Progressives Should Defend Romney Against Religious Barbs
Original Author:
(James Rowen)
Liberals and other genuinely tolerant citizens, regardless of political party, need to push back publicly against discriminatory campaigning for cheap political points directed against Republican candidate Mitt Romney over his Mormon faith.
Regrettably, conservative GOP/Tea Party candidates Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain are
side-stepping the issue, so are giving their assent to the bigots because Cain and Bachmnn think there are votes from narrow-minded constituencies to be gathered through strategic silence.
Shame on them. This is every American's fight.
Religious intolerance was wrong when John F. Kennedy's Catholicism was made into a campaign issue by bigots during his 1960 Presidential run, and it's just as wrong today.
The flip side is that the overall emphasis of religion in US politics is out of place, too: Media should back off demanding answers and explanations about candidates' faith. And candidates should stop pitching themselves as believers worthy of votes because that translates as exclusionary, or judgmental, against other religions and their adherents.
Bloody Pullman StrikeDoes that headline sound overly harsh? Well, it needs to sound that way.
In recent years Republicans around the country have almost made a fetish out of appropriating progressive heroes, martyrs and symbols, using them for their own snively purposes. Newt Gingrich insisted that FDR was really espousing Republican ideals. Later, some Republicans quite baldly insisted that Martin Luther King Jr. was functionally one of their own (he was, actually, pro-labor union). GOP partisans even have claimed John F. Kennedy as kindred, because he once cut taxes (as if Democrats up to and including Obama have never done that before or since).
McCain Doesn't Get It: Bottom-up versus Top-down
In John McCain's speech the other night, he tried to pull what he thought was a Barack Obama.
You well know I've been called a maverick, someone who...
... someone who marches to the beat of his own drum. Sometimes it's meant as a compliment; sometimes it's not. What it really means is I understand who I work for. I don't work for a party. I don't work for a special interest. I don't work for myself. I work for you.
Let's first agree that, aside from the lies peppered throughout the statement, it's a good one. McCain is saying that he's embracing a servant leadership model when it comes to leading Americans. Parties, special interests, and anything else that gets in the way of people -- phooey on them. I work for you, and as a result, you'll be the direct beneficiary when I get things done in office. McCain sees Obama's message of bottom-up change working and so he wants to own a piece of it as well.
The Diagnosis: The Makings Of A Palin-ectomy?
Try as they might, the McCain campaign is doing all it can to convince the public and the press that they have given Sarah Palin a thorough examination and found her fit to serve as the Vice President and assume the role of the presidency should anything happen to their 72 year old candidate.
Unfortunately, a number of second opinions...from qualified GOP operatives...are beginning to paint a much less favorable picture. In the following video, Peggy Noonan, a former Reagan speech writer and long standing GOP apologist...and Mike Murphy, a former GOP strategist...are caught off camera expressing their grave doubts about the Palin selection.
John F. Kennedy
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