The Tower of Babel
Dear A,
Since 9/11, the nation has been infected by the contagion of National Lunacy.
A salient feature of The Republican Party is its uncontrollable ideation -- a sure sign of losing one's mind.
The GOP's "spin-out" is characterized by fickle fondness for one weirdo after another - a volatile situation recalling a madman's "word salad," or, the sudden, incomprehensible confusion that overtook The Tower of Babel.
The Party of Family Values - which brought America its first divorced president - is now zealous for the presidential candidacy of a twice-divorced philanderer.
And the plausible allegation that Newt proposed "open marriage" to one of his wives has actually energized Newt's support!
Say what?
Meanwhile, the GOP faithful -- who would hoist Obama's head on a pike if there were just one woman in his past (other than Michelle) -- represent Gingrich as "Saved!" and therefore "abundantly blessed by God!"
In passing, I will note that the hypothetical "woman in Obama's past" need not even be a native-born Kenyan like himself.
As the GOP sees it, she could have been born in any foreign country -- say The Bible Belt.
It surpasses irony that the only Republican candidates willing to express bedrock belief in the processes of scientific rationality were (are) Mormons.
The rest of the GOP field is either nuts, or -- aware of the deliberately-induced madness of its membership -- stands aside to tacitly approve the mass psychosis. http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/01/23/409656/at-florida-town-hall-rick-santorum-cowardly-panders-to-woman-who-alleges-obama-is-an-avowed-muslim/?mobile=nc
Let us remember that - until very recently - Mormons were considered the weirdest "Americans" imaginable.
MacArthur "genius" and Yale professor, Harold Bloom -- who has said many kind things about Mormonism -- also says its informing principles are no nearer to traditional Christianity than Islam is to Judaism. http://www.islamfortoday.com/galvan03.htm)
Last night, reviewing a recent Fresh Air interview, I learned that Romney's great grandfather was a polygamist with four wives, and that Mitt's father, George - briefly a presidential candidate himself - was born in Mexico.
Not Kenya of course, but a matter of historical fact... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Romney
I cannot overly recommend "The Mormons," a four-hour PBS Frontline documentary. It is freely streamable at http://www.pbs.org/mormons/view/
The first two hours, which review Mormonism's foundation and ascendancy --- including the church-sponsored Moutain Meadows Massacre (of 120 men, women and children) --- are as riveting as Fritz Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life."
If Romney is the GOP's chosen candidate, "The Mormons" will soon be the focal point of "house parties" on both sides of the aisle.
In closing, I will mention that the Fresh Air interview referred above can be heard at http://www.npr.org/2012/01/19/145449506/who-exactly-is-the-real-romney
Pax on both houses
Alan
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- George F. Will
- Opinion Writer
Can Romney the turnaround artist do it again?
An Illinois lawyer who had a way with words once characterized a particular argument as weaker than soup made from the shadow of a pigeon that died of starvation. The argument for Mitt Romney benefiting from South Carolina’s voting is almost as weak as Lincoln’s soup, but here it is:
In the physics of politics, actions generate reactions. Granted, Newt Gingrich carried 43 of the state’s 46 counties, and at least six of the seven congressional districts, now leads in delegates, and his colorful personal life did not prevent him from decisively beating Romney among the women of a culturally conservative state. But Sunday morning, from coast to coast, Republican candidates for Congress, governorships and other offices awakened to a sobering thought: They could be running next autumn with Gingrich — whose current approval rating nationally in a Jan. 12-14 Fox News and Opinion Dynamics poll was 27 percent favorable, 56 percent unfavorable — atop the ticket. They have nothing to fear so much as an absence of fear about this. With Gingrich defining the GOP brand, the Republicans’ dream — unified government: a trifecta of holding the House, winning the Senate and the White House — might become three strikes and they are out.
