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Subscribe to RSSNewsweek writes in its “Looking for Mr. or Mrs. Right” piece: “Surveying the crop of would-be Republican presidential contenders in 2012, some Christian leaders can’t muster much enthusiasm.” GOP 12 picks up on Richard Land telling Newsweek about Romney: “He put ‘Obamacare Light’ in place in Massachusetts. It’s going to be awfully difficult for him to surmount that.” And the hits kept on coming: On Palin: "Her problem is her very high negatives. Evangelicals want somebody they like, but they also want somebody who can beat Barack Obama.” On Gingrich: “Two ex-wives is one ex-wife too many for most evangelicals.” On Huckabee: "The problem Mike’s got is that he and Sarah Palin are appealing to the same base, and Sarah has stronger appeal to that base.”
BLOOMBERG: The New York Post's cover on Bloomberg's speech yesterday: "State of the Union."
GINGRICH: He said he’s in favor of the tax deal, separating him from the likes of Sarah Palin and Jim DeMint who are against it.
HUCKABEE: Huckabee was in The Villages in Florida selling his book.
PALIN: Drawing her with a Pinocchio nose, the Alaska Dispatch fact-checks several of Sarah Palin’s claims about her gubernatorial record that she makes on her Facebook page, finding many of them misleading or inaccurate.
Palin, by the way, came out against the tax cuts deal. “Obviously Obama is so very, very wrong on the economy & spins GOP tax cut goals; so fiscal conservatives: we expect you to fight for us & America’s solvency,” Palin wrote in a series of tweets, per The Hill. She cast her lot with Jim DeMint, who’s opposed to it because of the estate tax, and said he would vote against it.
Time magazine on Palin: What does she want?
PENCE: In voicing his support for a presidential bid by Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, Washington Post columnist George Will compares him to Sen-elect Pat Toomey and Sen. Jim DeMint, two Republicans who “stuck to their conviction that America had quite enough unfunded entitlements” and voted against President George W. Bush’s Medicare prescription drug benefit in 2003.
ROMNEY: “Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has tentative trips planned early next year to the Middle East and to Europe. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is trying to schedule visits to Israel and to the United Kingdom, primarily to visit former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who is one of her political idols. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will make his 15th voyage to Israel in January.
“Most of the likely contenders for the Republican presidential nomination are planning later entries than are typical in the off year, giving them some extra time to burnish their foreign credentials,” Real Clear Politics writes. “The overseas trips are attempts to bone up on their knowledge of American interests abroad and project a strong grasp on foreign affairs as they gear up to launch potential campaigns.”
NEW HAMPSHIRE: “Inside the state GOP, there's a melodrama developing over who wants to take over for outgoing Chairman John H. Sununu, who has the credentials and, who may have -- or not have -- Sununu's blessing,” the Manchester Union-Leader says. He said Cheshire County GOP chair Juliana Bergeron meets the “criteria” he laid out this week but stopped short of endorsing her. “Veteran GOP operative and former congressional staffer David Tille has become active on behalf of conservative author and potential presidential hopeful Herman Cain,” the Union-Leader adds.
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Who gives a rat's ass what Evangelicals want?
They live in thier own closed little world, and would like the rest of us to live there with them.
Sroom.
Worse. They are actively trying to bring about the "END TIMES". Rapture.
There's some truth in that, Paul, going back to Secretary of Interior James Watt who didn't see the point in being good stewards of the land because the rapture would come soon anyway.
Take a look at why the Religious Right is SOOOOO concerned about Isreal, but American Jews nearly all don't warm to them. They really aren't concerned about the real interests of Isreal or the Jewish people worldwide. Their main goal is to be on the "side of God" at Armageddon.
Think this isn't a big deal for 2012? Think about it for a bit--the Religious Right is nearly a sub-party independent of the GOP. They have their own leaders, both public and behind the scenes. They have their own organizational structure, coordinating message among otherwise independent congregations. They have their own communications structure, from the pulpit to radio and TV networks specific to the Evangelical world. They even have their own dog whistle terms with which the rest of society is mostly unaware. That was the point of the McCain campaign ad referring to Barack Obama as "The One" http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1830590,00.html as well as ongoing references in Conservative media painting Liberals as followeres of "The Messiah"--the FALSE Messiah or Antichrist.
There's no point in trying to reason with this group, they KNOW they're right because God is on their side. There is no limit to their audacity. Just this week Bob VanderPlaats, leader of a religiously-sponsored Conservative group in Iowa asked the ENTIRE STATE SUPREME COURT to turn in their resignations so they can be replaced with Justices more to his liking.
Don't underestimate these groups. Don't think you can reason with them. They aren't like other political groups.
John B- you said much in your first paragraph that most people are unaware of. I used to work for a radio station that went 'chrisitan' many years ago (think south of Norwalk, on hwy 28), and would sit and listen to them all feed off eachother and keep eachother stired up, and lwouild isten to the 'code' they spoke in to eachother.
Dangerous people, these evangelicals.
Thanks for the back up, dbo. Small world, eh? I'm a Southsider, which some day soon will basically merge with Norwalk.
And for some reason they all have that same blank staring gaze in their eyes. The dear in the head light's look.
The look that gives me the heeby-jeebies is the all-knowing, condescending smile. Think Pat Robertson. Or Mike Huckabee.
And the ladies in their flat-bottomed shoes with the grey hair tied up in a 'bun'.
Didn't acid rain cause James Watt to go bald?
Conservative in my lifestyle yet very much a liberal in my politics. I can't see anyone except Romney that I may vote for on the Republican side. And if running against Obama I would vote for my president again. Many things irritate me about his policies but the Republicans anger me more because of their total lack of social justice. Christianity is a smoke screen for them. They no longer practice it. The almightly dollar is their God now.
One problem the "Christian evangelical" groups have is that they don't, can't or won't publish a list of what "tenets" from the New Testament are indispensable to them. None of the above-mentioned people feel an imperative to care for the poor or feed the hungry. They cannot point to specific places in the New Testament that talk about current moral issues (homosexuality, for example). They may think single parenting is bad, but what do all widows and widowers with children do but "single-parent?" What does Mike Pence's religious belief system "require" him to do? Mitt Romney? Mike Huckabee?
Can't think of his name, but there's a black theologian who makes a very compelling case that there have always been "two churches". The religion of the rich and powerful and the church of helping those who need it most. He says they are always in conflict, and periodically one or the other becomes more powerful in society. Guess which one it is at present.
"Mommy why are they building a cross on top of the White-house?"
"Because, dear, we all need a road sign when it's time for the rapture. Now run along and play with (xtian, white, rich) Johnny next door."
LOL HamletRules!
You hit the nail on the head! (Oh, bad pun ;) Let's hope they put a lightning rod up there as well, because if their demi-urge sees it, he/she might just want to strike it down...
Hopefully they just are not susceptible to being manipulated and used again!!
The majority, including the total middle-class, really need to understand that their interests are significantly different than those of the very wealthy, in fact those interests are often in direct conflict. Then, with the subterfuge and the deceptive use of massaged details put aside, they need to see that the current Republican Party, Tea Party or otherwise, has come to be ‘puppets’ for Special Interests and the influential, powerful and extremely wealthy few who strongly support them and who ‘pull their strings’, who they literally cater to while together they make every effort to manipulate and use public opinion as they provide the majority only apathy, the costs and an abundance of subterfuge. Bush-Cheney literally proved beyond any doubt that the ‘trickle down’ theory is an absolute fraud and the Republican Party continually demonstrates that they are stubbornly focused on their political ambitions at any cost, with the overt and covert backing of their powerful supporters who they benefit, and on irresponsibly using deceptive appeals to biases, prejudices, emotions and fears to con and manipulate the majority, arrogantly just taking them for granted. The results and direction of their efforts constantly make that crystal clear. The Democrats need to improve, to be stronger, more organized, more focused and more efficient but for the majority to totally fault them and then accept the deceptive and self-serving efforts of today’s Republicans is to be gullibly self-defeating and naively just ‘pawns’ used to benefit the few.
Exactly on target, RGiles. It also helps explain why the Conservative Movement so often seem schizophrenic. The wealthy who fund the whole thing and buy the candidates through massive promotion and campaign donations have multiple messages that are targeted to individual sub-groups in order to knit enough people together to win.
Anyone who wants to read just how Whacko many of these groups of so-called Christians are should read the following books:
The Great Derangement: a terrifying true stories of war, politics and religion by Matt Taibbi
Skipping Towards Armageddon: the politics and propaganda of the Left Behind novels and the Lahaye empire by Michael Standaert
The Family: the secret fundamentalism at the heart of American power by Jeff Sharlet
It would be like electing President Cotton Mather and Vice President Torquemada!
You Gotta love Librarians, Torquemada, Torquemada!
Cheney in a previous life.
It's not Jesus I take issue with (aside from the divinity part, which he never actually referred to), it's his followers who terrify me.
Nailed it, Religion turns people into Atheist. Long live Cosmology!
A book for you, "The Grand Design", by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow.
Thanks, Hamlet--
I've read it. It is awesome. Highly recommend. Add that to the list...
Right. I'm Christian myself, decidedly so. That doesn't mean I'm part of the "Christian Right." I doubt they even make up the largest part of Christianity...just the loudest and best organized.
It is one thing to believe in the teachings of Christ but to worship a religion is not sacramental. In fact the worship of a figure is against commandment.
Religious fanatics don't need suicide bombers to destroy a country. The Evangelical Right did it slowly when they threw their weight behind Ronnie Raygun and began the destruction of America. Religion and Politics are corrosive and destructive when mixed. They should all stay home.
Want to know what the US might look like if Jim Demint became president. Check out his home State of South Carolina and see: http://jimdemints-southcarolina.blogspot.com