Here’s a classic on the turmoil in the Middle East. It’s from John Doolittle, the Deputy Majority Whip and Secretary of the House Republican Conference:
"As for Armageddon, I just note with interest that’s what the Bible says. That it’s on the Plains of Megiddo. Right there in Israel. And it makes you wonder where this conflict’s all going to ultimately lead. And I happen to believe it will ultimately lead to what the Bible says."
And so we have a Republican leader agreeing with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the looming End-Times. And both are looking forward to it. The YouTube clip has his comments at 4:58. The Sacramento Bee comments here.
If you’ve ever despaired at a blizzard of inane, contradictory sound-bites that passes for political debate on cable news, then this classic Monty Python sketch is for you. It’s two and a half minutes in the argument clinic. As fresh as the day it was first broadcast:
Your recent discussions regarding the unholy marriage of religious fundamentalism with certainty have been great – but I’m surprised you haven’t broadened the discussion to include recent events in political fundamentalism as well that have no religious overtones.
One great example is the Duke lacrosse case. These kids were railroaded by an opportunistic DA – not so surprising, but what amazes and dismays is the way the entire left-wing community clung to the case as a an affirmation of their most cherished prejudices. Any pretense of skepticism and doubt were cast aside for the security of righteous rage and certainty.
It seems that the fundamentalist psyche isn’t just limited to religion – but to secular ideologies as well, even in our epicenters of free thinking. And it’s just as cruel, unapologetic, and dangerous.
The fundamentalist mindset – ideologically fixed, impervious to empiricism, a stranger to doubt – can infect any politics and any religion. I opposed it when it was on the left; and I see no contradiction in opposing it now it is on the right.
I’m a reader of your blog, a sometimes reader of The New Republic, occasionally catch you on talk shows, and will likely buy your book. I just want to thank you for being honest, open, and not afraid to be publically against the current. When the war in Iraq first began I really struggled to deal with who I was (liberal, Democrat, "a peacenik" as my Republican father might have said) and how I felt about what was happening, which was at odds with the opinions of others in my demographic. I discovered that I did believe there were things worth fighting for, that I did believe it was appropriate to go in and help people who were oppressed by their leaders, and that I believed that we not only had the right to help those who were oppressed by tyrants but that we had the moral obligation to do so, even when we weren’t asked and when it didn’t involve a direct threat to our national security.
It was a lonely place to be. Reading you made me feel saner, smarter, and less alone. Of course, I now feel sad, betrayed, and hopeless about what’s happened. But I thank you for making public these current thoughts and feelings as well as the original ones. I’m not a Conservative, not an Independent, not male, not a Catholic, not gay, and am certainly not a Blogger, but perhaps I’m a kindred spirit. Thanks for doing what you do. It helps me and I believe it helps in a larger way as well.
We are all fallible. The issue is whether we admit it; and what we do about it.
David Kuo’s comparison of White House power to Sauron’s Ring of Power is something that has been on my mind recently too. Neither he nor I are alone in making that comparison – a couple of weeks ago I saw a bumper sticker on the streets of Portland, Oregon which said "Frodo Has Failed, Bush Has the Ring."
The NYT has an appreciative review of the Pet Shop Boys’ American tour today. I went Sunday night with my other half in DC. I’m a fan, which is to say, I’m not a very good critic of the work of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe. From the sound of the crowd, there were a lot of fans in the audience, and the PSBs seemed genuinely taken aback by the fervor. In DC? The diversity of the audience was as striking as its passion: not many rock concerts can claim a plurality of middle-aged gay men, a vast throng of hip twenty and thirtysomething straights, elderly couples, young families with children, and the odd Republican-looking matron, swaying gleefully to and fro, with pearls bobbing up and down.
The PSBs are unpretentious and they gave us what we came for: the classics ("West End Girls", "Suburbia," "Always on My Mind") and new variations on new songs ("Home and Dry", "Minimal"). I wept during "Dreaming of the Queen," played over a simple video of the funeral procession for Diana. It resonated with many of us gay men in our forties:
"There are no more lovers left alive. No one has survived. So there are no more lovers left alive And that’s why love has died. Yes, it’s true. Look, it’s happened to me and you."
Suddenly, all those faces returned to me: the men I once knew who couldn’t be there. Then there was the political anthem, "Integral," which speaks to the ineluctable logic of the national security state, permanently at war, with civil liberties suspended, and guilt always assumed before innocence:
"If you’ve done nothing wrong You’ve got nothing to fear. If you’ve something to hide You shouldn’t even be here. You’ve had your chance, Now we’ve got the mandate. If you’ve changed your mind I’m afraid it’s too late."
Here’s their latest video, a typically Russian-themed visual epic to the tune of their latest release, "Numb."
I read your post quoting Steve Rose‚Äôs editorial from The Johnson County Sun, which you refer to as ‘a small paper in Kansas.’ Technically, your description may be true (I don‚Äôt know The Sun‚Äôs circulation, but it‚Äôs published once a week in an area where The Kansas City Star is the dominant daily), but that paper isn‚Äôt at all typical of the state. Johnson County is an affluent county that is part of the Kansas City metro, and Rose has long been a sophisticated player in local publishing and politics. JoCo‚Äôs demographics and attitudes are far different from rural and western Kansas. They have a Democratic congressman (Dennis Moore) and popular District Attorney who has actually switched parties to take a run at the state‚Äôs luddite arch-conservative Attorney General. The big news would come if a paper in Hays or Hoxie ran a similar piece. Don‚Äôt hold your breath.
"The old motto should still hold for religious righties: annoy the libertine media. Show the impact of "values voters" again on issues like abortion and "gay marriage," that their sexually omnivorous agenda is a political minus," – Tim Graham, NRO.
"Sexually omniverous"? Liberals want to screw celery? Or just, as Oscar Wilde had it, a very ripe cantaloupe?
The Dish 