Category: The Dish

"I have no anger towards my former colleagues or towards anyone else. Part of what made this so difficult to write is the amount of respect I have for my former colleagues. I like and respect them.

It was also a real challenge to try and tell the entire story, my own intimate story about what happens when you struggle with God and politics – and politics wins. I think one of the things that drove me was feeling the urgent need to tell people, particularly Christians, I suppose, that politicians look at any constituency with very cold eyes. They form constituencies to form a governing coalition. That isn’t a bad thing; that’s just what they do. And I think Christians have come to this notion that this White House is somehow their fellow parishioners with them, and that is simply not the case. I am shocked, frankly, by the White House response that it [the faith-based agenda] hasn’t been political. That is the other side of absurd, and fundamentally misleading …

In some ways White House power is like [J.R.R.] Tolkien’s ring of power. When you put it on, it feels good and it’s dazzling. But after a while it begins to consume you in ways you don’t realize. That’s the nature of White House power. I have no doubt that Christian political leaders have gotten involved for all the right reasons. I just think over time it becomes harder and harder to stand up against that ring of power and the White House, to say no and walk away," – David Kuo, saying from the inside what I’ve been tring to express from the outside about the Faustian bargain some Christians have made with partisan power politics.

Whenever you hear Christianist speakers on television citing statistics on the alleged depravity of homosexuals, they are almost always relying on the "research" of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, a front group for psychiatric theories about the "mental illness" of gays that was debunked three deacdes ago by mainstream psychiatry. But the pathological hatred behind this group has largely been kept under wraps. (My book, "Love Undetectable" devotes a chapter to the serious scholarly claims of the ex-gay movement, if you’re interested in more background). But now some of that bigotry has been exposed – by blogs, of course:

At issue are comments by Canadian psychiatrist Joseph Berger and New York psychotherapist Gerald Schoenewolf.

In a blog on NARTH’s website, Berger expressed disgust with a Northern California school that accommodated a cross-dressing kindergartner and other children with "gender-variant" behaviors. Berger said that instead of teaching tolerance, schools should "let the other children ridicule" boys and girls who don’t conform.

"It is a mistake for various interfering, ignorant and biased busybodies to try to ‘counsel’ the other children into accepting the abnormal," Berger wrote. "It is very healthy to be able to draw the line between what is healthy and what is sick."

Schoenewolf’s essay on political correctness not only seemed to justify slavery, it also denounced the gay-rights movement as "mob rule." Using explicit language, Schoenewolf asserted that "the entire planet has now been forced to agree that [homosexuality] is normal."

It’s odd for a governor to blast his own state. But it’s a sure sign that Mitt Romney is the Christianist candidate for the GOP, Mormon though he is. And the inevitable backlash may well help defeat the anti-marriage amendment in Massachusetts.

The feds are trying to influence Colorado’s marijuana initiative as well.

A conservative Kansas newspaper, The Johnson County Sun, prepares its readers for impending endorsements of Democrats. The paper has long been reliably Republican, as has its chairman. But no longer. Money quote:

If I was a closet Democrat, I must have hidden it well, especially from myself, since I always beat up on Democrats in my columns. I have called them leftists, socialists, and every other name in the book, because I thought they were flat-out wrong.

And, for the most part, I still do. I am opposed to big government. I have little use for unions. I never liked the welfare plans. I am opposed to weak-kneed defense policies. I have always been for fiscal prudence. I think back to the policies of most Democrats, and I cringe.

So, what in the world has happened?

The Republican Party has changed, and it has changed monumentally.

You almost cannot be a victorious traditional Republican candidate with mainstream values in Johnson County or in Kansas anymore, because these candidates never get on the ballot in the general election. They lose in low turnout primaries, where the far right shows up to vote in disproportionate numbers.

To win a Republican primary, the candidate must move to the right.

What does to-the-right mean?

It means anti-public education, though claiming to support it.

It means weak support of our universities, while praising them.

It means anti-stem cell research.

It means ridiculing global warming.

It means gay bashing. Not so much gay marriage, but just bashing gays.

It means immigrant bashing. I’m talking about the viciousness.

It means putting religion in public schools. Not just prayer.

It means mocking evolution and claiming it is not science.

It means denigrating even abstinence-based sex education.

Note, I did not say it means "anti-abortion," because I do not find that position repugnant, at all. I respect that position.

But everything else adds up to priorities that have nothing to do with the Republican Party I once knew.

That’s why, in the absence of so-called traditional Republican candidates, the choice comes down to right-wing Republicans or conservative Democrats.

And now you know why we have been forced to move left.

I know exactly how he feels. And if this recognition is going on in a small paper in Kansas, then there’s hope for conservatism yet.

Last night’s sit-down about "The Conservative Soul" can be viewed online here, with a transcript. Thanks for the scores of emails about it. Salon’s interview can be read here. You can buy the book online here. The Amazon reader reviews so far are encouraging.

The candidate for the 3rd district in Nebraska is not just easy on the eyes. He has also won the endorsement of the Omaha World-Herald. Money quote:

No, Kleeb has not voiced the degree of skepticism and sometimes even outright hostility toward government advanced by Smith. But Kleeb is hardly a Ted Kennedy clone – consider, for example, Kleeb’s repeated, sensible expressions of skepticism toward the regulatory excesses of the Endangered Species Act. Kleeb, who describes himself as a devoted Catholic, also generally adheres to conservative positions on social issues that have resonated with many 3rd District voters over the years.

Indeed, Kleeb’s actions and statements during this campaign should provide a lesson to the left-leaning activists who hold such sway in his state party. If they would genuinely listen to Kleeb (as opposed to opportunistically hoping that he’ll merely gain them a political office), they could learn a thing or two about how a Nebraska Democrat can impressively look to this state’s political center rather than clinging feverishly to impractical liberal rhetoric and policy stances.

There’s no denying it now. And al Qaeda has declared its own Islamic republic in the West of the anarchic country. The Zarqawi strategy of fomenting sectarian war and carving out a terror enclave has survived his death. The question we now face is whether to accept this fait accompli and withdraw, or construct a radically new strategy with many more troops to try again.

An all-but racist ad on immigration from the Republicans. Notice the visual contrast between the alleged illegals and the white family who will have to "foot the bill" for them. Lovely. But effective.

That’s where the evidence is obviously pointing. There clearly was a meeting between Kirk Fordham and Hastert’s close aide, Scott Palmer, to discuss the Foley predations. There is now more than one piece of testimony backing that up; and the idea that Scott Palmer would never have told Hastert about this potentially explosive issue is preposterous. So Hastert knew he had a serious problem with Foley for a long time – many on the Hill say years – and did nothing about it. When Foley wanted to retire before this election, he was talked out of it by Karl Rove. What did Rove know? Does anyone doubt that a man as politically attuned as Rove had no clue about the liabilities in Foley’s past? My view is that Hastert will be forced to step down if the investigation concludes before November 7. So Larry Kudlow has a point. If Hastert wants to minimize the damage, he should quit now, rather than a week before the election.