| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"johac" |
| Date: |
21 Dec 2007 01:43:07 AM |
| Object: |
Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem |
Republicans playing the Jeebus card should be careful of what they wish
for.
---
Published on Thursday, December 20, 2007 by The Guardian/UK
Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem
US elections 2008: After years spent injecting religion into US
politics, right-wing pundits are afraid they may have gone too far
by Michelle Goldberg
Leading conservative pundits have discovered that the Republican
electorate is dominated by Christian fundamentalists, and they are
shocked, shocked! Aghast at the rise of the backwoods populist
preacher-turned-governor Mike Huckabee, now polling first in Iowa with
only two weeks until the caucuses, theyıve suddenly divined the value of
secular politics, of knowledge gained by studying something other than
the Bible.
³There is a sense in Iowa now that faith has been heightened as a
determining factor in how to vote, that such things as executive
ability, professional history, temperament, character, political
philosophy and professed stands are secondary, tertiary,² an alarmed
Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal last Friday. ³But they are
not, and cannot be. They are central. Things seem to be getting out of
kilter, with the emphasis shifting too far.²
National Reviewıs Rich Lowry concurred. ³[N]ominating a southern Baptist
pastor running on his religiosity would be rather overdoing it,² he
sniffed. ³Social conservatism has to be part of the Republican message,
but it canıt be the message in its entirety.² In the Washington Post,
Charles Krauthammerıs column was titled An Overdose of Public Piety.
³This campaign is knee-deep in religion, and itıs only going to get
worse,² he wrote.
On Saturday, former Bush speechwriter David Frum chimed in with a
National Post column titled, Donıt take Populism Too Far. ³Itıs always
important to respect the values and principles of the voters,² intoned
Frum. ³But politicians who want to deliver effective government and
positive results have to care about more than values - and have to do
more than check their guts. They need to study the problem, master the
evidence and face criticism.²
Itıs nice that prominent conservatives are finally becoming concerned
about Americaıs lurch into faith-based irrationality. Itıs also a bit
rich, since the GOP has spent the last three decades assiduously
courting the religious right, showering them with contracts, grants and
access to the heights of power. Republicans have rained contempt on
science and secular expertise, pushing a kind of yahoo postmodernism in
which truth is always assumed to be a function of politics, making facts
- about, say, global warming, or the failure of abstinence-only
education, or evolution - immediately suspect.
Rather than wringing their hands about the decline of reason in our
civic life, right-wing opinion-mongers have, until now, heartily
celebrated the volkish virtues of an archetypal Nascar-loving,
megachurch-attending, Darwin-denying Ordinary American. Noonan has been
the high priestess of mawkish religio-nationalist kitsch, titling her
collection of post-9/11 columns, A Heart, A Cross and a Flag: America
Today. In one piece, lamenting the fate of a man she encountered on an
airplane, she writes: ³I bet he became an intellectual, or a writer, and
not a good man like a fireman or a businessman who says Letıs Roll.ı²
Last year Lowry ridiculed a spate of books about the growing political
power of the religious right (including, Iım flattered to say, my own):
³When the theo-panic passes, maybe a few of them will regret their
hysteria.² In defending Christmas against its supposed antagonists,
Krauthammer has chastised ³deracinated members of religious minorities²
who ³insist that the overwhelming majority of this country stifle its
religious impulses in public².
And Frum has hymned a mystical communion between Bush and ordinary
Americans that transcended mere issues. ³Thereıs a bond between Bush and
the American people thatıs bigger than politics. They might not always
agree with what he does - but they trust him,² he wrote in a 2003
column. ³Itıs a new kind of leadership: a spiritual leadership.²
Now, along comes Huckabee - anti-intellectual, proudly faithful, basing
his bond with primary voters on spiritual leadership - and the
conservative establishment is revolted. Huckabee is their golem.
Over the years Republicans worked hard to organise Christian
conservatives, sending consultants and cash to help turn churches into
thousands of little political machines. They embraced figures like
home-schooling guru Michael Farris, whose tiny, fundamentalist Patrick
Henry College has been a top source of White House interns and GOP
congressional aids. Farris started a group called Generation Joshua,
directed by former Bush speechwriter Ned Ryun, which pays for
home-schooled kids to work on Republican campaigns.
Now heıs in Huckabeeıs corner. ³It was the endorsement by prominent
national home-school advocate Michael Farris that helped propel Huckabee
to a surprising second-place finish in the Iowa straw poll in August,²
wrote the Washington Post on Monday. Home-schoolers, it said, ³could
also prove to be a powerful force on caucus night².
As mainstream conservatives recoil from what theyıve created, their
cynicism is revealed - to us, but also, perhaps, to themselves.
Obviously, some right-wing leaders always saw the pious masses as dupes
who would vote against their economic interests if they could be
convinced they were protecting marriage and Christmas.
But there thereıs also a certain species of urbane Republican who live
in liberal bastions and, feeling terribly oppressed by the mild contempt
they face at cocktail parties, imagine a profound sympathy with the
simple folk of the heartland. Theyıre like alienated suburban kids in
Che Guevara t-shirts who fantasize kinship with the authentic
revolutionary souls in Chiapas or Cuba or Venezuela. Confronted with the
actual individuals onto whom theyıve projected their political
hallucinations, disillusionment is inevitable. Whatever their nostalgie
de la boue, the privileged classes never really want to be ruled by the
rabble. They want the rabble to help them rule.
Michelle Goldberg is the author of the New York Times bestseller Kingdom
Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism. Sheıs currently working on a
book about the global battle over reproductive rights.
---
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/20/5911/
--
John #1782
.
|
|
| User: "L. Raymond" |
|
| Title: Re: Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem |
21 Dec 2007 02:03:54 AM |
|
|
johac wrote:
Republicans playing the Jeebus card should be careful of what they wish
for.
---
Published on Thursday, December 20, 2007 by The Guardian/UK
Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem
US elections 2008: After years spent injecting religion into US
politics, right-wing pundits are afraid they may have gone too far
by Michelle Goldberg
Leading conservative pundits have discovered that the Republican
electorate is dominated by Christian fundamentalists, and they are
shocked, shocked! Aghast at the rise of the backwoods populist
preacher-turned-governor Mike Huckabee, now polling first in Iowa with
only two weeks until the caucuses, they've suddenly divined the value of
secular politics, of knowledge gained by studying something other than
the Bible.
"There is a sense in Iowa now that faith has been heightened as a
determining factor in how to vote, that such things as executive
ability, professional history, temperament, character, political
philosophy and professed stands are secondary, tertiary," an alarmed
Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal last Friday.
Charles Krauthammer's column was titled An Overdose of Public Piety.
öThis campaign is knee-deep in religion, and it's only going to get
worse,Ĥ he wrote.
And to think their own bible warns that what you sow, so shall you reap.
Figures they hadn't read the one part that held a useful warning for
them.
--
L. Raymond
.
|
|
|
| User: "thomas p." |
|
| Title: Re: Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem |
21 Dec 2007 09:57:46 AM |
|
|
"L. Raymond" <badaddress@....com> skrev i en meddelelse
news:1qcpcyl1eup6v.1hrrivx6ze8kf.dlg@40tude.net...
johac wrote:
Republicans playing the Jeebus card should be careful of what they wish
for.
---
Published on Thursday, December 20, 2007 by The Guardian/UK
Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem
US elections 2008: After years spent injecting religion into US
politics, right-wing pundits are afraid they may have gone too far
by Michelle Goldberg
Leading conservative pundits have discovered that the Republican
electorate is dominated by Christian fundamentalists, and they are
shocked, shocked! Aghast at the rise of the backwoods populist
preacher-turned-governor Mike Huckabee, now polling first in Iowa with
only two weeks until the caucuses, they've suddenly divined the value of
secular politics, of knowledge gained by studying something other than
the Bible.
"There is a sense in Iowa now that faith has been heightened as a
determining factor in how to vote, that such things as executive
ability, professional history, temperament, character, political
philosophy and professed stands are secondary, tertiary," an alarmed
Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal last Friday.
Charles Krauthammer's column was titled An Overdose of Public Piety.
öThis campaign is knee-deep in religion, and it's only going to get
worse,Ĥ he wrote.
And to think their own bible warns that what you sow, so shall you reap.
Figures they hadn't read the one part that held a useful warning for
them.
--
L. Raymond
Before everyone laughs too much, please remember that what they sowed we are
all likely to reap.
.
|
|
|
| User: "L. Raymond" |
|
| Title: Re: Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem |
21 Dec 2007 03:11:53 PM |
|
|
thomas p. wrote:
"L. Raymond" skrev
johac wrote:
Republicans playing the Jeebus card should be careful of what they wish
for.
---
Published on Thursday, December 20, 2007 by The Guardian/UK
Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem
US elections 2008: After years spent injecting religion into US
politics, right-wing pundits are afraid they may have gone too far
by Michelle Goldberg
...
Charles Krauthammer's column was titled An Overdose of Public Piety.
ÑThis campaign is knee-deep in religion, and it's only going to get
worse,ÂĤ he wrote.
And to think their own bible warns that what you sow, so shall you reap.
Figures they hadn't read the one part that held a useful warning for
them.
Before everyone laughs too much, please remember that what they sowed we are
all likely to reap.
The reason the right is all up in arms is they're afraid they've groomed
the religious freaks so well that they'll nominate a Republican whose
religious views are so far out that not one single moderate will support
him, meaning the Dems will win not only the White House, but most every
other local or national election held at the time.
If they're right, then that's good news for everyone since it'll mean
both that the religious right will have been shown the door, at least
for now, and that the US population at large will finally show they
understand the perils of mixing religion with politics, which might, if
we're really lucky, keep the fundies out of government for the next
generation or even longer.
--
L. Raymond
.
|
|
|
| User: "thomas p." |
|
| Title: Re: Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem |
22 Dec 2007 03:17:38 AM |
|
|
"L. Raymond" <badaddress@....com> skrev i en meddelelse
news:15fjsm59vup88$.1rldeup8bjz9o.dlg@40tude.net...
thomas p. wrote:
"L. Raymond" skrev
johac wrote:
Republicans playing the Jeebus card should be careful of what they wish
for.
---
Published on Thursday, December 20, 2007 by The Guardian/UK
Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem
US elections 2008: After years spent injecting religion into US
politics, right-wing pundits are afraid they may have gone too far
by Michelle Goldberg
...
Charles Krauthammer's column was titled An Overdose of Public Piety.
?This campaign is knee-deep in religion, and it's only going to get
worse,Ĥ he wrote.
And to think their own bible warns that what you sow, so shall you reap.
Figures they hadn't read the one part that held a useful warning for
them.
Before everyone laughs too much, please remember that what they sowed we
are
all likely to reap.
The reason the right is all up in arms is they're afraid they've groomed
the religious freaks so well that they'll nominate a Republican whose
religious views are so far out that not one single moderate will support
him, meaning the Dems will win not only the White House, but most every
other local or national election held at the time.
If they're right, then that's good news for everyone since it'll mean
both that the religious right will have been shown the door, at least
for now, and that the US population at large will finally show they
understand the perils of mixing religion with politics, which might, if
we're really lucky, keep the fundies out of government for the next
generation or even longer.
With reference to the US population I offer the following quote: "Nobody
ever lost money by underestimating the American public."
.
|
|
|
| User: "L. Raymond" |
|
| Title: Re: Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem |
22 Dec 2007 11:27:00 AM |
|
|
thomas p. wrote:
"L. Raymond" skrev
If they're right, then that's good news for everyone since it'll mean
both that the religious right will have been shown the door, at least
for now, and that the US population at large will finally show they
understand the perils of mixing religion with politics, which might, if
we're really lucky, keep the fundies out of government for the next
generation or even longer.
With reference to the US population I offer the following quote: "Nobody
ever lost money by underestimating the American public."
That can be in fact applied to any population in the history of mankind.
--
L. Raymond
.
|
|
|
| User: "thomas p." |
|
| Title: Re: Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem |
22 Dec 2007 11:55:51 AM |
|
|
"L. Raymond" <badaddress@....com> skrev i en meddelelse
news:1jxednoovqz7u.1y02zlqjqrq2.dlg@40tude.net...
thomas p. wrote:
"L. Raymond" skrev
If they're right, then that's good news for everyone since it'll mean
both that the religious right will have been shown the door, at least
for now, and that the US population at large will finally show they
understand the perils of mixing religion with politics, which might, if
we're really lucky, keep the fundies out of government for the next
generation or even longer.
With reference to the US population I offer the following quote: "Nobody
ever lost money by underestimating the American public."
That can be in fact applied to any population in the history of mankind.
No doubt. The point is that (especially since Bush was elected twice)
Huckabee or somebody like him could be elected.
.
|
|
|
| User: "johac" |
|
| Title: Re: Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem |
23 Dec 2007 12:53:42 AM |
|
|
In article <476d4fa7$0$2091$edfadb0f@dtext02.news.tele.dk>,
"thomas p." <gudloos@yahoo.com> wrote:
"L. Raymond" <badaddress@....com> skrev i en meddelelse
news:1jxednoovqz7u.1y02zlqjqrq2.dlg@40tude.net...
thomas p. wrote:
"L. Raymond" skrev
If they're right, then that's good news for everyone since it'll mean
both that the religious right will have been shown the door, at least
for now, and that the US population at large will finally show they
understand the perils of mixing religion with politics, which might, if
we're really lucky, keep the fundies out of government for the next
generation or even longer.
With reference to the US population I offer the following quote: "Nobody
ever lost money by underestimating the American public."
That can be in fact applied to any population in the history of mankind.
No doubt. The point is that (especially since Bush was elected twice)
Huckabee or somebody like him could be elected.
Ugh! You had to bring that up. I'm waiting for the real smear and dirty
tricks campaign to start once the nominees are chosen and strange things
might happen.
--
John #1782
.
|
|
|
| User: "thomas p." |
|
| Title: Re: Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem |
23 Dec 2007 08:29:18 AM |
|
|
"johac" <jhachmann@remove.sbcglobal.net> skrev i en meddelelse
news:jhachmann-1B5363.22534122122007@news.giganews.com...
In article <476d4fa7$0$2091$edfadb0f@dtext02.news.tele.dk>,
"thomas p." <gudloos@yahoo.com> wrote:
"L. Raymond" <badaddress@....com> skrev i en meddelelse
news:1jxednoovqz7u.1y02zlqjqrq2.dlg@40tude.net...
thomas p. wrote:
"L. Raymond" skrev
If they're right, then that's good news for everyone since it'll mean
both that the religious right will have been shown the door, at least
for now, and that the US population at large will finally show they
understand the perils of mixing religion with politics, which might,
if
we're really lucky, keep the fundies out of government for the next
generation or even longer.
With reference to the US population I offer the following quote:
"Nobody
ever lost money by underestimating the American public."
That can be in fact applied to any population in the history of
mankind.
No doubt. The point is that (especially since Bush was elected twice)
Huckabee or somebody like him could be elected.
Ugh! You had to bring that up. I'm waiting for the real smear and dirty
tricks campaign to start once the nominees are chosen and strange things
might happen.
--
John #1782
May God have mercy on us all - So to speak
.
|
|
|
| User: "johac" |
|
| Title: Re: Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem |
23 Dec 2007 11:45:46 PM |
|
|
In article <476e70be$0$2105$edfadb0f@dtext02.news.tele.dk>,
"thomas p." <gudloos@yahoo.com> wrote:
"johac" <jhachmann@remove.sbcglobal.net> skrev i en meddelelse
news:jhachmann-1B5363.22534122122007@news.giganews.com...
In article <476d4fa7$0$2091$edfadb0f@dtext02.news.tele.dk>,
"thomas p." <gudloos@yahoo.com> wrote:
"L. Raymond" <badaddress@....com> skrev i en meddelelse
news:1jxednoovqz7u.1y02zlqjqrq2.dlg@40tude.net...
thomas p. wrote:
"L. Raymond" skrev
If they're right, then that's good news for everyone since it'll mean
both that the religious right will have been shown the door, at least
for now, and that the US population at large will finally show they
understand the perils of mixing religion with politics, which might,
if
we're really lucky, keep the fundies out of government for the next
generation or even longer.
With reference to the US population I offer the following quote:
"Nobody
ever lost money by underestimating the American public."
That can be in fact applied to any population in the history of
mankind.
No doubt. The point is that (especially since Bush was elected twice)
Huckabee or somebody like him could be elected.
Ugh! You had to bring that up. I'm waiting for the real smear and dirty
tricks campaign to start once the nominees are chosen and strange things
might happen.
--
John #1782
May God have mercy on us all - So to speak
If there were a god, he would come down and tell all these loonies to
stop giving him such a bad reputation.
--
John #1782
.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| User: "johac" |
|
| Title: Re: Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem |
21 Dec 2007 05:55:48 PM |
|
|
In article <1qcpcyl1eup6v.1hrrivx6ze8kf.dlg@40tude.net>,
"L. Raymond" <badaddress@....com> wrote:
johac wrote:
Republicans playing the Jeebus card should be careful of what they wish
for.
---
Published on Thursday, December 20, 2007 by The Guardian/UK
Mike Huckabee, Conservative Golem
US elections 2008: After years spent injecting religion into US
politics, right-wing pundits are afraid they may have gone too far
by Michelle Goldberg
Leading conservative pundits have discovered that the Republican
electorate is dominated by Christian fundamentalists, and they are
shocked, shocked! Aghast at the rise of the backwoods populist
preacher-turned-governor Mike Huckabee, now polling first in Iowa with
only two weeks until the caucuses, they've suddenly divined the value of
secular politics, of knowledge gained by studying something other than
the Bible.
"There is a sense in Iowa now that faith has been heightened as a
determining factor in how to vote, that such things as executive
ability, professional history, temperament, character, political
philosophy and professed stands are secondary, tertiary," an alarmed
Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal last Friday.
Charles Krauthammer's column was titled An Overdose of Public Piety.
öThis campaign is knee-deep in religion, and it's only going to get
worse,Ĥ he wrote.
And to think their own bible warns that what you sow, so shall you reap.
Figures they hadn't read the one part that held a useful warning for
them.
They are very selective when it comes to interpreting their little black
book. Especially when it comes to that 8th commandment business.
--
John #1782
.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
