When Would Jesus Bolt?

[wyldwolf]

Meet Randy Brinson, the advance guard of evangelicals leaving the GOP.

The Republicans were filibustering the Bible bill. On a Tuesday afternoon in early February, Republican legislators in Alabama took to the crimson-carpeted floor of the state house to oppose legislation that would authorize an elective course on the Bible in public high schools. The recommended curriculum for the course had been vouched for by Christian Right all-stars like Chuck Colson and Ted Haggard, but so far as Republicans were concerned, there was only one pertinent piece of information about the bill: It was sponsored by two Democrats. And now Republicans were prepared to do everything in their procedural power to stop it, even if that meant lining up to explain why they could not—could not!—stand for this attempt to bring a class about the Bible into public schools.

For 30 years, the Republican advantage among religious voters has come from being able to successfully control the definition of “religious,” conflating it with “conservative” and encouraging the media to do the same. Measured against that yardstick, most Democrats come up short. But when the standard is more complex, when being religious also means caring about the environment and poverty and human rights and education, the plane levels. Soon enough, Republicans start to miss the mark, and Democrats get a little closer.

And so Republicans revert to the only tactic they have left: fear. The fight down in Alabama has shown that they will do whatever they have to in order to prevent Democrats from claiming a piece of the religious mantle, even if it means taking what could be portrayed as the “anti-religion” stance themselves. On the same day that Alabama Republicans launched their filibuster of the Bible literacy bill, state GOP chairwoman Twinkle Cavanaugh published an op-ed that charged the Bible curriculum was written by “ultra-liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, the Council for Islamic Education, and the People for the American Way.” (It was not.) Randy Brinson chuckled as he reported this to me, saying, “This is smokin' them out. Now we see what they really care about. It's not religion; they care about power.”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0604.sullivan.html

[xchrom]

1. repukes hate anything that might smack

of liberalism.

hate.

it's one of those things that moderates seem to miss -- then again i don't think there are any moderates today.

[Semi_subversive]

2. What the Hell kind of name is Twinkle Cavanaugh?

[Warpy]

3. The problem with basing your agenda on a pack of lies

is that people eventually find out and brand you as a LIAR, which means they won't believe a word you say for the rest of your life. The fear mongering right wing ranters using religion as their battering ram are playing a very dangerous game, and it's just now starting to come back to them in the form of disillusioned voters, people losing their faith, an overall decline in church attendance (although showbiz based megachurches are still growing, albeit more slowly than 5 years ago), and a general, free floating disgust toward all things political.

This is going to translate into a lot of former and present Evangelicals staying away from the polls.

In the short term, that may be good news for the Democrats. However, unless they manage to reconnect with their own base, their own base will stay away just like the religious folks will.

This is a critical time for the party, and ousting conservatives from the center of party politics has never been more essential than it is now.

[NoPasaran]

4. Interesting article

Thanks for posting it!

The Alabama GOP chair is named "Twinkle"?!?! Yikes!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. what they really care about....

Randy Brinson had it right-all they care about is power.

[C_U_L8R]

6. I want to know when Jesus

is gonna start hurling some jehovah-sized
lighning bolts up some corrupt reichwinger butts.

If you think we're fed up with their shit....
lord knows what the lord knows