Perhaps because there are a lot of new people hitting CG for the first time because of the election surge, I've been getting questions about the bikini pics on CG in my email every few days. Here's an example,

"Hello John, my name is Andrew, and I have a quick question for you. I believe I read in one of your pieces on Right Wing News that you are a Christian. Is that true? If so, then why does it look like you post bikini pictures on Conservative Grapevine as well as RWN? e.g., Sarah Palin at the pool.

Do you think that it's OK to do that as a Christian?" -- Andrew Bell

First off, the pics of Sarah Palin by the pool feature her in a t-shirt and shorts,

Yes, Todd Palin is a very lucky man. Why do you ask?

As to CG, I do post bikini pics every day for a very simple reason: people like them and they help grow the page. How much do people like them? Well, here are the top 10 most clicked links at CG so far this month.

1) Red Balcony: Kelly Kelly bikini shots
2) Egotastic!: Gemma Arterton bikini pics
3) CelebSlam: Heather Locklear bikini pics
4) Popoholic: Sarah Michelle Gellar's Halloween sexy witch costume
5) Egotastic: Kristen Bell bikini pics
6) Double Viking: Sofia Vergara bikini shots
7) Egotastic!: Jennifer Anniston's Vogue spread
8) Cracked: 6 people who died in order to prove a retarded point
9) Egotastic!: Vida Guerra bikini pictures
10) Red Balcony: Maria Sharapova bikini pics

Sharp eyed readers may notice a trend there.

Additionally, I grew up Baptist and still go to church every week -- but, perhaps I missed the sermon where we were told Christians aren't supposed to admire the female form or are supposed to be horrified by women in bikinis. Maybe they just leave that part out because I live at the beach.

I'd also like to add that you see women in bikinis on TV, in advertisements, in video games -- just about everywhere in our society. So, if they help traffic on CG -- and they definitely do (I think it's entirely possible CG may be bigger than RWN by the end of 2009), then why wouldn't I want them on there?

Put another way, the average person who hits CG clicks on 3-4 links. So, if pics like this of Vida Guerra...

...help draw more people over to a page that's largely comprised of links to conservative blogs and columnists, that's a good thing.