First idiot? How about Rush Limbaugh? Evidently, the drug using idiot is hoping there will be massive riots in Denver at the Democratic convention.
Several callers called in to the radio show to denounce Limbaugh's comments, when he later stated, "I am not inspiring or inciting riots, I am dreaming of riots in Denver."I know he is an idiot, but imagine how much America would freak out if Reverend Wright had said these things? The right gets away with a lot in this country. (Crooks and Liars has a rough transcript of a caller who took Rushbo to task for calling for violence. He ends up calling her the racist and a "mush mind," and says his main goal is to put liberals out of business.)
Limbaugh said with massive riots in Denver, which he called "Operation Chaos," the people on the far left would look bad.
****
Speaking of Reverend Wright, he continues to be rehabilitated, while John McCain's less sane, less honorable version continues to make the right look hateful and stupid. Yeah, that's right, John Hagee reiterated that Katrina was God's poorly aimed way of stopping a homosexual parade. Of course, he didn't say "poorly aimed." But evidently God takes a shotgun approach to sin and to make sure he hit New Orleans, also took out the coastal regions of Mississippi and the rest of Louisiana. That is just how much God hates the gays, according to this braying idiot. Yet, it is Obama who has to answer for his spiritual advisor.
****
Ok, a little more idiocy (perhaps this post should be renamed). I have ranted on this for sometime, but the conservative insistence that we fun only abstinence education makes me angry. Since it doesn't work very well, it exposes those kids to more unwanted pregnancies and sexual diseases when they break their abstinence pledge. Turns out, some conservatives don't care and/or simply ignore evidence that they are funding bad policy:
"Republicans said even if some abstinence-only programs do not work, others do, and it would be wrong to end the funding.Sure. What is more important? The message or the outcome? And the message here is that we would rather kids catch an STD than tell them about ways to prevent it beyond abstinence?
Rep. John Duncan, a Tennessee Republican, said that it seems 'rather elitist' that people with academic degrees in health think they know better than parents what type of sex education is appropriate. 'I don't think it's something we should abandon,' he said of abstinence-only funding.
Charles Keckler of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the Bush administration believes abstinence education programs send the healthiest message."
******
Speaking of more idiocy, Sally Kern qualifies, I think, and also speaking of unintended consequences, Sarah points to a story where a company might not relocate to OKC because of such hateful statements. Well, that will show them, right Sally?
*****
John Ashcroft is a bit of a cipher. I remember his appointment as AG sending a shiver down my spine that Bush was clearly not interested in moderation. After he stepped down, I watched him babble about torture on the Daily Show and felt bad that he was once our AG. Then we learn that Ashcroft was mildly reasonable on wiretapping and the world makes a little less sense.
Well, the babbling torture defender is back. A very interesting story about Ashcroft visiting a very liberal and hostile campus (good for him) and how badly some of the students acted toward him (bad for them). But when a reasonable student (at least by her account) challenges Ashcroft on torture, he comes unhinged.
I have a lawyer friend who says that these people did not commit war crimes and that talking about war crimes is stupid. I am not sure I agree, but in any case, it appears to me that people like John Ashcroft are very nervous about that potential.
5 comments:
Yet, it is Obama who has to answer for his spiritual advisor.
There is a dichotomy here that needs to be stressed and John Nichols does a darn good job of it.
Hagee, whose views about a host of social issues give new meaning to the term "hateful," is not McCain's pastor. They have no personal or spiritual relationship. Rather, Hagee is a close political ally of McCain and an ardent supporter of the Arizona senator's presidential bid.
McCain sought Hagee's endorsement and continued to defend and embrace the pastor – saying he was "glad to have the minister's endorsement – even after Hagee said that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans because of the city's "sinful" acceptance of homosexuality.
"What happened in New Orleans looked like the curse of God…" Hagee explained after the city experienced a national disaster that cost at least 1,836 lives – making it the deadliest hurricane in American history – and permanently dislocated tens of thousands of Americans from not just their homes but the communities of their birth and upbringing.
"Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans" Hagee told NPR's Terry Gross in a 2006 interview. What was God judging? "New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God," said McCain's backer, who explained that "there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came."
While it is true that New Orleans has long been a more gay-friendly city than most in the south, it is notable that Katrina also devastated Mississippi and southern Alabama – areas that have not traditionally been thought of as go-to places for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities.
So, even if one were to accept Hagee's argument that God is using hurricanes to get his or her points across, the precise point is, shall we say, open to interpretation.
What is not open to interpretation is the fact that McCain has wed himself to Hagee politically. The senator is not linked to minister on spiritual grounds, he is linked to him on political and policy grounds.
Thus, as McCain today visits New Orleans – a city that has suffered greatly as a result of political neglect and policy malfeasance – it is reasonable to ask whether the senator who says he is "very honored" to have Hagee's support shares Hagee's view that thousands of people in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana died and lost their homes because God disapproves of gay-pride rallies.
Indeed, it is far more reasonable to demand that McCain talk about where he agrees and disagrees with Rev. Hagee on questions about the causes of natural disasters and the response of a Republican administration to them than it is to ask Obama about the Rev. Wright's statements.
Obama turned to Wright for spiritual sustenance.
McCain, far more significantly, turned to Hagee for political sustenance – and, if we are to presume that neither of these men are hypocrites, because of their ideological compatibility.
Sorry about the length and cutting and pasting, but John said it much better than I could have. I don't usually make much sense. :)
Moreover, McCain has in a way, strongly criticized Bush's mishandling of the Katrina disaster.
Limbaugh is not advocating riots in Denver at the Democratic Convention, he is predicting they might occur. And if there are riots at the Democratic Convention, they will be done by Democrats and other left-wingers, not by conservatives.
Tony, thanks for the link and pasted comments. You are right, that is a great articulation of the difference between Obama and McCain here.
Curtis, perhaps this might explain your approach to knowledge and facts--you sound like a dittohead. He said that there would be riots and said that it would be the best thing for America. He is a moron and a degenerate.
Tony, I think that both McCain and Obama have to answer in some way for their 'advisors'. On one hand, we aren't electing Wright or Hagee, but their association to those candidates is a legitimate are of questioning. I would like to know why they are interested in those pastors.
The Nichols Blog makes some interesting distinctions, but I still want to know.
Steve,
I do agree. It does seem odd that McCain would pick Hagee out of all the other pastors (and I use that term loosely applying it to Hagee).
The media is too ready to accept McCain seeking Hagee for 'spiritual counsel' (though McCain is not a member of Hagee's church and is a member of a Baptist church in AZ) whereas Obama, even though he has distanced himself from his former pastor's remarks, is chided. Like always, there is a disconnect there. You know, the one that says Republicans can do no wrong.
Post a Comment