Palin: Speaking in Forked Tongues

The surge in untruth from the McCain campaign this week may have its roots in the Pentacostal faith that Sarah Palin practiced all her adult life until she entered politics six years ago.

"When the spirit comes on you," a fellow Assembly of God member discloses, "you utter things that nobody else can understand ... only God can understand what is coming out of our mouths."

That might explain what unbelievers are seeing as Palin's lies about opposing the Bridge to Nowhere, soliciting pork for Wasila, her Troopergate involvement and the growing list of fast-and-loose statements on the campaign trail.

Palin's former pastor, Tim McGraw, says some of his members speak in tongues, although he says he's never seen Palin do so, and believe in "faith healing" and the "end times," a violent upheaval that will herald Jesus Christ's second coming, both iffy propositions for placing someone a heartbeat away from the Oval Office.

Some Democrats, such as Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, a former Hillary Clinton supporter, are starting to speak out about "the big lie strategy" by the McCain-Palin campaign, but they may just not be sufficiently tuned in to the phenomenon of speaking in tongues.