Palin: My faith, God have been mocked

|PIC1|Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the political darling of many Christian conservative voters, said her faith and God have been mocked during the presidential campaign - and there is not much she can do about it.

"Faith and God in general has been mocked through this campaign, and that breaks my heart," said Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, in an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network.

"People would misconstrue and spin anything that has to do with my faith or anybody else's and turn it into something to be mocked. That's very sad," she said.

Just a few weeks after her nomination, a cartoon on The Washington Post website poked fun at Palin and her ties to Pentecostalism. In the cartoon, Palin is illustrated talking on the phone in an incomprehensible language, or in tongues - as the cartoonist meant it to be understood.

The next slide shows "God" in heaven holding a phone saying he cannot understand the gibberish being spouted by "some dam' right wing politician".

In the wake of such attacks on her faith, the Republican vice presidential nominee remains resolute. "I won't ... whine or complain about it," she said.

She was quick to add that no one could convince her that her faith is not good for her and her family.

Prior to being on the Republican ticket, Palin was little known outside of the remote state of Alaska. The mother of five, including an infant with Down syndrome, has since taken the nation by storm becoming one of the most talked about vice presidential candidates in history.

The political left denigrate her as inexperienced, unqualified and too divisive, while the right, for the most part but with exceptions, have seen her as a champion of values issues.

She has been outspoken on her opposition to abortion and gay marriage, and has led the attack on what she calls Obama's extreme pro-choice views.

"It's so, so far left that it's way out of the mainstream," she said. "I think he's in some sense succeeded in trying to package up, and pretty-up some of his policies to make them look mainstream even on abortion."

Showing her support for a federal marriage amendment, Palin said, "I have voted along with the vast majority of Alaskans who had the opportunity to vote to amend our Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. I wish on a federal level that that's where we would go because I don't support gay marriage."

Her position on marriage is a break with Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, who has said he believes states should be left to define what marriage is.

Despite strong support from key constituents of the Republican Party, Palin might not be enough to save the Republican ticket against its Democratic rival.

The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking shows that Obama is leading McCain by 11 percentage points, 52 per cent to 41 per cent.

In response, the unflappable Palin said, "When they see numbers that show us a bit down in the polls, for John McCain and for me it's invigorating," she says. "It's inspiriting. It makes us work even harder."

Also responding to an earlier Washington Post story about angry supporters at a Palin rally in Florida, the Alaska governor said she would call them out on threatening comments against her opponent.

"What we have heard through some mainstream media is that folks have hollered out some atrocious and unacceptable things like 'kill him,'" Palin said. "If I ever were to hear that standing up there at the podium with the mic, I would call them out on that, and I would tell these people, no, that's unacceptable."

Currently, both campaigns are hitting the road and throwing successive rallies in the final stretch of election season with voting day two weeks away.