Apocalyptic Times for the GOP Faithful (Joe Conason)

[laststeamtrain]

Apocalyptic Times for the GOP Faithful
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070524_apocalyptic_times_for_the_gop_faithful/
Posted on May 24, 2007

By Joe Conason

For more than three decades, the Rev. Jerry Falwell guided the white evangelical masses of the South into the Republican Party, culminating in the most outwardly pious presidency in modern American history. Having first gained notoriety as a hard-line segregationist in rural Virginia, he won power as the televised prophet of a partisan gospel. Scarcely had he gone to his ultimate reward, however, before his friends and allies threatened to dismantle that legacy—and the dominance of the party to which he had devoted his ministry.

The late preacher can hardly be blamed for the ruinous condition of the Bush administration and the Republican Party. But with the tandem rise of Rudolph Giuliani, a pro-choice Catholic, and Mitt Romney, a highly flexible Mormon, Falwell’s old flock is feeling deeply alienated. Within days after his death, the leaders of the movement he symbolized began to proclaim a message of dissension.

The most significant voice raised against the notion of a Giuliani nomination belongs to James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family, which is now widely reckoned to be the largest religious-right organization. On May 17, Dobson declared he could not support the candidacy of the former New York mayor under any circumstances.

<snip>

Still, the Republican apocalypse is not here yet and may not arrive next year. Despite Giuliani’s momentary popularity, the party’s primary voters could find many reasons to reject him—including such colorful episodes as his humiliating flight from Gracie Mansion to the luxury apartment of gay friends who sheltered him from his wronged wife. His personal behavior and associations, notably with the corrupt former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, may be as unacceptable as his issue positions on guns, gays and abortion.

For Dobson, a ticket led by Mitt Romney might seem like salvation—but other evangelicals are repelled by the former Massachusetts governor’s membership in the Mormon Church, which they have been taught to regard as a satanic cult. Besides, Romney is a recent convert to the tenets of the religious right—and a zealot whose over-eagerness to please is anything but pleasing. His nomination too could provoke a split from the right.

<more>

http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/20070524_apocalyptic_times_for_the_gop_faithful/

[marmar]

1. Joe Conason: Apocalyptic Times for the GOP Faithful (Truthdig)

Apocalyptic Times for the GOP Faithful

Posted on May 24, 2007
By Joe Conason

For more than three decades, the Rev. Jerry Falwell guided the white evangelical masses of the South into the Republican Party, culminating in the most outwardly pious presidency in modern American history. Having first gained notoriety as a hard-line segregationist in rural Virginia, he won power as the televised prophet of a partisan gospel. Scarcely had he gone to his ultimate reward, however, before his friends and allies threatened to dismantle that legacy—and the dominance of the party to which he had devoted his ministry.

The late preacher can hardly be blamed for the ruinous condition of the Bush administration and the Republican Party. But with the tandem rise of Rudolph Giuliani, a pro-choice Catholic, and Mitt Romney, a highly flexible Mormon, Falwell’s old flock is feeling deeply alienated. Within days after his death, the leaders of the movement he symbolized began to proclaim a message of dissension.

The most significant voice raised against the notion of a Giuliani nomination belongs to James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family, which is now widely reckoned to be the largest religious-right organization. On May 17, Dobson declared he could not support the candidacy of the former New York mayor under any circumstances.

"Speaking as a private citizen and not on behalf of any organization or party, I cannot, and will not, vote for Rudy Giuliani in 2008,” he wrote in an essay on WorldNetDaily, a right-wing website. “It is an irrevocable decision.” Even if forced to choose between Giuliani and Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama, he said, he would “either cast my ballot for an also-ran—or if worse comes to worst—not vote in a presidential election for the first time in my adult life.”

Richard Viguerie, the aging but still influential right-wing direct-mail impresario, shares Dobson’s disgust at the prospect of a Giuliani ticket but goes even further in his anathema. Having always preferred to identify himself as a “movement conservative” rather than a party-line Republican, Viguerie is on the verge of urging his right-wing comrades to abandon the Grand Old Party. “If the Republican Party nominates Rudy Giuliani as its candidate for either president or vice president, I will personally work to defeat the GOP ticket in 2008.” .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070524_apocalyptic_times_for_the_gop_faithful/

[Demeter]

2. Well, Alienation Is a Sign of Mental Illness

The question is: who is the crazy one?

When the Democratic majority feels alienated from its nominal "leadership", then I must conclude that it is the Nominal Leadership that is crazy; and we the Majority must remove these crazies from power if we cannot convince them to do our bidding. The solution is that we DO have identified people who don't drive us crazy in the party to take their places. The trick is to remove the recalcitrant.

I guess the same holds true for the Right-Wing Fundies. If their Nominal Leadership is fucking children, young men, or people not their lawfully wedded spouses, then they should remove them. The Fundies have been doing a lot of removing lately, but there always seems to be a new case of outrage. Maybe the Fundies are crazy to think people can fit into those straight and narrow coffins? Or maybe the party of sinners is crazy to look for non-sinners in their ranks?

Something's gotta give, and soon. Maybe the GOP will give first and hang Bush and Co out to dry. I'm not willing to wait for that, but perhaps the majority is. But one of us is crazy.

[Rydz777]

3. Well, things aren't all that great on the Democratic side either when

we have to yell and scream at the Congressional leadership while they prepare to give The Decider, that Commander Guy, a blank check.

[Prophet 451]

4. So, about Rudy

Since he's both Catholic and pro-choice, is he going to get threatened with being turned away from the communion rail or even excommunicated like Kerry was? Or does their opinion on abortion only matter when they're Democrats?