Palin Falsely Claimed She "Would Never Presume To Know God's Will"

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ABC's Charles Gibson on Thursday that "I would never presume to know God's will or speak God's words."

The response came in answer to question about comments Palin made to a group of graduating Wasilla high school students earlier this year, first reported by the Huffington Post. At that ceremony, Palin said: "Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

In her interview with Gibson, Palin sought to compare her words to those of Abraham Lincoln, who famously urged citizens to pray that the country was on God's side, not the other way around.

And it's easy enough to see how Palin's comments on the Iraq war could be viewed through a Lincolnesque lens. But it's simply not true that Palin has "never" presumed to know God's will. In the same speech to graduating high school seniors, Palin explicitly referenced an in-process natural gas pipeline as part of God's will -- in terms much less open to Lincoln-esque interpretation.

"I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gasline built. So pray for that," Palin said at the time.