Christian Right

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Oh, isn't this special? The woman who was screaming "Heil Hitler" to a Jewish man at a Nevada Town hall apparently isn't camera shy, and says she's a good Christian woman. This was filmed just before her incredibly ugly outburst. Hey lady, who would Jesus shout down at a town hall meeting and mock after you deeply insulted them? Just wondering.



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Moonie Times editor: Obama 'threw Christianity under the bus'

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(H/t Heather)

Now here's a shocker: Tara Wall of the Washington Times -- owned and operated by the world's most powerful theocrat, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon -- thinks America is a "Christian nation."

Wall's appearance today on CNN's Reliable Sources was briefly countered by both Howard Kurtz and David Corn:

KURTZ: Tara, why are some pundits on your side of the spectrum saying that perhaps Obama doesn't believe in a Christian nation, when he was clearly just saying that America is a pluralistic society?

WALL: Well, you know, his idea to forge ahead on this idea of religious neutrality, he essentially threw Christianity under the bus the same way he did Reverend Wright. I mean...

KURTZ: Threw Christianity under the bus? Where is that...

WALL: Well, listen, the point is the history -- let's revisit our history here. This one dollar bill, all of our dollar bills say "In God We Trust." We are a country -- wait. We are...

KURTZ: It doesn't say, 'In Christianity We Trust.'

WALL: We are a country based on Judeo-Christian values. Our laws are inscribed based on Judeo-Christian values -- our Constitution.

CORN: You can go back and look at Thomas Jefferson.

WALL: And the point is, at the same time -- listen, because we are a Christian nation, we welcome all religions. We are a free country; we welcome individuality.

KURTZ: Let's let David in here.

WALL: These are things that he can certainly communicate in communicating his message of religious neutrality without essentially saying we are not a Christian nation. That's completely false.

KURTZ: David?

CORN: I know this is a media show, not a religious show, but this debate comes up again and again, whether we are or are not a Christian nation. It's not in the Constitution. You can go back and look at some of our founders, including Thomas Jefferson...

WALL: I have.

CORN: ... and he doesn't call us a Christian nation. In fact, his relationship to God is kind of on the iffy side, let alone his relationship, if he had one, with Jesus Christ. And so, you know, here you have these people on the right, Lars Larson, Sean Hannity, again and again focusing, oddly enough, on the Christian end of the remark. You know, they cut off his quote when he said we are not a Christian nation.

WALL: Because he says we are not a Christian nation. And that's false.

CORN: He says we're not a Jewish nation and we're not a Muslim nation.

KURTZ: Right.

WALL: But we are a nation...

CORN: We have no official religion in this nation.

WALL: We are a nation based on Judeo-Christian values, and there is nothing wrong with asserting that notion while, at the same time, embracing all religions as we do. And why people come here to flee religious persecution, because we are based on...

But what's perhaps most amusing about Wall's appearance was watching her head explode at the thought that none of these crazy right-wing memes making Obama out to be a radical trying to destroy America are sinking in with the American public -- voiced by Chrystia Freeland, of the Financial Times:

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And Banning Books Too?

BewareTheBook

Yes, according to the Republican that Sarah Palin beat to become mayor of Wasilla.

[Former mayor] John Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

This comes from a TIME article filed from Wasilla, where journalists are busy doing the vetting that McCain left to a secretive ultra-right group, the Council for National Policy.

The TIME article goes on to describe how Palin back-stabbed early supporters and put gag-orders on her department staff, telling them they couldn't speak to reporters without her permission. It also outlines how she's changed what is important to her in successive elections, always taking a position she believes will win her votes rather than taking a principled stand.

But have you noticed, as one of my C&L colleagues pointed out to me, how Palin uses that "not giving full support" phrase as the reason for attempting to have those who disagree with her fired? It's implicit in her defense on Troopergate and seems to have played a part in her firing of her original police chief in Wasilla too. He, on the other hand, alleged big-politics interests behind her move.

[Irl] Stambaugh, the police chief and a member of Palin's step-aerobics class, filed a lawsuit for wrongful termination, alleging that Palin terminated him in part at the behest of the National Rifle Association, because he had opposed a concealed-gun law that the NRA supported. He eventually lost the suit. The animosity spawned some talk of a recall attempt, but eventually Palin's opponents in the city council opted for a more conciliatory route.

So this is the true Sarah Palin. Not only a devoted and principled believer in ultra-right causes and authoritarian control but also a cynical and manipulative politician willing to use underhanded methods and authoritarian edicts to get her way. (Yes, I know - in other words, a Republican.)

As my C&L colleague also says: "This woman is quickly moving from unqualified to downright scary."


Hannity begs Dobson to reconsider supporting Giuliani

Much has been made of the extreme Christian right faction of the Republican party attacking Rudy's candidacy. In a very funny exchange, the GOP master propagandist Sean Hannity---had on James Dobson for about 20 minutes and pathetically begged him to support the top tier GOP candidates for President. Dobson refused emphatically and finally questioned Sean's commitment to true moral values.

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 Dobson: ...and I think by your supporting Giuliani and helping to get the nomination for him, you're about to see the contradiction of most of the things that you stand for.

Hannity: We're friends and we'll always be friends... 

James, James, James, you know Sean is a well paid puppet. Silly you. Dobson said that he can't trust Rudy and if he's elected President he would destroy the Fundie movement. (Well there is that.) He's only concerned with his power base so his priority in the '08 election is to still be able to fund-raise like mad and keep his fangs dug deep into the GOP.