Lawmakers Scurry From the Light
Published: June 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/27/opinion/27SUN4.html?ex=1088913600&en=edadffaac0bb7529&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
There's surely nothing new about indulging messianic conceits on Capitol
Hill. But a dozen or more lawmakers allowed power fantasies to balloon a
step too far when they honored invitations to the bizarre self-coronation
of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon as Messiah at a Senate reception room last
March.
News has just leaked of the loony event - one of scores of usually mundane
photo-op toadyings that occupy Washington lawmakers. Now the attendees are
fleeing the record of the crowning as if it were a burning building. "I had
no idea," said one in post-coronation remorse.
Mr. Moon, an eccentric billionaire, convicted tax cheat, conservative
publisher and power broker, grandly donned scarlet robes and a golden crown
at the Dirksen Office Building. "I am God's ambassador, sent to earth with
his full authority," he announced.
The scene summoned the moment in Robert Graves's "I, Claudius" when Emperor
Caligula declares himself a god in the Roman Senate; a fawning solon
instantly offers a prayer. No lawmaker was reported praying to Mr. Moon,
although Representative Danny Davis wore white gloves in presenting the
pillow from which Mr. Moon snatched up his crown. Mr. Davis, an Illinois
Democrat, later insisted his role was not related to campaign contributions
he received from Mr. Moon, but to Mr. Moon's efforts on behalf of world
peace.
As they scrambled for cover, politicians said they went to the event
because it seemed to involve civic honors for constituents and sponsorship
by Mr. Moon's newspaper, The Washington Times. The Messiah motif (and Mr.
Moon's news that his teachings had seen Hitler and Stalin, Marx and Lenin
"reborn as new persons") was an added starter, lawmakers pleaded. So far,
as nonbelievers wonder at it all, no lawmaker has dared own up to
authorizing use of a Congressional sanctuary for such a ludicrous traducing
of self-government.
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Where to find Fahrenheit 9/11: http://www.f911tix.com/
For activists: Not Ordered Text Server at http://www.notserver.com/
Bush gets his head sawed off and handed back to him in Ireland:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0624/primetime/primetime56_1c.smil
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