A New Wave of Wacko Evangelicals Swept GOP Primaries—and Could Win Several Seats in Washington

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/new-wave-wacko-evangelicals-swept-gop-primaries-and-could-win-several-seats

A Southern Baptist Pastor claiming dangerous and crazy things like the notion that there is a homosexual plot to sodomize children, and that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to Muslims is so common that it barely registers as newsworthy these days. What should be catching the attention of even the most jaded news editors, however, is that a Southern Baptist Pastor who actually said exactly these aforementioned things has just won his GOP primary race, has just won his GOP primary race, for a seat in the U.S. Congress. Say hello to Tea Party Republican Jody Hice.

In the coming 2014 election, Hice will be the official Republican nominee to replace outgoing Georgia Congressman Paul Broun. Hice believes gay people have a secret plot to seduce and sodomize America’s sons, thinks same-sex marriage is akin to bestiality and incest, and compares abortion to the genocide waged by Hitler. Broun (R-GA) has endorsed Hice, which is unsurprising given it was Broun who once claimed, “Evolution and embryology and the big Bang theory are all likes straight from the pit of Hell.”

Pastor Hice has a long history of delivering hateful and homophobic laden sermons from the pulpit. He has struck out at those who oppose harmful “gay conversion therapy,” and by banning it “we are enslaving and entrapping potentially hundreds of thousands of individuals in a lifestyle that in reality they are not.”

If Pastor Hice were an anomaly, this would be the start and end of this story. Unfortunately for those who cherish America’s secular traditions, he’s not. Alarmingly, he is one face in a sea of evangelical Christian faces swept to primary electoral victories this year on the back of religious conservative activism, and by that I mean political activism drummed up by the success and growth of America’s mega-churches.

[Enthusiast]

1. Kicked and recommended! They are certainly Wacko.

[Arkansas Granny]

2. These are the people who, if elected, will help drag this country back to the Dark Ages.

They've already got the ball rolling, as shown by some recent SC decisions, and this just encourages them to push for more. They would like to establish a theocracy in this country, as long as it's their brand of religion at the center.

[Scootaloo]

5. Well, if they want to go back to the dark ages, we ought to help them out

Let's get medieval on these fuckers.

[LiberalArkie]

9. I hope we can get rid of some this year in Arkansas, like Cottonmouth

[Arkansas Granny]

14. Yes. The thought of Cotton and Hutchison gives me cold chills.

[Fuddnik]

3. Broun was a complete fucking idiotic asshole.

Hice makes him look like a humanitarian liberal.

[rustbeltvoice]

4. "Faster than a speeding bullet!...

"Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!"

Superman was a character that was defined by limit surpassing superlatives.
The Republican Party is proof that stupidity (and some other nasty stuff) is boundless.
If someone would make an example of some extreme stupid, or vicious, or mean marker that would not conceivably be exceeded, and then some Republican does, and it is then considered "in play".

O, also, to compare this to the "dark ages" is incorrect, they were not so "dark". Ask any mediævalist. It is when the conquering hordes come into wreak havoc and destroy civilisation, is the apt metaphor.

[Thor_MN]

6. "If Pastor Hice were an anomaly". One need look no further than Cruz...

It only takes one idiot to tie up Congress. Cruz is currently holding up nominations in a temper tantrum believing he can demand answers from the executive branch to questions entirely unrelated to the nominations.

When churches enter into to politics, they have broken church/state separation and should be open to taxation and what little power the government has left to regulate corporations.

[ReRe]

7. Like throwing a pot of spaaghetti at the wall....

... hoping that at least one or two noodles will stick. I just cannot believe that any of them will be elected. Isn't the American public sick of having religion crammed down their throats yet?

[DinahMoeHum]

8. The only way they win is by EVERYBODY ELSE NOT SHOWING UP

Please, folks, I don't care if the Democratic candidates are not the perfect choices for you, put a clothespin on your nose and get your ass to the polls this November.

A little reminder from our own William Rivers Pitt:
DECISIONS ARE MADE BY THOSE WHO SHOW UP

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023981991

[7962]

10. Thats why the gop has so much trouble winning nationally, they WONT do what you suggest. nt

[DinahMoeHum]

15. You sure about that? I see them at every election, national AND local.

And local and mid-term elections are every bit as important as the presidential year elections, folks. More so, maybe, because they often determine who the future national candidates will be.

Cartoon below by the late great Woody Guthrie:

[7962]

17. Well, I read a number of different articles from various right leaning places.

Friends on FB will post this and that, I'll go read them and then read the comments section. Time after time, I see "I wont vote for another RINO!!" Or something similar. Romney was a RINO to them and on top of that a Mormon. Some evangelicals wouldnt vote for him just because of him being a Mormon.
On the other hand, I see a good bit of criticism of Hillary here on DU. But almost all of the people doing it will tell you if she is the candidate, they will vote for her. Thats the advantage the Dems have right now. The GOP is too stupid to coalesce around 1 candidate. And they're too busy eating their own. A lot of them really think the reason they've lost is because they havent had a "true conservative" as a candidate. I would love to see them finally get one, because it would be fun to see how would they explain a double digit loss?

[DinahMoeHum]

18. Just as long as WE don't fall into that same "purity" trap.

I'll leave you with a paragraph by the late great Doris "Granny D" Haddock

http://www.alternet.org/story/15789/don%27t_stand_in_the_way_of_our_joy

(boldface emphasis is mine - DMH)

(snip)
There are many among us on the peace trail who will not support a candidate unless that candidate is perfect on every issue. Politics is about winning. For us, it is about winning to save lives and raise people up from poverty and illness and loneliness and injustice. Those posturing on the left sometimes forget that. Don't tell me that you can't support a particular candidate because of this or that. This isn't about you and your precious political standards. It is about saving nature and our people. We are coming out to win, so please don't stand in our way. When we have reasonable people in power, let us start our arguments again, for we can not move forward unless we have a decent government underneath us and a Bill of Rights to let us speak freely.
(snip)

[7962]

22. That pretty much says it all doesnt it? I'm gonna use that!

[freshwest]

23. +1,000!

[DFW]

11. Considering his district

There is little likelihood this oaf will lose his bid for Congress. Our only hope is that he becomes SUCH a big embarrassment in the House that he is shunned, ostracized, and eventually expelled by popular vote.

The scary part is that the many thousands of people who will send him to Washington, when shown his statements and asked if this is the kind of person they want representing them, will still answer "yes," even after he has shamed them and made fools of them with his insane statements.

[Arugula Latte]

19. Unfortunately, there seems to be no amount of lunacy that is "over the top" for these people.

[DFW]

20. Scary as that sounds

I have no choice but to agree completely

[allan01]

12. hem

it dosnt help when we are so foucused on 2016 and not the current election cycle including the mentality of i only vote the general election or i dont vote at all or i dont vote the primaries . no one wants to here that on here

[Bluenorthwest]

13. DU is very hypocritical about this. Some anti gay, anti choice religious figures who are politically

active in opposing LGBT and women's rights are openly celebrated here, frequently cited as examples our Party should follow. But when there is another anti gay, anti choice religious figure in politics, DU acts as if they never accept such things.
Double standards are never liberal.

[BrotherIvan]

24. +1

And who have far more influence than these whackos do.

[colsohlibgal]

16. What's Wrong With These Delusional People?

As in the crazed religious zealots running and the people actually voting for them. I've said it over and over, I no longer wonder how the Dark Ages came about.

This nation was formed to be secular based, not a theocracy - but these crazy people get it wrong, just like gun nuts totally misinterpret the 2nd Amendment.

.

[conservaphobe]

21. That's the sad thing about our political system.

We have to entertain every kook that gets enough kooks to vote for them.

In my eyes, these fools are illegitimate seat warmers of a dying breed.