SOMETHING NOT TO LIKE ABOUT SARAH PALIN: Support for teaching creationism in public schools. Of course, if we got the federal government out of of the education business, as we should, this kind of thing wouldn’t matter much. But even Ronald Reagan couldn’t, or anyway didn’t, deliver on his promise to abolish the Department of Education, so I guess we’re stuck with these issues mattering in national elections. To me, this is a big negative.

UPDATE: Charles Johnson — whose ongoing battle with the Discovery Institute proves he’s no creationist — says that claims that she supports creationism in schools are overblown:

Looks like Palin made an off-the-cuff statement during a debate on a hot topic, didn’t really expect the criticism she’d get, and then softened her position considerably in a follow-up interview. But to quote just the first part of her statements on creationism and ignore the second is misleading; because in the clarification she’s describing a position that doesn’t cause me (a staunch anti-creationist) any discomfort.

(Thanks to reader C.J. Burch for the link.) Well, that’s encouraging. I’d still like to get rid of the Department of Education though.