin was asked, "Are you offended by the phrase 'Under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance?" She responded:

"Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its [sic] good enough for me and I'll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance."

Note to Palin: the founding fathers didn't recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It was written in 1892, and didn't include the phrase "Under God" until 1954.