The GOP's Little Father Coughlins
The GOP's Little Father Coughlins
By Joe Lapointe
Last week, after his sweep of three minor Republican nominating contests, right-wing radical Rick Santorum spoke the next day in a church. Behind him, were an altar and stained-glass windows. He looked live Reverend Lovejoy on the Simpsons.
On Friday, after President Obama offered a face-saving "tweak" on birth-control coverage for employees of Catholic institutions, right-wing propagandist Sean Hannity of Fox News escalated his religious demagoguery against the White House.
He opened his Friday night sermon in a Catholic church with statues and the crucifix behind him, the mouth of his smug mug spouting the usual holier-than-thou preaching that divides the world into saints and sinners.
Those of us who grew up Catholic (including those of us who served Latin Mass as altar boys) recognize the flavor of Catholicism pushed by opportunists like Santorum and Hannity.
It's from script of Father Charles Coughlin, the Michigan-based "radio priest" whose right-wing and anti-Semitic diatribes were finally silenced by the Church in the 1930s. Like Coughlin, Santorum and Hannity use religion to bully and intimidate others for political gain.
Another in this cult is William Donohue, president of the so-called "Catholic League for Religion and Civil Rights." Donohue is America's self-appointed lay pontiff who uses a pugnacious and sanctimonious tone to beat people over the head with The New Testament.
"Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular," Donohue said on MSNBC in 2004. "It's not a secret, OK? And I'm not afraid to say it."
Bully for you, you bully. Others aren't afraid to say other things. For instance: Santorum, Hannity and Donohue are the sort of American Catholics who drive other Catholics away from their church with mean-spirited, pig-headed dogma.
...more!...
From the uber-balled site of Michael Moore:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/gops-little-charles-coughlins