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Pat Robertson's Manchurian Candidate
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Christian-right darling Bob McDonnell is likely to become Virginia’s next governor—and more extreme candidates could win on his coattails.
Last summer, after Virginia state Senator Creigh Deeds crushed his rivals in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, a veteran Democratic consultant named Lowell Feld offered the Deeds campaign some advice. Feld told me he urged Deeds to immediately launch an attack campaign painting his Republican rival, state Attorney General Bob McDonnell, as “Pat Robertson’s Manchurian Candidate.” If Deeds wavered, Feld was convinced McDonnell could make inroads in the liberal-leaning but fiercely competitive suburbs of Northern Virginia.
“Virginian independents vote on who holds a drink better, who can converse with a wide variety of people in a clever way,” says Professor Larry Sabato. “So whoever passes what I call the suburban cocktail party test usually wins. And McDonnell passes with flying colors.”
While many Republican candidates pander to the Christian right to win elections in evangelical-heavy states, McDonnell has done exactly the opposite in the Virginia governor’s race: He's appealing to the sensibilities of comparatively moderate Northern Virginian voters. But that’s not because he’s a moderate. In fact, McDonnell is a consummate culture warrior; a graduate of Pat Robertson’s law school, Regent University, and a personal friend of the far-right televangelist, who donated heavily to his past campaigns.
During an appearance on Robertson’s 700 Club in 2007, McDonnell said his four years at Regent “gave me the insight about what our Founders believed about government and about their view of the Constitution that I’ve been carrying with me on the job today.”
Instead of following Feld’s advice, the Deeds campaign spent the dog days of June and July raising money. By the time Deeds engaged McDonnell on abortion in August—the Republican has opposed the practice even in cases of rape and incest—the smooth-talking, telegenic McDonnell was already scoring big with swing voters on transportation and economic issues. McDonnell’s success has instilled the national GOP with newfound confidence, prompting Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele to hail him as the “flower of new leadership” and the vanguard of a “Republican renaissance.”
Deeds appeared to gain new life when McDonnell’s damaging graduate thesis surfaced in early September. The candidate himself, perhaps in a moment of pride, mentioned it in passing to a Washington Post reporter, a foolish mistake that sparked her curiosity. Voters were thus exposed to an impassioned manifesto that read like a manual for implementing theocracy. In the 93-page document, McDonnell denounced working women as “detrimental for the family,” called on the government to favor married couples over “cohabitators, homosexuals, or fornicators,” and attacked a Supreme Court decision legalizing birth control for married couples. [W]hen the exercise of liberty takes the shape of pornography, drug abuse, or homosexuality,” McDonnell proclaimed, “the government must restrain, punish, and deter.”
Despite a concerted effort by the Deeds campaign to present McDonnell’s thesis as his “blueprint for governing,” McDonnell remains the clear favorite to win. With only two weeks until Election Day, he is leading by as much as seven points in most recent polls.
Unlike many Christian-right candidates, his image is easily relatable to suburban independents. During his appearance on the 700 Club, McDonnell revealed himself as a stealth candidate who learned through Robertson’s mentoring to conceal his hard-right ideology behind a moderate veneer. “[Regent] taught me the real importance of being a Christian elected official,” he remarked. “It’s not just what you say but it’s also the style of how you say it and acting in a degree of civility…without compromising principle.”
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"It's not just what you say but it's also the style of how you say it and acting in a degree of civility....."
translation:
It's alright to lie but do it well and don't get caught.
Good article as usual, Max--
Hardly. There's a difference between defending beliefs that you have and throwing your beliefs down someone's throat. I can say "you want an abortion? screw you" or I could engage in a conversation about the merits of parenting or adoption.
Does that make sense?
I think it translates to "It's OK to lie, as long as it's not discovered until it's too late."
i resent this we make our decision in a split second. voters are infinatly more thoughtful than an arrogant press. the reality is the repub is more better for the job. rural virginia can birtha great candidate it just didnt this time. Sabato opines so he can still be a pundit. he is cold on this one. they won it fair and square the roberts hate wins today.
Wow, this guys views are similar to the Taliban.
Womens place is in the home, that women with careers are detrimental to the family.. McDonnell argues for the use of government intervention on societal issues, writing that "man's basic nature is inclined towards evil, and when the exercise of liberty takes the shape of pornography, drug abuse, or homosexuality, the government must restrain, punish, and deter."
It's difficult to believe that this guy could actually take an oath to the constitution and actually uphold it.
He even disagrees with the supreme court ruling that legalized the use of contraceptions by married couples..
The more I read of our elected officials and their religious views, the more I wonder what century I am living in...
I see, so the lack of morality we are now seeing in this country is the way to go? If it feels good it is good, no moral guide post, pass the joint dude? He's no more extreme than Van Jones, or Anita Dunn, or Valerie Jarret or any of the freak show czars we have indoctrinating our children to who knows what. Take them and this guy and what do you get? Balance. I don't agree with any extreme, but the moral relativism in this country is getting out of control!!
Nothing new with moral relativisim: read your old testament, If the chosen people could get a few more acres, it was perfectly permissible to slaughter absolutely everything, men, women, children, even cattle.
I agree with you whole heartedly.. Where's our morality when we invade nations and kill thousands if not millions of innocent civilians, when we impoverish thousands by consuming 25% of the worlds resources, We support dictators and communist regimes who suppress their peopleand their fundamental human rights?
I guess that is all relative?
I am much more concerned with that morality than a minority of americans who prefer to pursue their constitutional rights (even if I dont agree with them) and live as a FREE individual. Who chose to not be dictated to by me or some right wing nut job who thinks that the bible is the word of god and not some contrived book designed to elevate and unite the Roman empire.
I agree with "Natural-Selection", only that the relativism is not getting out of control, it is way past that and has been completely out of control for decades now and finally we are being presented with the bill!!!
Well,at least someone on here sees past his nose!
Another Right Wing Christian Extremist comes out of the closet to save us.
What I find so intriguing about these fanatical sleaze bags is the lengths that they will go to force their bizarre notion of morality down our throats.
I don't recall Jesus advocating deceit in the name of the Father. But, I guess Pat Robertson and his evil minions can justify anything to inflict their narrow-minded zealotry on us.
They call themselves Christian but their hatred for anyone who rejects their false prophesies has blinded them to the real message of Christ and the meaning of God.
When someone is a graduate of Regent University, we should all be quaking in our boots! Regent is one of the worst academic institutions in the country. It is a "terrorist training camp" for religious, evangelical nuts! If you remember, G.W. Bush employed over 100 grads from that school. Most of which went to work in the Justice dept. Remember the catastrophe that turned out to be?
Watch Glenn Beck frontman9000!!!! I wish you many hours of Glenn!!
Just when we are attempting to crush the Taliban in Afghanistan they pop up in Virginia.
And just when we thought communism was a thing of the past, it popped up in our White House!
Natural-Selection - Nice come back.
Natural-Selection - Wait, I forgot, I'm a Libertarian. So I am uneasy about economy policy as set in the current White House, and the previous White House, and their Congresses, and the ones before that.
Still Communism exists (ha) in China and they seem to be doing OK.
And Obama is more of a corporate socialist kind of free marketer, or something like that. I'm sure there's a better phrase.
Whip, thanks for the responses. I agree, but we well know our markets sold out the US to make guys rich. I have a friend that turned a couple hundred grand into 1.5 mil by betting against the dollar and our market. If he could do it, imagine how many others have done it and that's why we're in the state we're in.
In China, they have a hybrid political system, but it does work. They also have boundaries and the people are not as free wheeling as our society. In that country, you can be guaranteed that if you're guilty of something really bad, they kneel you in front of a pit and shoot you in the back of the head so your momentum carries you into the mass grave. We're not there....yet, but let's not kid ourselves that if this administration is attacking people that disagree with him....that show video and audio evidence of such; are we not moving toward censorship?
If BHO is doing THIS now, just imagine what he will do in a second term with nothing to lose!!!
Why do you think people are buying guns and ammo in droves? Armed citizenry is the only thing that will stop our government from trying to control everything about us!
Natural-Selection - I think it's politics as usual, plus fear caused by the economic collapse, plus fear caused by having a Democratic POTUS, plus fear caused by having a black POTUS, plus fear caused by the relative decline of the power of the white majority, and some other things changing. Not everyone has all the same fears.
All administration attack those that disagree with them, and vice versa. We're not going communist. We'll have more of the same. The corporate socialist mostly free market.
Even so, I think this Bob McDonnell is a Taliban kind of guy if he wants to cram government control over people's personal lives down our throats.
I totally agree with you Natural-Selection.
whipmawahopma-
I do not see any evidence in the real world of any fear of the white majority losing power or fear of a black POTUS,These simply do not seem to be issues worthy of much concern amongst the people in general.
The fear of a LIBERAL(not simply a Democrat) POTUS is a valid one to many citizens.
I agree with you,for the most part,about all administrations attacking those that disagree with them.That statement is true,but,it seems that the last few Democrat administrations have been more aggressive and even petty about it.They really do appear elitist,narcissists who want to run you down and kick your kidneys into the pavement with their jackboots if you dare to disagree with them,though.If they are going to act like this,then they should expect to be viewed as such.I f they do not possess the ability to grasp this basic notion,they should not be in a position of power,should they?
Religion does poison everything.
Lord amighty, we just got rid of *another* scary Christian conservative, George Allen, in 2006. And now another one crops up. They're like rabbits. Or zombies.
Is the DB "controlled" by the Obama administration?
Fox has video of Obama's Communication Director, Mao lover, Anita Dunn says, Obama administration "Controls" the media, appears Rush Limbaugh is right, NEWSMEDIA=NOTETAKERS! Anita Dunn admits that it is true! Repuplicans are leading in both NJ and VA and here come the NOTETAKERS! Good job, DB, go get your Obama cookie.
Wrong again. Corzine is ahead in the polls in NJ. I guess you are happy that a guy who believes women should not work might be elected Governor. Next he might decide women should not use the internet, and you will vanish from the comments section of the DB. Ta ta!
And who really opened up the Chinese exploitation market? Why, none other than Saint Ronnie of the Raygun.
rhonda1309: do you even read what you write? Have you tried reading it out loud or are there too many other voices drowning it out?
Check out the designer/Chinese Mao/Obama t-shirts if your NOT to SCARED!
No worries sue, rhonda is like a dog with a bone. Once she gets hold of an idea, she pulls it out every chance she gets, even when it has no bearing on the subject at hand. Her latest "bone" is Mao.
Those Chinese/designer t-shirts with Obama dressed as Mao are just so "inspiring" every good commie will want one! While many Americans don't get it, the Chinese people seem to understand it completely. They are just $9 dollars, get them while you can. Trying to be helpful! Get 2!
"Fox has video of Obama's Communication Director, Mao lover, Anita Dunn says, Obama administration "Controls" the media..."
Wrong, wrong, wrong. What Fox has is a video showing Dunn answering a question about how the Obama CAMPAIGN controlled the message when dealing with the media. This is what ALL smart campaigns do. Fox, Drudge and WorldNetDaily all lied, knowingly, when they claimed that Dunn was speaking about how the White House deals with the media. She was talking about her job BEFORE Obama won. So, now I guess you're lying, too.
Have you gotten you designer/Chinese Obama/Mao t-shirt yet? The Chinese people seem to understand Beck and Fox News just fine! 70 million Chinese were slaughtered under Mao!
so you're aruging that Anita Dunn has some affinity for Mao, therefor you make a Obama/Mao connection?
Which you then use to set up some weird red herring to avoid dealing with the issue of the thesis that this guy wrote...which is in no way in question.
Obama has nothing to do with this article...for the sake of argument, let's say DB is "in the tank"...so, what facts are changed?
All the facts laid out in the articles are still true, yes?
Stop with the red herring, the paranoia, and stick with the issues.
Seriously, what does 70 million people being killed by Mao have anything to the thesis the guy wrote? You're an idiot.
I agree with you to a point.If the fact that Dunn can claim that there is a difference in how they will act during a campaign for the presidency and how they will behave after winning that election,then,in all fairness,you must admit that it is also possible for a politician to say make statements in a college paper and not allow that to have any bearing on how he will act,years later,as an elected official.
By the way,is this whole issue any different then Michelle Obama's views stated by her in that infamous,yet all but forgotten college thesis paper?
I realize that she is not the POTUS,but,you can not tell me that there is not a connection between her viewpoints and those of her husbands.
rhonda:
Seriously. Why are you so hateful?
rhonda1309; you're insane. the media is a whore which only money controls. The Obama administration sups at the troth of big money like rush and roger ales and the rest of the political crews that want to get a word in hedge wise. to think that he controls the media is naive. rhonda1309; why do you hate America? your ignorance is showing.
Hey Rhonda,
I would like to offer you a free T-shirt....
It says:
"No brains, no headaches!"
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you can always tell when the left is getting desperate.... they try and drag in the religous right. could be hard to do that in 2012 since they are trying to convince everyone that 0bama is the messiah, sorry only one false god at a time.
Baddchild: the Right are fixated on Messiahs. The Left wants an effective secular government.
well stated sue...
I dont want a governement that differentiates peoples based on their religious beliefs but on the context of their character and the belief and support of our Constitution and our Bill of Rights.
As represented in the last election, americans are bone tired of the religious zealots regardless of what religion they perpetuate, who wish to push their mythical ideals down our throats.
I drank their draconian kool-aid in my younger years and decided it tasted like arsenic..
Name one, national, Republi-con candidate, in the last 25 years that has not been vetted by Pat Robertson before they get the OK from the Christian Right.
Don't forget the RWCE were against John McCain until he "sweetened" the ticket with The High Priestess of Wasilla.
A candidate can not even get on the POG ticket in most states without the express or implied endorsement of the Evangelical Right. It simply can not be done and every candidate, at every level, even down to dog catcher knows it.
The GOP can not win a national election without the support of the Christian Right.
If that doesn't scream Theocracy in the POG, nothing does.
The "0bama" troll is back in action!
Wow, Max, I was wondering when you were going to do your obligatory hit peice on this McDonnell guy and wow, 2 weeks before the election. Not that it matters. your article will not propel Deeds to a win.
But, the larger thing I am seeing is that there is an attempt to discredit anyone who holds a traditionalist or has ever expressed a traditionalist view on issues-conservative. The truth is Virginia has been a Conservative state for years and continues to be. Warner and Kaine are not exactly flaming libs and Kaine is pro life. Plus, Virginians are not apt to elect many of their downstate brethren into positions of power. McDonnell works nicely for them.
Oh but, I forgot Max, he's a Christian and he wrote something very provocative while still in school-DISQUALIFIED!!!!! Now if you were a liberal progressive, it would only be expressed an a musing, an intellectual exercise, blah, blah blah.
Heh. I love how misogyny, antiquated sexual morays, prudish-fear, anti-birth control, theocracy, and mind-control are considered "traditionalist" by many Right Wingers...
bcaldwell - 'he wrote something very provocative while still in school'
He wrote it in school, and perhaps like many things written earlier in life by many people or at least by Whipmawhopma, there are items in it that he may have had a change of heart or is willing to be moderate about, now that he is in the real world.
Even so, McDonnell still seems to be claiming these views per this article -> "Deeds appeared to gain new life when McDonnell's damaging graduate thesis surfaced in early September. The candidate himself, perhaps in a moment of pride, mentioned it in passing to a Washington Post reporter, a foolish mistake that sparked her curiosity."
McDonnell might be a real Christian or he might be a fraud, only time will tell, but if indeed -> "McDonnell denounced working women as "detrimental for the family," called on the government to favor married couples over "cohabitators, homosexuals, or fornicators," and attacked a Supreme Court decision legalizing birth control for married couples. [W]hen the exercise of liberty takes the shape of pornography, drug abuse, or homosexuality," McDonnell proclaimed, "the government must restrain, punish, and deter."
Then I suspect he's little more than conservative. I suspect he wants to use government to force others not sharing his values to conform to those values.
Drug abuse should be deterred, certain forms of pornography should be deterred, but government venturing into the realm of homosexuality, or cohabitators, or fornicators to control these based on religious views is dangerous. Denouncing family women working outside the home, which is what I suspect McDonnell was putting forth, is something I find overly nostalgic and false.
Dude, can you not read?
He wrote these comments as his thesis for his JD in 1989. This was his second Masters degree. He graduated from college in 1976. It's not like he was a teenager venting his emotions.
Moreover, Pat Robertson advised him to withhold his real views until after he was elected.
I don't know where you were raised but among the traditional values that my Momma taught me was that withholding important information was the same thing as lying.
PRoche - "Dude, can you not read?"
Evidently not.
PRoche - "He wrote these comments as his thesis for his JD in 1989. This was his second Masters degree. He graduated from college in 1976. It's not like he was a teenager venting his emotions."
I missed that in Max Blumenthal article above. I looked twice. If it's in the links, I can't get to some of them from here.
PRoche - "Moreover, Pat Robertson advised him to withhold his real views until after he was elected."
PRoche - "I don't know where you were raised but among the traditional values that my Momma taught me was that withholding important information was the same thing as lying."
Sorry. My deep, deep cynicism leads me to believe that all politicians, even Ron Paul, do this. As for your Momma, you're a fortunate son. I came from a different kind of family.
"Men are so false, so insidious, so deceitful and cunning in their wiles, so avid in their own interest, and so oblivious to other's interests, that you cannot go wrong if you believe little and trust less." ~ Guicciardini ~
Proche... I must disagree. 1989-2009, do you feel differently then 20 years ago about a subject? Or from age 35 to age 55, do you have a different perspective on a subject.
Ten years ago, I was a supporter of Bush, b/c Clinton was a bozo banging chubby chics. During Bush, I became independent b/c he was a retard. Now I am for smaller government and I don't care who is in power, just lower my taxes and stop spending my money frivolously.
If Pat Robertson is brought in to the conversation with McConnell, then Rev. Wright should continually be brought up about Obama.
Robertson is a friend... Wright was Obama's mentor. Which is worse?
This "Then I suspect he's little more than conservative. I suspect he wants to use government to force others not sharing his values to conform to those values" should read "Then I suspect he's a little more than conservative. I suspect he wants to use government to force others not sharing his values to conform to those values."
I dropped the 'a'.
aackc1,
"Robertson is a friend... Wright was Obama's mentor. Which is worse?" Actually, you have this ass-backwards.
Obama renounced Wright. We'll see if McDonnell has the courage to do the same.
aackc1,
"I must disagree. 1989-2009, do you feel differently then 20 years ago about a subject? Or from age 35 to age 55, do you have a different perspective on a subject."
You can disagree all you want but, while people may change their views as they get older, this rarely applies to their religious convictions.
Besides, McDonnell hasn't said he on longer believes his 30-something Right Wing bullshit.
PRoche... Obama Denounced... Rev. Wright, yes he did. Not until he was exposed for what he was... a bigoted, prejudiced idiot. But all those years he was a mentor shaping Obama's belief system.
Who shapes your values more a "friend" or "mentor?"
I think Wright and Robertson are extreme- therefore both are idiots.
If McConnell is Robertson's Manchurian as some libs believe, then why would it shock you if neo-cons believe Obama is Rev. Wright's.
Regarding people's religious belief changing, I think you are inaccurate. I am less religious now, then 10 years ago, and even less from 20 years back.
Again, Robertson is an ass, as well as Rev. Wright. America could look past Rev. Wright, why not Robertson?
Renounced Wright when it was politically expedient to do so.
One of the many problems I find with McDonnell is his denouncement of working women. It's clearly an antiquated view point. But hey, he wrote it 20 years ago...maybe he's changed his mind...
Although what really sickened me by the whole situation was in one of his earlier commercials when he's introducing himself and his family he describes himself as "The son of a military officer and a working mother"
Oh...HELL no!
Whether or not he's changed his mind since is inconsequential. The fact of the matter is, he was still "raised by a working mother" at the time he wrote that working women are some horrible ill of society. What kind of man throws his own mother under the bus to get brownie points on a paper turned into a bigoted institution?
He's already talking smack 'bout his own mamma...how long before he starts hate'n on yo' mamma? Trick question! He's already hate'n on yo mamma by voting against legislation pertaining to equal pay for equal work.
That being said, he's probably going to win due to the abysmal campaign Deeds is running. He played the thesis card too early. He hasn't actually said what he would do about most of the issues, (Deeds isn't charismatic enough to pull off "I'll make a bipartisan committee to solve the problem once I'm elected". And I didn't start seeing signs put up in Northern Virginia until about a week ago. Bob's have been up for months...Oh! And the signs look very similar so they don't stand out at all in the sea of McDonnell.
Really Virginia? These two are the best we could field?!? Awful.
bcaldwell: You write, Oh but, I forgot Max, he's a Christian and he wrote something very provocative while still in school
You make it seem like he was in his late teens or early 20's, like most people still in school. When McDonnell wrote this he was 35. Yes, 35 years old.
whipmawhopma,
My appologies. My comment was actually meant as a follow on yours to bcaldwell which I misplaced.
When Americans support people like Bob McDonnell, they don't realize they are supporting a Chrisitian Taliban. Republican friends are suggesting that our school systems can only be improved if women work only as housewives. They complain that more American jobs have been lost to women than to illegals. They suggest that men do not belong in nursing and teaching. They blame men working in these fields for raising the salaries that would, otherwise, be lower if filled with women whose children are grown.
The Chrisitan Right is trying to push back. If moderate Americans relinquish control to them, we do so at the peril of seperation of church and state.
maybe changing your name to rolled2plypaper would be more indicitive of yout response....
If you like Bob McDonnell you will love Ken Cuccinelli.
Well, it's Virginia. All people get the Government they deserve. I guess Virginians are ready to go back to the dark ages. It's a shame, but I live in New York, so it's not a problem to me.
I remember a certain D'mato.
Maybe. Part of this is that in a three-way primary with low turnout, Virginia Dems nominated a terrible candidate. Their stable was depleted, since both Warner and Kaine had moved on. odd year elections have the lowest turnout of any statewide elections, and, while the right will fulminate that this is a great victory and a repudiation of Obama, that is hardly the case. It is an off year election in a swing state with a terrible Democratic candidate and an attractive Republican who has a veneer that appeals to moderates.
What is more amazing is that Corzine, a hugely unpopular governor of New Jersey who is also a pretty awful politician, may actually sneak out a win against Christie. Wonder how the right will spin that if it happens?
For those of you who want to know what real Virginians thought about interference in government by religion you should read:
Thomas Jefferson's "Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom", 1786.
http://www.vahistorical.org/sva2003/vsrf.htm
and
James Madison's "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments", 1785.
Read these and tell me where the likes of Pat Robertson, and bob McDonnell fit into the grand scheme as the framers of the Constitution saw it.
http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/sacred/madison_m&r_1785.html
So another wingnut candidate lies his way into office.
Only a matter of time before he's caught in an airport bathroom or banging a hooker.
These guys lives are a lie.
Yeah, that would be crazy to see a guy promise a whole bunch of stuff he couldn't deliver, just to get elected. I can't think of anyone like that right now....hmmmmm
Levonsky, I'm with you. I predict he'll be caught in an airport bathroom banging a male prostitute.
He'll probably be caught in a bathroom banging the Safe Schools Czar.
poor Virginia, poor, poor Virginia.
Welcome back to the Dark Ages.
"Virginian independents vote on who holds a drink better, who can converse with a wide variety of people in a clever way," says Professor Larry Sabato. "So whoever passes what I call the suburban cocktail party test usually wins. And McDonnell passes with flying colors."
This reminds me of Fahrenheit 451!!!
I'm not sure, Mr. Blumenthal, what the point of this commentary is...perhaps that religious people shouldn't serve in public office? Granted there are some nuts out there, but I'd venture to say that there are just as many non-religious crazies running our government as there are on the religious side. That, and I don't see an associate of Pat Robertson being any more risky than electing a casual acquaintance of William Ayers.
And really, there's no need to be so melodramatic. If Bob MacDonnell gets elected, I'm pretty sure that women in Virginia will continue to pursue careers without reverting back to the "dark ages."
It's in keeping with the liberal mantra that only stupid people are religious. They have yet to come up with an explanation for their own stupidity. When they do perhaps people will listen to them about this.
ThinkAgain....
That's a misnomer!
Let's see...virgins who give birth. Sounds like something from Greek mythology but, no, it's the basis of your "faith." No wonder we think you're dimwitted.
And the bible doesn't even say Mary was a virgin. Not until it was mistranslated, anyway.
"what the point of this commentary is...perhaps that religious people shouldn't serve in public office?"
No problem at all unless the religious people in question are intent on subverting the Constitution. And there is huge difference between Pat Robertson and Bill Ayers. Primarily Bill Ayers isn't on TV everyday preaching his nonsense to millions of faithful followers.
Here is prime example of why Pat Robertson and his blind faith followers are so dangerous and should be voted out of government:
"There is no such thing as separation of church and state in the Constitution. It is a lie of the Left and we are not going to take it anymore." --Pat Robertson, November 1993 during an address to the American Center for Law and Justice
And, while we are at it here are a few other gems of the Right Reverend Robertson's ideological myopia.
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/7027/quotes.html
Always astonishing to see the delusional right make false equivalences. Now if Obama had gone to Bill Ayers law school for his degree, had written a masters thesis at the age of 35 as noxious as McDonnel's, and had been a guest on Bill Ayers national TV show advocating hard left revolution in 2007, maybe there would be an analogy, but since there is no law school, no TV show and Obama has met Ayers a total of six times in his life, it is just another example of the sad, pathetic and fractured paranoia that passes for logic among the white wing
But then Christians would have to stop telling everyone how they're picked upon and downtrodden.
Would that make Obama Mao's actual manchurian candidate?
With all of the mind meld going on thinking for one's self seems to be out.
Is the Virginia suburban cocktail party scene anything like the NYC and DC cocktail party elite where they anointed Van Jones as brilliant without even knowing who he is? Most couldn't even site what it was that they found so brilliant, it was just 'well known'.
Education is worthless if you go along with the group think just to be popular. It's astounding that adults do just that!
Cite, not site.
You win the prize for the 2nd most worthless comment today. Which one is number 1? This one, of course.
ThinkAgain - "Education is worthless if you go along with the group think just to be popular. It's astounding that adults do just that!"
Not really. Happens lots and plenty. Group solidarity trumps individual disbelief except in rare cases. Like Juror 8 in "12 Angry Men".
Besides, if they go to the same school, they hear and absorb the same worldview, whether it's Harvard, Oral Roberts, or something run by Hamas. Everything gets interpreted by that worldview.
Uh oh, another Obama administration czar is outed as disciple of Mao! Ron Bloom, Manufacturing czar is also straight up commie lover.
Walks like a duck, talks like a duck, conservatives were so silly, we called Obama a socialist when he is really straight up COMMIE, our bad!
You can't be a commie and a czar at the same time: the commies killed the czar! Visit your local library more often, please.
And if you seek socialism, please go to Alaska, where money is taken from hardworking oil barons and given to lazy louts who had nothing to do with the oil business because the state has serious socialistic tendencies! Just ask Sarah.
Because our "feel sorry crowd" created legislation to appease the "native Alaskan's," hooking them to the government tit, thus creating lazy do nothings. Sounds like what the liberals have created in our inner cities...."tell them they're victims, they're owed everything and to take responsibility for nothing"....that has really worked well for our welfare class....idiot liberals!
He's a classic stealth candidate, a Right winger and C Street Boy pretending to be a moderate.
Anyone here read Max Blumenthal's book 'Republican Gomorrah'?
I bought it the weekend before last, but got distracted by Jo Nesbo's 'Nemesis' (Norwegian police procedural).
I heard the interview with Blumenthal on NPR and it sounds interesting, but being intellectually lazy I need to be inspired.
Interested in all opinions.
Pat Robertson's law school??!! (did that little bit of urp in my mouth thing...)
Max, again my eyes are opened. I am almost 60, have been a well read citizen of open mind and heart for 45 years and just feel naive and sad.
Lately, with Palin, Oathkeepers, the Family, that 'Christian' group in the military...this all really has been a long term plan to co-opt the government...
Damn, when the scales fall off there is no more not seeing.
Truly, the gift of journalism to a healthy country...
Regent is a fundamentalist madrassa. Its mission is to churn out Christofascist whackjobs that look and talk almost like people.
Christofascist ...good word!
Thank you.
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