Given the debate over the contraceptive coverage regulations it is absolutely NO surprise that Rick Santorum is gaining momentum. Republicans are staying home – rolling their eyes. ReBiblicans are turning out in droves. President Obama did an end-run today that left the GOP frontrunners in the dust at their annual CPAC Revival as he announced a solution to the faux outrage in the ReBiblican faction to the ruling that employers who participate in federally funded programs (religious or otherwise, btw) must provide for contraception coverage to their employees.
The conservative pot-stirrers took this to the pulpits and soapboxes decrying yet another liberal attack on religious freedoms. Right. Sure.
I have said repeatedly that I am not anti-Republican; anti-conservative; anti-religion…but this is Dominionism politics in action at its finest. This incarnation of the GOP has become a Trojan Elephant for theocrats political agendas and they are marching onward. Political Christians have successfully infested conservative politics in America and no one is talking about the elephant in the room. That is not to say that you can not hear a story about the GOP candidates without it being tied to the hip of relgio-politics…but they never scratch the surface of this topic.
It is a sad statement about our “news” being bought and paid for by advertisers who stifle the real information that we are entitled to. News! We are now bombarded with infotainment. No more Peter Jennings, Walter Cronkite, or John Chancellor. We hear the pundits get so close to the impending theocratic push and then glance off it as though there were two magnets turned in opposition of one another. Watching them come within a hair’s width of bringing this into the open puts me on the edge of my seat about to cheer – but leaves me slumping back expressing an “Ohhhh…that was so close”!
This is 2012 and we can not discuss politics in America without examining the underlying political Christian agenda that each candidate holds (like Santorum), or pretends to hold (like Romney). To ignore the influence of this litmus test for the GOP nominee is naive and dangerous.
The discussion about Romney’s inability to break through the 25-30% favorability rating by this new ReBiblican voting bloc is not mystery. He is Mormon.
The discussion about Rick Santorum rising in the GOP polls is not a mystery. The message over the last few decades has increased in propaganda and rhetoric, convincing its followers that if you are Christian (the right kind of Christian) you are a true American patriot and social gate-keeper for the Nation.
Their efforts this time around will fail as we watch them attack each other and eat their own. Why? Because aside from Romney being a Mormon…the only other options are Catholics…and true born again Dominionists have no more respect for them than they do an Atheist, Muslim, Wiccan or Pagan, but for now that is all they have before them. They will support the one that they believe will put forth the closest theocratic agenda because right now they have no other choice.
Rick Perry baffooned himself into oblivion. Michelle Bachmann should have kept her homophobic husband in the closet. Tim Pawlenty could not beat a dish rag in a personality contest. One by one, their only “true” Christian candidates fell to the wayside leaving the political Christians with virtually no desirable candidate.
Republicans – not to be confused with ReBiblicans – are left embarrassed, ashamed and wandering the desert of uncertainty. They are now increasing the growing numbers of moderate conservatives who are known as “Independents”.
Where is this leading? Hopefully to a brokered convention in Tampa Bay. There are Dominionist politicians waiting in the wings to jump in the fray when that happens. Spineless candidates such as Sarah Palin – just to name one. Rumors abound about other potential last minute possibilities from Jeb Bush to Steve Forbes, but in the never-ending goat show that we have just witnessed, god only knows who else might rear their “anointed” heads.
I say spineless because this is all more calculated that it may appear. After all, if you encourage a brokered convention, that open doors that allow you to skip the year+ long campaigning and debates and speeches and – those pesky “gotchya questions” by the media elite. Let everyone else hoist themselves on their own petards and then swoop in as a real rogue spoiler in the 11th hour…and I am referring to all who are salivating at the thought of diving in.
Super Bowl is over and this is a twisted source of entertainment for those of us who have been involved in politics for years, but the reality is that this is an abomination. An international embarrassment. And it has absolutely nothing to do with representation of the interests of the American people.
Don’t take your eyes off the ball. These “surges” that cannot elevate a single GOP candidate above 30% demonstrates how fractured the conservative voters are. The three state turnout for Santorum last week - predictable. But don’t look at the percentages, look at the numbers. Turnout was extremely low, but it represented a small minority of bible-based cult followers who will show up and vote when the rest of us – liberal or conservative moderates – throw our hands in the air and stay home.
I assure you that once we have secured a win in 2012 for freedom vs. theocracy – they will be amped up for 2014 and 2016 like the Religious Right on steroids!
This may increase Ron Paul’s chances. He is a Christian(Baptist ) and has non interventionist policies that were the same George Bush had during his first presidential campaign. He will bring the troops in 900 bases around the world that are not necessary for our National Security home . He will not go to war unless it has been declared by Congress, fight and win it. He is the most fiscally conservative candidate who will make real cuts in spending including the militarism without sacrificing our National Security. As an OB/GYN he is not pro abortion but believes the federal government should stay out of these issues that belong to the states. Many of the disenfranchised Republicans and Independents are turning their support to Ron Paul. He will also restore our civil rights that have been eroded by the Patriot Act and the NDAA. He has always voted in Congress according to the constitution which all Congressman were sworn to uphold and protect. He will end the “Drug War” and treat addicts as patients instead of felons. The money that will be saved by reducing the engorged federal government can be used to shore up Medicare/Medicaid. He will give younger people the OPTION of opting out of Social Security and self funding their own retirement account. Please consider learning more about Ron Paul by googling him and watching his speeches or interviews. If you listen to the man himself, you will not be swayed by the false claims and negative image the Mainstream Media throws out there. The banks, corporations and special interests are afraid of him, that’s why he is smeared. He will end the fed or bring it under accountability. He is an expert in economics and understands the importance of a sound monetary policy.
I think people are getting a good idea of how conservative and anti women santorum is.
What worries me is what other ideas does their very severely conservative have?
We know his views on college in response to POTUS Obama’s college plans.
Will he work towards limiting women’s ability to attend college ? Decree that women cannot work after marriage or after childbirth? I can see this.
He needs to be stopped.
If you are correct about a brokered convention, I hope the Palin debacle will remind people (including those in the media) to look with suspicion on those named at the last minute.
Leah,
thanks as always for your excellent article, and your unflagging work tracking what I call the Christian supremacists. We know they are absolutely intent on turning America into a virtual “handmaid’s tale”. What is amazing is how extreme Santorum really is, and how little the general public understands who he represents.
How long before the ultra right wing terrorists try to take out progressive candidates by deadly force or kidnapping family members in the name of “religion?
We can only hope that President Obama and his family, and all true patriots remain safe.
AJ: “what is amazing is how extreme Santorum really is, and how little the general public understands who he represents”
I have wondered the same thing as you. Wondering if, the Christian right,(who believe catholics are all wrong) understand who and what Santorum really is. Like Opus dei and the Knights of Malta. To belong to either one of these Catholic organizations , you must stand for and represent the highest beliefs of the catholic church.
Here in Colorado Springs, the local Faux News staffers have been gloating about Santorum’s win, while Republican leaders keep saying idiotic things like, “The road to the White House passes through El Paso County!” Statistically, however, even Colorado Springs is far less conservative than it was twenty years ago. The last time I drove past Focus on the Family, the organization was trying to rent out one of its now-vacant buildings, and it has had several rounds of massive layoffs. Word is that the new pastor of New Life Church is far less vocal about/ involved in conservative politics than was Ted Haggard. And the ex-soldiers and vets I’ve encountered seem disillusioned with conservative policies after their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This isn’t to say that there isn’t still a strong faction of socially conservative Republicans here; there certainly is, and it’s this constituency that helped propel Santorum to victory here. However, the city has an increasing number of vocal progressive and Freethinkers organizations. So while Santorum won by a significant margin here, it’s important to remember–as you point out–that voter turnout was low, the ReBiblicans skewed the results, and none of the GOP candidates has much appeal to independents or even moderate conservatives. And for this I am truly thankful.
Thank you fro that perspective, Hope! I really appreciate it very much. I do believe that there is more than enough time for these pumped up candidates to try and out-conservative each other and really put their own nail sin the proverbial coffin. I have no doubt that theocracy will not be picking new curtains for the White House in 2012, but we had all best pay attention to the sites they have set on 2016. They are not going to take this debacle of 2012 well and it will fuel an aggressive effort for the next presidential campaign. You know as well as I that these zealots never give up. They are a minority, but they are financed and obsessed…a frightening combination if the rest of us do not rise up and oppose them. Thanks again, Hope!
“Financed and obsessed” is right! And if you try to posit an alternate view to theirs, you’re shouted down as being anti-Christian, brainwashed by institutionalized liberalism, socialist, blah blah. (I’ve told a few people that neither college nor grad school turned me into a liberal; that was a direct result of Sarah Palin’s VP slot in 2008 and everything the Republican party represents and has subsequently done. But most conservatives don’t give me a chance to explain.)
Who do you think they’ll choose as the great hope for 2012?