The Devil Inside (Ralph Reed's fall down)

[donsu]

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060417/moser


Ralph Reed is going to own this room. Granted, it's only a standard-issue campus auditorium at Emory University, half filled at best for the annual Georgia College Republicans convention. But to the former boy wonder of evangelical politics, it looks like heavenly shelter on this drizzly February morning. The Christian Coalition co-founder's first campaign for public office--lieutenant governor of Georgia, a position Reed and his fans envision as a stepping stone to bigger things--has turned into a waking nightmare. Every week brings a new revelation about the millions in dirty money Reed earned by duping his fellow evangelicals into putting their political muscle behind "Casino Jack" Abramoff's gambling clients. Reed's huge leads in both popularity polls and fundraising have almost disappeared. Instead of making his triumphant debut as a politician, the man Time magazine called "The Right Hand of God" is fast becoming the new poster boy for Christian-right corruption.

-snip-

The Georgia CRs finally give Reed a polite hand for his creative stab at self-redemption. A few awkward minutes later, Reed is climbing the steps toward the exit, wearing an iron-willed smile while making an elaborate show of "gripping and grinning," even though only a few hands reach out to him. It's one more sign of his mounting desperation to project the air of a winner--a desperation that led to embarrassment in January, when Reed's campaign offered $20 and a free hotel stay to supporters who would attend the Georgia Christian Coalition's annual convention and cheer for the man who invented the coalition.

-snip-

But the fallout from Reed's "anti-gambling" efforts has already flattened the once mighty Texas Christian Coalition. The equally powerful Christian Coalition of Alabama, which helped Reed fend off video poker and state lottery bills in 1999 and 2000--spending some $850,000 that has now been traced back to the casino-owning Mississippi Band of Choctaws--has also fallen into a tailspin, with its most popular political champion, former "Ten Commandments Judge" Roy Moore, trailing by almost thirty percentage points in the GOP primary race for governor.
--------------------------------------------

cheering the fall down of Reed and Judge Moore

may they never get up again

[Warpy]

1. Colossal egos like that never quit

and I fully expect to see the Calvinists form their own god party with men like Reed, Moore, Terry, Falwell and Robertson at the head.

The Cavinists see their dream of a fascist theocracy tantalizingly close, and they're chafing at the slow progress imposed by trying to please the rich men in control of the GOP.

I really think they will split off. The only question is when.

[annabanana]

4. Oh Dear God, I Pray that they DO!

Let them and their ilk stand naked before the American People.

[saltpoint]

2. I'd prefer a unanimous rejection of Reed's candidacy by Georgia voters

but of course a lot of red red Republicans are out there waiting to bring God's darlings into governmental influence.

Still. I'm for the Democrat in that race and I'd like to see lil' Ralph soundly whomped at the polls.

[0007]

3. ....and may they drag John Cornyn with 'em!

[TomInTib]

5. Amen on that, Brother.

I thought I was quit of that fool when I moved to California.

Now I see his face on my teevee set pretty much every day.

[alfredo]

6. Maybe we should anonymously post to right wing forums

that the CR should form their own party because neither party is willing to follow their agenda completely.
If they come back and say that they would lose the clout of the Republican party you come back with things like "Bush and the Republicans have been in control for all these years and abortion is still legal" or "they have not pushed for an amendment to outlaw gay marriage." "We have to start somewhere, and by hitching our wagon to the Republican party has done us no good, wasting precious time and money."

Let's put a bug in their ear. How about making a site calling for the formation of the "Kingdom of God Party" for "right thinking" Christians.

[tanyev]

7. Oh, I just love reading articles like this.

Thanks for posting!

[eppur_se_muova]

8. Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy. nt

[JitterbugPerfume]

9. could not happen

to a more deserving person

[CottonBear]

10. I can hardly wait to cast a vote for Reed's Democratic opponent.

I detest Reed. He's a smug, smarmy, hypocritcal asshat. I am ashamed that he attended my beloved UGA. :grr:
Did you know that he was kicked off of the UGA student paper for palgiarism? :evilgrin:
Did you know he lives in Duluth, GA, the same town that is the home of the runaway bride and Ashely Smith, the woman who was held hostage by courthouse shooter? :(
Did you know that I put anti-Reed flyers (detailing his gambling lobbying and hypocrisy) on cars that have both Bush stickers and those fish? ;)