The Right vs McCain

He keeps dodging the base confabs and the base returns the love:

"I would ask McCain, he said he doesn’t have anything in common with us. He doesn’t believe in low taxes? He doesn’t believe in limited government? He doesn’t believe in free trade? … I think he was afraid of getting booed. I’ve seen some political pundits say that, that it was smart for McCain not to show up, because he risked getting booed."

I cannot recall a senior Republican leader, who really should be the front-runner, being hated this much by the base. They were nicer to Dole. They were even nicer to Bush Sr. So why? I know there are legitimate differences of opinion on some matters – but less so than with Giuliani, for example. My own sense is that the base fears that McCain could lead the GOP away from the current Rove-Bush coalition. The hate correlates with the threat.

An Open Letter To Al Mohler

A Baptist from the rural South, who has kept the faith as a gay man, responds to Albert Mohler’s recent support for the idea of trying to de-gay unborn children in the womb with hormonal treatments. Money quote:

The question I had for God was simple: I perceive myself to be the me whom You intended me to be, yet the church, Your church, says that the way I am made to be is wrong, prima facie, in and of itself. So, Lord, what is it? Either You made a mistake, or the church is misperceiving Your leading.

Of course, the answer is found in the question, since God is God and in Him are no mistakes. And thus began the rest of my life, as, having settled the issue to my satisfaction, I could get on with keeping my commitment to serve Christ in my life through whatever opportunities and challenges might lie ahead. I could see my situation as a problem or a gift. I now knew it was a gift, and having viewed it as such, I can say today, some 37 years later, it has borne remarkable fruits of the spirit and good works for the betterment of others in both this world and the next.

Quote for the Day

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"I say, therefore, that the arms with which a prince defends his state are either his own, or they are mercenaries, auxiliaries, or mixed. Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous; and if one holds his state based on these arms, he will stand neither firm nor safe; for they are disunited, ambitious and without discipline, unfaithful, valiant before friends, cowardly before enemies; they have neither the fear of God nor fidelity to men, and destruction is deferred only so long as the attack is; for in peace one is robbed by them, and in war by the enemy. The fact is, they have no other attraction or reason for keeping the field than a trifle of stipend, which is not sufficient to make them willing to die for you.

I wish to demonstrate further the infelicity of these arms. The mercenary captains are either capable men or they are not; if they are, you cannot trust them, because they always aspire to their own greatness, either by oppressing you, who are their master, or others contrary to your intentions; but if the captain is not skilful, you are ruined in the usual way," Niccolo Machiavelli, smart guy, "The Prince."

(Photo: A security officer sits at the open door of a helicopter belonging to the US security firm Blackwater flies close to black smoke billowing from a fire in an area in central Baghdad 03 March 2005. There was not immediate confirmation for what caused the fire which engulfed hundreds of meters of junk areas in the war-torn capital. By Marwan Namaani/AFP/Getty.)