G-D'S WORK.

It's one thing to hope that you're doing G-d's work, it's another entirely to argue that the will of G-d is definable along the lines of petty human partisanship in order to garner support for your disastrous policies. G-d's will is opaque, and so as President Abraham Lincoln said, our concern should not be whether G-d is on our side, but whether we are on G-d's side.

Nevertheless, Sarah Palin once said that the Iraq War is "G-d's plan," and today Michael Goldfarb defends this view:

This is an incredibly humble statement, a statement that this campaign stands by 100%, and a sentiment that any religious American will share — the hope that our country's actions are indeed righteous.

There's nothing "humble" about proclaiming that you have a supernatural understanding of G-d's will that other human beings lack. Still, as long as the McCain campaign is taking this approach, the press should be asking them what else G-d is telling John McCain and Sarah Palin to do, and what other wars G-d would have them start.

--A. Serwer