The Church of Bush: the Village Voice

[MaryH]

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0429/perlstein.php

Here are some things that Christopher Nunneley, a conservative activist in Birmingham, Alabama, believes. That some time in June, apparently unnoticed by the world media, George Bush negotiated an end to the civil war in Sudan. That Bill Clinton is "lazy" and Teresa Heinz Kerry is an "African colonialist." That "we don't do torture," and that the School of the Americas manuals showing we do were "just ancient U.S. disinformation designed to make the Soviets think that we didn't know how to do real interrogations."

Chris Nunneley also believes something crazy: that George W. Bush is a nice guy.....

"He's very compassionate," says Chris, an intelligent man who's openminded enough to make listening to liberals a sort of hobby. "f you look at the way he's bucked the far right: I mean, $15 billion for AIDS in Africa!" He speaks at the church services of blacks, and "you don't fake that. That's not just a photo op."

Of course, two years after Bush made his pledge, only 2 percent of the AIDS money has been ditributed (in any event, it will mainly go to drug companies). And ppearing earnest in the presence of African Americans has been a documents Bush strategy for wooing moderate voters since the beginning....

This article is really an eye opener.

[cap]

1. we need to hit the character issue

when Bush is not honest and his personal morality is stained, he will lose support from these people.

[izzie]

I wonder. some of these church people are odd.

Shall we talk about Jones and how they did as he said. People into this far right religion do not use reason but faith. It can make them believe anything.

[Name removed]

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[MaryH]

4. I don't think so

I think the Bush these people belive in simply doesn't exist except in their minds. They just deny anything that doesn't fit their concept.

Evangelical Christians kind of do that, too. They have a template and they just force everything into it. If something doesn't fit they kind of "intellectualize" it away. Its very wierd to hear these intellectual sounding arguments that are based on pure nonsense.

[Warpy]

5. yes and no

Psychopaths' stock in trade is their charm. They are wonderful people to be around until you get just a little too close. It's going to be a very tall order to convince people he's completely charmed that what he does is so completely at odds with what he says he is. After all, they've met him, they just "know" anyone that sweet and charming couldn't possibly be a hardass who kills people so corporations can profit.

There are stlll people out west who knew Ted Bundy who swear he was a great guy and couldn't possibly have been the one who killed all those young girls.

[MaryH]

6. Speaking of that

Here in Kansas City we had a pharmacist who diluted cancer drugs - for years. No telling how many people he hurt. And he made a lot of money doing that. Lived in one of the swankiest neighborhoods North of the River.

He belonged to one of the biggest Evangelical Churchs in town. Gave them $1,000,000 toward their new church.

And a friend of mine who is Evangelical knew him and was telling me he was just the nicest guy.

[Fovea]

7. And big Bob Berdella was a charming, albeit odd guy.

and you definitely did not want to come by for dinner.

[MaryH]

8. Only if you were young and gay

Wasn't he something? And so hideous looking. Why would any young man want to get involved with a guy who looked like he did.

His house was torn down so now there is just an empty lot there.

[Fovea]

10. His victims were primarily working the street.

And money can be a powerful incentive.
Yeah, I really was happy that they tore his house down. At one point I only lived 3 blocks from it.

[DemBones DemBones]

9. If you're given evidence that someone

you think is "nice" is actually guilty of terrible things, you can either revise your opinion of that person or you can deny the evidence and "go with your gut feeling." Bush* is very big on "going with his gut" and perhaps many of his supporters are, too.

If you knew and liked Ted Bundy, then to admit that Ted Bundy was a serial killer, you have to acknowledge the existence of evil and the reality that we are all capable of doing terrible things, no matter how nice and normal we may seem. Most of us turn away from evil and don't do terrible things, fortunately, but a lot of people don't want to acknowledge their shadow side exists at all. I think acknowledging the shadow side of someone they know is impossible for some people because they don't want to acknowledge their own shadow side, lest it take over their lives.

In this Voice article, Chris Nunnelly is a true believer in a certain brand of conservative worldview: Bill Clinton, who was documented as working long hours as President, is "lazy" and George W. Bush, who executed scores of people in Texas, has presided over thousands of deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq, and hasn't made good on his promises to help Africans with AIDS, is "compassionate" because he says what Chris wants to hear. It will take something life-shattering to change his mind because he's clearly not open to any information that goes against what he already "knows."