Republican Who Failed Ten Commandments Test Spiraling Fast

[Demeter]

Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_dean_pow_061023_republican_fails_ten.htm


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October 23, 2006

Republican Who Failed Ten Commandments Test Spiraling Fast

By Dean Powers

There is no person on God's green earth whose closet is filled with more scandalous skeletons than a phony. A phony puts on some John Wayne-like costume and expects his or her clothes to do the talking. At risk of exposure is a private life that doesn't live up to the implicit expectations of one's community. Early last summer, Rep. Westmoreland turned up for an interview with Stephen Colbert swaddled in his conservative, bible-thumping, evangelical, family-values pajamas.
Westmoreland, dubbed by Colbert as the "do-nothingest" congressman in the House, appeased his white, Christian, suburban constituents not long ago with a self-aggrandizing, self-martyring, self-righteous, self-full, prideful push for a bill that would require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in the House and Senate. In one of Colbert's "Get to Know a District" segments, Colbert asked Westmoreland to name the Ten Commandments. The congressman almost disintegrated into a cloud of dust. When he recovered, he barely ticked off three, and not in the order of importance that God assigned them. He admitted, "I can't name them all."

The segment was aired on June 14, but the hype surrounding Westmoreland's embarrassing exposure as a phony has been steamrolling all autumn into a major public relations disaster. The interview can be downloaded at You Tube, and it has been downloaded tens of thousands of times. A story about the incident appeared as one of the "most read" stories on the LA Times website this past Sunday.

Mark Foley sent a message to Middle Americans that even the most prominent tough-on-gays republicans have their own skeletons in the closet. With no party definitively masculine and heterosexual, all the men with closeted fantasies (look at the booming porn industry) and behavior are finally losing their need to combat that persisting feeling of sexual inadequacy by affiliating with a particular party.

Being a republican is, for all practical purposes, just a costume for men (and to a lesser extent women) ashamed of their own secret sexual fantasies and behavior. Those who try to argue it any other way still believe the rhetoric of a party whose record tells a different story. No need to display that G.O.P. yard sign or vote for those republicans when the gimmick is up, when the heterosexual-as-bricks party is exposed as a bunch of pimps of the most controversial sexual behavior in which one could engage. Foley, like all phonies, compensated for his secret life with a public life in which he viciously attacked the very people whose behavioral traits he shared. He chaired a committee to protect exploited children, and made several "Mission Accomplished"-style speeches on the subject.



Authors Bio: Dean Powers is a former intern at The Nation, whose views are not reflected in this piece.


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[lcordero2]

1. kind of fitting

John Wayne was a chickenhawk too.

[Wickerman]

2. Complete empty suit - Youtube link

I would be amazed to find this guy dresses himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHedaxBawBs

[TlalocW]

3. There was a mild stink about Colbert's interview with Westmoreland

By some other members of the "media," and Colbert actually broke character (like he did with the whole Wexler, "I like drugs/prostitutes because it's a fun thing to do" event) and sarcastically apologized to the media for not asking questions like they do then showed a raft of stupid questions about tanning, purses, a snake that ate a blanket, various talking heads feel are more important than calling politicians on their beliefs.

TlalocW

[lisby]

4. Steven Colbert is an impish force of nature

and anyone who tangles with him better watch the hell out. The man is brilliant and my hero.

:smoke:

Lisby
(Along with KO, of course.)

[TlalocW]

5. I think republicans are finally catching on to the fact

That they can't hang with Colbert. He's been unable to get two republican congresscritters for his, "Better Know a District," segment so he's had their challengers on. The first time, he went and described the district as usual, told us who represented it, then called the guy, "A pussy," because he wouldn't talk with Colbert then it was interview the challenger time.

I snorted milk out my nose when Colbert name called him so harshly.

TlalocW