Trump And Huckabee: Two More Clowns Of God As Presidential Hopefuls

Can't we dismiss them BOTH "at our own peril."?!!

A recent poll has shown Donald Trump only slightly behind Mike Huckabee in approval for the Republican Nomination in 2012. That's right, "The Donald" has come on surprisingly strong. Huckabee's reaction?


On Laura Ingraham's show:


HUCKABEE: Well, I had a wonderful meeting with Donald Trump. I think he’s a very serious contender. He’s going to get in. I kind of went into the meeting thinking he’s not really going to run. Came out thinking, by gosh, he really is. [...]

INGRAHAM: Could there be a possible Huckabee/Trump ticket in the offing here?

HUCKABEE: Never say never. I don’t know. But, whether Donald Trump would ever want to be seen on the same stage with me, I don’t know. But I found him very engaging, and a very smart guy. And I think people will dismiss him at their own peril."


The Clowns of God

In 1981, Morris West (Shoes of the Fisherman) wrote a book titled The Clowns of God. And while it centered around the politics of the Roman Catholic curia during the height of the Cold War, its premise of religion and politics was prescient: never before have we had religion breathing harder down the necks of politicians (and voters) than now - the height of the Culture War. But while West's portrayal of cardinals as a bunch of madcap, wild clowns was meant to be broadly metaphorical, our current crop of  Republican/Tea Party Presidential hopefuls look more like circus clowns than the red-robed kind. 

The ticket of Trump/Huckabee or Huckabee/Trump (whichever one you believe) certainly makes that point. The very possibility of a campaign duo comprised of a former governor/minister and a real estate mogul/media personality conjures up all sorts of images, the least of which is having them lead the other hopefuls out of a bright yellow mini VW bug. Taking anything seriously from them would take an astounding  feat of composure, like trying not to laugh while being cruelly tickled to death. Looked at as a whole, they are more like "Killer Clowns From Outer Space."

Yes, it's unfortunate that we have to take any of them seriously, but the horror of today's religio-political scene is that we must . Why? Simply because other people WILL. And those people vote. The spectrum of clowns is much greater than it was in 2008, going from a former congressman who holds the record for the most charges of ethics violations (84) to a governor who has a hard time explaining his association with a white supremacist group. But as the video of Donald Trump's interview on Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network proves, they all have to have some semblance of religiosity in order to please the Christian Right with its hunger for all ideologies "Christian."

Let's take a look at the Presidential hopefuls in terms of background, policies and religiosity.*

Mike Huckabee:

Big Loser (in weight - 110lbs.) but slowly gaining it back. 

Former Governor of Arkansas (trying to undo what Clinton had done to the state). 

Wanted to quarantine people with AIDS at a time when casual contract as transmission had been medically debunked for years.

Southern Baptist minister from 1980  to  1996  whose sermons for ten of those years  have mysteriously disappeared ("accidentally shredded")

Idolater of Christian "historian" David Barton to the point of saying that everyone should listen to him at gunpoint.

News analyst for FOX News (a rather oxymoronic position)

Famous for having to "re-frame" positions or outright flip-flopping

Religiosity Index: 9

Donald Trump:

Real estate mogul 

Celebrity/personality synonymous with the term "You're Fired!"

Confirmed "Birther"

Condemns discrimination against gays but is definitely not for same-sex marriage

Considers himself a Christian and is Presbyterian, Catholic or something else depending upon the date of the biography.

Religiosity Index: 4

Sarah Palin:

Half-term governor of Alaska

Republican Nominee for Vice President

Darling of the "common man" and Tea Party

"Author"

Founder of the "Pink Elephant" Movement, helping Conservative women to get elected

Baptized Roman Catholic, became a Pentecostal and was prayed over by Thomas Muthee, leading African preacher/witch-hunter

Dropped Assemblies of God for Wasilla Bible Church because it had a "better children's ministries"

A contributor to FOX News

Religiosity Index: 5

Michele Bachmann:

U.S. Representative for the 6th Congressional District in the State of Minnesota

Supporter of the Tea Party

Famous for the quotes "armed and dangerous" and "slit our wrists" 

Profound believer in the existence of "death panels" in the health care reform bill

Supporter of Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage

Supporter of controversial rock band advocating death to homosexuals

Owner of a Christian Counseling Clinic

Mother of five children and foster parent to 23 children over the last several decades

Member of the Wisconsin Lutheran Synod

Religiosity Index: 9

Rick Santorum:

The only politician to have a sexual neologism coined after his last name (google "Santorum")**

Ardent opponent of gay rights, same-sex marriage, and obsessive about priests and pedophilia

Ardent proponent of Intelligent Design

Sponsor of proposed legislation preventing the National Weather Service from issuing warnings where commercial interests could issue alarms.
Firm believer that the Crusades weren't all that bad***

Head of a very Catholic family, and became a Knight of Magistral Grace of the The Knights of Malta

Religiosity Index: 9

Mitt Romney:

Former governor of Massachusetts

Mormon (so, as seen by many in the Christian Right, Romney belongs to a "cult")
Flip-flopper on a number of issues including stem cell research, abortion and some gay rights issues, veering to the Right during his tenure in office as governor.

Religiosity Index: 3

Newt Gingrich:

Record-holder of the most ethics charges against any Congressman (84) and the only Speaker of the House to be disciplined ethhics violations (at a cost to Gingrich of $300,000)

Convert to Catholicism from the Baptist denomination

Dinosaur enthusiast (does not touch the subject of evolution)

Serial adulterer who explained that his "love for his country" made him work too hard and as a result "things happened in my life that were not appropriate."

Supporter of tougher immigration laws and believes Islam has too many radical elements

Religiosity Index: 6

Haley Barbour:

Governor of Mississippi

Influential lobbyist for firms like R.J. Reynolds and Microsoft

Questionable attitudes on racism****

Most notable quote about eliminating the subject of slavery from Confederate History Month: "...it's trying to make a big deal out of something doesn't amount to diddly"

Supports the White Citizens Council (a white supremacist group)

Presbyterian

Religiosity Index: 4

Add more clowns to the rostrum and the Republican Presidential hopeful lineup may rival anything Ringling Bros. has ever produced. 

Seriously, progressives should be praying for more clowns to weaken the Right and its chances of gaining the Executive Branch of government. A recent poll by Polling for Public Policy indicates that 3 months into the "new" Congress people are already dropping away from Republicans at an alarming rate: things like budget cuts at national and state level and open contempt for unions have not endeared voters to the GOP:

Voters may not love Obama as once they did but they're finding him to be more reasonable than the alternative and that means it will be hard for the GOP to knock him off next year without a top notch nominee.

So, send in the Clowns of God. With the way things are going in the country, we need laughter to help us through all the self-righteousness and hypocrisy that last November has enabled. 

* Yes, I realize this is totally arbitrary on my part, but it's rather difficult to rate politicians on their supposed thoughts as opposed to their deeds. 

**Rick Santorum seems to be a magnate for anal sobriquets: after sharing the floor of the Senate with him for three weeks, Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska said: "Santorum — That's Latin for assh*le."
*** This prompted us to respond with a Christian Crime Line
**** In a recent poll, Mississippi Republicans were asked about interracial marriage. A majority thought that interracial marriage should still be illegal.

Homoerotic Pics By A Homophobic Self-styled "Youth Analyst": Why Catching Hypocrites Is Sooo Sweet!

Truth Wins Out Wayne Besen's latest discovery is a pip! Former "Youth Analyst" for Exodus International (the ex-gay "pray away the gay" group), Michael Ensley, is now a photographer in Orlando, Fla with a penchant for homoeroticism like you wouldn't believe!


This is why I like exposing hypocrites, because he really deserves an outing: while in his job at Exodus, he told parents to "distance" themselves from their children and to eschew legitimate therapy for Exodus, where everything would be made right with God. The crock of BS never stops overflowing with people like Ensley. 

The End Of The World Will Be May 21st - According To A Venerable, Old Crackpot

But give him money, anyway!

I consider myself old. Maybe that's why this man's message is so jarring and funny at the same time. True, he's 25 years my senior, but he makes me feel like the age-difference is more like 60 years. 


Harold Camping has been carping about the end times for the last 4 decades, coming up with his own arithmetic as to the exact time and the age of the universe (11,013 B.C.). He is also into annihilationism (no hell, no earth, but heaven only after Judgment Day).

One interesting facet of his end-times theory: God created Gay Pride to signal the end of the world.


Go figure.

Pink Toenails Will Turn Him Gay!!

The folks at New American are up in arms about the President of J. Crew painting her toddler's toenails pink. They see it as another gender identity controversy. 


From FOX News:


"This is a dramatic example of the way that our culture is being encouraged to abandon all trappings of gender identity."
- Dr. Keith Ablow in FoxNews.com Health Columns

GOOD Brain? BAD Brain?: Scientific Study Shows Gray Matter Differences In Political Views

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself

- Unless You're Republican

My parents were Republicans. They worried ...a lot. I often wondered what they worried about, but when I asked, the usual response was "Ya never know." They were children of the Depression and as such thought that another one was right around the corner. They also saved ...a lot. But a national catastrophe changed their party affiliation. It was called Vietnam. That and having a son on a fragile teacher's deferment. I never wound up going to Nam, and my parents never went back to being Republican, such was the legacy of Richard Nixon.

A new scientific study out of London has created a bit of a stir: for the first time, conservative and liberal brains were compared in physical terms with the emphasis on political thinking (not as much of an oxymoron as one would think). 

"Previously, some psychological traits were known to be predictive of an individual's political orientation," lead author Ryota Kanai from University College London's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience said in a statement. "Our study now links such personality traits with specific brain structure."

"Individuals with a large amygdala are more sensitive to fear," and might therefore be "more inclined to integrate conservative views into their belief system," Kanai and colleagues wrote. "On the other hand, our finding of an association between anterior cingulate cortex volume and political attitudes may be linked with tolerance to uncertainty" -- which may allow people to "accept more liberal views."

Sensitivity To Fear vs. Tolerance To Uncertainty.

We can certainly see these hypotheses played out in today's Christian Right and it's relation to the Republican Party. The Party's raison d'etre is playing to financial fears: "Social Security will be broke," "Big Government is using YOUR money to finance abortions," or "Democrats always raise taxes to pay for someone else's problems." To some, playing on people's fears is what religion is all about. Together, religion and conservatism are a powerful proponent of the worst fear: fear of the unknown. 

Liberal minds, on the other hand, can process conflicting information easily and possess a more rational outlook: how can you fear something when you don't know what it is? Find out the details, work out the conflicts, leave an open mind and don't be so afraid of people or you pre-judge them without knowing them. 

And who gets the sobriquet of "fearmonger" the most? Sean Hannity or Alan Colmes? Michele Bachmann or Barney Frank? Ann Coulter(geist) or Bill Maher? Progressives are more open to the future so that they can concentrate more on the present.

One of the biggest fear mongers today is Tony Perkins of Family Research Council: gay activists are going to "control the government," Obamacare is full of "death panels" and Planned Parenthood is out to "destroy the American Family." In fact, if you peruse Perkins' writings, you will be hard pressed to see any positive or mitigating factors to today's morals/"homosexual agenda"/pro-choice/feminist-ridden society. Nearly every daily email from the FRC or FRC Action!, besides headlined with the most awful of puns (he thinks he's being witty), is an alert to something dastardly happening on Capitol Hill or in the White House. Even his "Christmas Card" was a political warning of doom and gloom.

Of course, the study doesn't exactly let liberals get off the hook, either, at least not emotionally speaking: liberals tend to be more conflicted about problems and an inability to take definitive steps can result: e.g. the Democratic Party's reluctance to capitalize on certain aspects and the shortcomings of the Republican Party. Also: President Obama's eagerness to compromise has been seen as a sign of weakness by Democrats.

I can't help but think, however, that being a conflicted liberal is much better (for the sake of humanity) than being a fearful conservative. Fear can result in bigotry and, on the part of the Christian Right, a strong tendency towards a reactionary righteous arrogance.  

And righteous arrogance kills.

A wish for simpler conclusions

The study is already being debated: the fact that one of the authors was Colin Firth (yes, THAT Colin Firth) has raised some eyebrows. To set matters straight, the Oscar-winning actor, commissioned the study but did not actually do the research or come up with the findings: an intellectual curiosity about political leanings and the brain simply morphed into a serious study. And while the correlation of political leanings to physical brain matter may exist, whether or not there is any causality is still open to question: does the brain develop according to political preferences or do the political preferences depend solely upon the brain's makeup? 

Ah, my liberal brain is certainly in conflict with the issue! After all, I just want it to be a matter of polar opposites: liberal brain intelligent, conservative brain, dumb, or liberal brain open, conservative brain locked up air-tight. Would that scientists could delve into Michele Bachmann's brain (or what passes for it!).

While I'm musing on that last, see what happens when brains get physically mixed up. Until then, don't be too afraid of anything, that's waaaay too Republican!

The Eagle Is CLOSING! There Goes My Infusion of Humanity!!

Beer bust. Like today's Sunday at the Eagle Tavern in San Francisco, I experience my "infusion of humanity." That's because it has EVERYONE: young, old, fat, slim, swimmer's body, buff-up beefcake, levis, leather, punk. This mix is the most energizing piece of the earth that I know. Sniff, sniff, I'll be REALLY sad to see it go! 

Marking 200 For OpEdNews: The Best of Times (Sex With Ducks), The Worst of Times (The Deaver Fetus)

I'm tired. If you want to feel the frenetic pace my writing life has been like, just click on this old Leroy Anderson tune of a typewriter and read along. It will set a light tone to some very heavy subjects (hey, that's my style!).* 

Marking 200? No, I'm not 200 years old, although sometimes I feel like it. And tabulating how much I've submitted to OpEdNews for the last 3 years makes me feel older: it's certainly not a prodigious output by any means, but my perspective is queer: it's not how much I put out, but how much I am able to fit in. In between things, that is: no, not a sob story, but one that compels me to relay it to OpEdNews readers because they've been a part of my life.

For the last 5 years, I've been a caregiver to a loved one who is terminally ill (liver cancer) and life has gone from week-to-week, to day-to-day. Now, it's kind of hour-to-hour. It's also cooking, cleaning, errands, hospital visits, prescription refills, doling out meds, travel planning, kitty care, and fending off labels like "angel" and "saint" (curses on the love life - saints and angels don't get laid.). Not that I'm complaining, but ...o.k., I'm complaining. Because amidst all of this I'm compelled to communicate to people news and views about the realms of religion and politics ... and everything in between.

Yeah, it's an addiction: first thing in the morning I scan google alerts (at least a dozen "men of the cloth" are arrested for various crimes each day), devour rss feeds, answer comments on the blog, and plan the new ministry. I eventually come up for coffee (not air), then I have a breakfast consisting of religious and political hypocrisies, then I uncover them, rant on them and laugh at them. (I have to laugh at them: I take to heart Mark Twain's dictum: "Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand.") The rest of the day alternates between something mundane like changing the sheets and writing about the latest malapropisms of Michele Bachmann or the newest pronouncements of Benedict XVI.

Occasionally, I indulge myself with the luxury of our view of the ocean and the realization that I live in the most beautiful and compassionate place on earth (San Francisco).

IT'S ALL PERSPECTIVE

Times are getting bleaker and there's w-a-a-ay too much to rant about: atrocities like The Deaver Fetus and David Kato's murder in Uganda infest my laptop screen like giant termites, making it harder to laugh. The viciousness of today's Christof*scism, the blatant bigotry of people like Bryan Fischer and the eviscerating evangelism of Lou Engle propose a future too dreadful to imagine. Turning them on their ears becomes less fun, hence more difficult to write about.

Oh, occasionally Pat Robertson comes up with a hoot, a statement so self-righteously inane that it wipes the brain clean of all seriousness,* but writing about senile musings is too easy and breezy: the psyche just starts to relax when up comes a horror worthy of Halloween: suddenly there is too little time to write about LGBT issues, Islamoph*bia or even Ann Coulter(geist). 

Then there's the outright ruthlessness of the newly invigorated Republican Party: I hope I don't drown in that tsunami of vengeance! It overwhelms humanity! Don't get me started.

BACK TO THE POINT

OpEdNews has been a godsend for writers like me: the chance to get a word in edgewise is coupled with an association of some of the brightest minds we have today. And knowing that some people out there are actually reading my rants helps me contend with all that's happening to me and to the rest of the world. So now I'm up to 200 articles (150,000 words. 300,000 page views). I may flag a bit in the future, but I'll never kick the addiction of writing about the Right Wing's religious world of hypocrisy or things like ...Sex with Ducks. 

*Sorry if you're too young to know what a typewriter sounds like

** The article that has garnered me the most page views is, ironically, the one about Pat Robertson's remarks about Haiti titled The Senility Defense: Pat Robertson's Trial In The Court Of Public Opinion.