http://prayerwarriorsforsarahpalin.ning.com/ Included because it has been endorsed and supported by the administrator of TeamSarah.org & its associated Facebook page, Join Team Sarah Blog Talk Radio (JTSBTR).

Sample prayer language:

"I praise You and gloify [sic] You for all You are accomplishing through Your servant Sarah her husband Todd and their precious family."

"The LORD shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways."

"Sarah, ....You have been anointed to Lead this Great Nation back to God."

Extreme prayer language:



I plead the Blood of Jesus on Sarah Palin's entire physical body, on her soul and her spirit. I plead the Blood of Jesus against any demons that may try and come against her in any way form or fashion. I Plead the Blood of Jesus against any humans that may try and come against her in any way form or fashion.

There are numerous fan sites on the web, most likely loosely tied to the Palin team, including Conservatives4Palin, Texas4Palin, Palin For America

On FACEBOOK: (official or semi-official sites only; not including many freelance fan-originated Facebook pages)

Sarah Palin, 1 million fans, promoting the book tour and commenting on national issues. There are often lengthy "notes" on political topics of the day. One recent note was headlined with this amusing oxymoron: "Go Rogue With the Rest of Us!" Has a link for donations to SarahPAC.

Prayer Warriors for Sarah Palin (associated with the web page of same name)

Join Team Sarah Blog Talk Radio, started c. 11/10/09, 1100 fans to date, whose stated purpose is to funnel new members to Team Sarah. Like the Team Sarah site seems to, the Facebook page mostly promotes Sarah herself as opposed to issues and values--announcing Sarah's appearances on O'Reilly and "Greta;" asking for donations to SarahPAC; promoting Sarah's faith credentials; promoting a book called THE PERSECUTION OF SARAH PALIN.

The opinions expressed on JTSBTR are predictably along rightest-wing lines: e.g. Fox News is the only true source (one commenter wrote that the others are "Pravda imitators"). Discussing NBC's Andrea Mitchell trying to ask questions of Palin at a book tour event, a fan called Mitchell "a real bad, sick little troll" and asserted that Mitchell was persisting in her questions because she was sexually attracted to Palin. The page administrator's approving response was "LOL." The administrator herself called Mitchell "deranged."

To the JTSBTR site administrator's call for supporters to join the Prayer Warriors' Facebook page came this response. It is not typical of the comments to that post thus far, but it's noteworthy:

Every tongue that rises up against Sarah Palin shall be condemned and proof [sic] to be in the wrong, may all her enemies be silenced, confused and turning against themselves, no evil shall befall Sarah nor her family, nor any plague come near their dwelling, may her enemies fall into their own snares and nets. Lord, convict the hearts of all that have slandered and try to bring calamity to Sarah Palin, and her family, and may there be fruit of repentance. We pray for divine-protection over Sarah Palin and her family, in Jesus name amen!

In her fear of "the other" the commenter is flatly ignoring the Christian message of love--even Jesus himself didn't condemn those who tortured him to death. She's negating the American tradition of the right to disagree openly, as protected by our First Amendment. She may be extreme, even for the JTSBTR uberfans, but her words magnificently exemplify one half of our gigantic cultural divide.

Overall lessons and questions raised by the Palin/Palinista presence on the internet:

1. Who is funding TeamSarah? Is it a 501(c)(3) or other form of nonprofit, and if so, is it operating within the regulations, and according to its stated purpose?

2. How can we can communicate effectively across the great cultural divide? We are unable to talk to each other because we are operating under two (or more) completely different sets of beliefs, assumptions and "facts." Sarah's uberfans, like most ultraconservatives, show a willingness to attack in response to anyone who states a fact or opinion that doesn't fit with their gospel (even when it's just to point out Sarah's rising unfavaorable rating as reported by Gallup). And, often without justification but sometimes with justification, Palinistas feel attacked by "the left." What do we do about that? For my money, the lack of civility at all levels of political discourse is one of the most disheartening things about our life today.

3. Palin and her wildly committed fans are not going away any time soon. They are anxious to be a force in '10 and certainly in '12. How do we address that in practical terms?