Frank Schaeffer: Republicans Want Theocracy Lite
Frank Schaeffer is the go-to guy for the scoop on what the Religious Right is up to. Wednesday he appeared with Thomas Roberts to discuss Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, and the sudden preoccupation Republicans have with religion and wedge issues like abortion and contraception.
Schaeffer had three really important observations. First, he points out that this is something that's been brewing for a long time, that there's absolutely nothing unexpected about it. His father and cohorts set up the strategy and laid the groundwork. He specifically mentions Robert George of Princeton University who is founder and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions is largely funded with donations from the Bradley, Olin and Scaife foundations, all of whom are known for donating very large sums of money to right-wing causes. As Max Blumenthal notes in his excellent article for The Nation, Robert George is a culture warrior, virulently anti-gay, and the point man for the "50-year project," Schaeffer also mentions Richard John Neuhaus, the Lutheran minister turned Catholic priest who advised the Bush administration.
Moment of snark: Surely this wasn't what Rick Santorum was thinking of when he criticized President Obama for encouraging kids to get a college education, was it? This wouldn't be snobbery at all, right?
