Riehl World View

But What Values Voters?

As a Methodist, which is about the extent of anyone else's business are my religious beliefs, there's been more than one occasion over the years when I've become angry over someone asking me, "But are you a real Christian?" Usually, depending upon my mood, I'll say something like, "You're God-damned right, I am." and move on. If nothing else it ends a discussion I'm really not interested in having.

While never actually seeing myself as part of what is commonly called the activist Christian Right, over the years, I have always been quick to defend them against critics and be supportive of them when I can, as I value both what they represent electorally as well as philosophically.

I like to think of them as allies, and in areas where we may differ I tolerate them. Tolerance is a value, as well as a Christian one, is it not? It would benefit everyone if certain religious leaders who many of us might just as soon see out of politics, as opposed to dabbling, or preaching, within it, took some time to contemplate precisely what tolerance is - along with it's being nothing,  if not a two-way street. As for any who may feel compelled to express their own intolerance simply because someone has granted them a podium for a time, there's a very good case to be made for some of us on the political Right to stop tolerating them, as so many of us have over the years.

Romney did take aim at Bryan Fischer, a director at the American Family Association, who was slated to speak directly after the candidate took the stage Saturday.

Fischer has claimed that Mormons and Muslims have "a completely different definition of who Christ is" than the founding fathers did, and do not deserve First Amendment protections as a consequence.

Without naming Fischer, Romney said those comments are out of bounds.

 

Matt Lewis: Muckraker, Or Mormon Baiter?

Kind of interesting to see Matt Lewis' latest fixation:

Pastor who introduced Perry: Mormonism’s ‘a cult’

Based upon some previous writings, Lewis seems to have some issues with Mormonism,  himself.

Bishop Romney and Mormon welfare

In short, it was Romney’s job to dispense Mormon welfare.

Actually, Lewis often seems to find a way to inject Romney's religion into his work, just as he did here two years ago at a previous gig. It's unclear what Lewis wants to accomplish as a purportedly responsible journalist when it comes to all this.

Whether the reason is anti-Mormon bigotry, political chicanery orchestrated by an opponent, jealousy over his perfectly coiffed head of hair, or legitimate concerns over his past positions (ranging from abortion to health care), Mitt Romney never ceases to arouse anger from certain corners of the conservative movement.

If he's Baptist, as I've heard, does he want to undermine Romney because of his religion? Or, is it simply attention-seeking, like some kid in the back pew of a church with a pea shooter, taking shots and getting looks because he can? Taken as a whole, it's unclear if there's any advancement in thinking in terms of Lewis' work in this area. Remove Romney from the equation and Lewis doesn't appear to have advanced, or evolved as a journalist in this regard at all. Maybe it is just that cult-like Beltway wonder boy mindset causing him to simply look for low-hanging fruit so he can say, hey, look at me, while actually doing little  more than writing the same old thing, time after  time? It's a thought, I'm just not  sure what kind of journalist that makes someone in the end. It  doesn't even rise to the level of good muckraking, as a matter of fact.

At some point, it does seem fair to ask, is what he's doing here really journalism, or merely low-brow entertainment with an increasingly old act?

Democrats To Obama: Blame The Jews In 2012

Wow! I'm not surprised to see Ellison leading the charge.

Democrats are rallying behind the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, with several lawmakers endorsing the protests in New York City that have begun to spread to other cities.

“We share the anger and frustration of so many Americans who have seen the enormous toll that an unchecked Wall Street has taken on the overwhelming majority of Americans while benefitting the super wealthy,” Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said in a joint statement.

Thanks for finally owning up to who you actually are, Democrats.

“Occupy Wall Street” Protester Spews Vile Anti-Semitism: “The Jews Control Wall Street, Fuck The Jews, Fuck Israel”…

Challenge for the left: Find us one instance at a tea party that comes even close to this venom....

Rick Perry: "Galileo got outvoted for a spell"

 

As a Palinista from day one, we're still "undecided," but we loved this from Texas Governor Rick Perry (above) at last night's GOP primary debate: "Galileo got outvoted for a spell … Find out what the science truly is before you start putting the American economy in jeapordy." This morning irony-challenged MSNBC talking heads joked about whether Perry saw himself as Galileo, unaware that it is they themselves, our friends on the left side of the aisle, who are the Roman Inquisitors of our day.

By Sissy Willis of sisu

"You yourself have said the party is in danger of becoming anti-science. Who on this stage is anti-science?" MSNBC whatshisname taunted flat-earther Jon Huntsman at last night's Republican primary debate. Darwinian libertarian that we are, we've been horrified for some time at the left's conflation of the science of evolution that we embrace with the mumbo-jumbo secular religion of anthropogenic global warming/climate change. We've been on the left's AGW case for two decades, at least, since Andrea Mitchell (God bless her now in her time of genuine sorrow) acknowledged her lack of objectivity way back when …

Read full post here.

Vile Attacks Didn't End, LGBTs and Religion

Think Progress is re-living a bit of history for some reason.

How Things Have Changed: A Video Review Of The Vile Attacks Against LGBT Americans During The 1996 DOMA Debate

What they won't tell you is, vile attacks haven't ended in America, they've simply switched targets. The Left might not care if you're gay, but, God help you if you're religious. Then anything and everything is fair game. So much for progressivism.

WASHINGTON -- It seems Rep. Michele Bachmann is under increased scrutiny for her religious views, even as she climbs ever higher in the presidential polls. With tea party support, she is now No. 2 in the Republican polls even though she has been in the race for only a short time. The numero uno, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, is himself the victim of gentler bigotry for his religious views. He is a Mormon. No, I did not say moron. I said Mormon.

Before Palin and Bachmann, There Was Rick Santorum

There's a Glenn Beck, Rick Santorum interview posted over at Santorum's site. Unlike some, I've elected to not be too critical of any legitimate conservative throwing their hat in the ring for 2012. Santorum is a legitimate conservative.

What intrigues me is how quick some are to criticize, or dismiss either him, Michelle Bachmann, or even Sarah Palin. True, the media has done everything it can to shred Palin's reputation. Also, before the more current seeming love affair it's having with Bachmann - one that will not last - she never did receive much credit, or positive attention from the media.

But people forget, before Palin and Bachmann were even around, the media did everything it could to damage Rick Santorum. That some on the Right are so quick to buy into it today demonstrates how effective they can be.

Judge them all however you see fit. But I'd be careful about simply regurgitating what the media has tried to make the conventional wisdom around any conservative with a presence on the national political scene. I try  to judge them all by their own words and deeds, not the less than fine print that always goes along with being a conservative in America today.

Pass The Roasted Granola, The Crunchy Con Is Toast?

Via Stacy McCain. I have no idea if this is true. If it is, it certainly doesn't strike me as a very Christian thing to do.

Using an online pseudonym is always a dangerous game, and now it is being alleged that former National Review/Dallas Morning Journal writer Rod Dreher has jeopardized his career with pseudonymous posts at a religious blog.

Don't Underestimate Radical Islam

I'll take a slight exception to this from Stephen Clark via Instapundit. While trouble on the Arab street during any American intervention may have been hyped under Bush, take a look at this NYTs headline: Religious Radicals’ Turn to Democracy Alarms Egypt. The weak and seemingly confused nature of Obama's current interventions in the Middle-East opens doors for the radicals they previously couldn't access, just as Carter did in Iran. I suspect whatever number of people who would have been making trouble in the Arab street are now planning broader, more long-term efforts to assume control.

It shouldn’t go unnoted that Obama’s military intervention, when juxtaposed with the Afghan riot, nukes the old canard that US military interventions in Arab countries run the risk of provoking the Arab street – not that this ever had much contact with reality, still it existed. With the governors on the Arab street now weakened or entirely off, you’d expect the grand explosion, long prophesied, to have taken place by now.

Updated w/ Correction: Do Taxpayers Subsidize NRO?

Correction and update: I'm recycling this post through the rotation.

Kate O'Beirne, President of the National Review Institute, emailed requesting a correction. I had wrongly claimed that Jim Geraghty at NRO was compensated by NRI's tax exempt dollars. That is incorrect and was sloppy of me. The post has been corrected below.

Additionally, in response to a follow up question, it seems NRO as a website does, as I imagine many do, avail itself of content from think tanks and such which do rely upon tax exempt donations to compensate employees, or fellows, to generate said content. Blogs also use said content for commentary, or postings, in part - so it isn't like there's some one bad actor in this whole thing. But I would argue that, as tax exemptions of one sort, or another, go toward producing some part of the media many of us, including NRO and, I imagine the Daily Caller, use for overall value - the logical position for NRO in this case would seem to me to have been to defend Sarah Palin as a good conservative on the issue in Alaska, not to mostly just pile on the Daily Caller's latest traffic troll of a post invoking Palin's name. Additionally, as tax exemptions do provide, in part, some value to NRO, it might have been prudent for Jim to note that in his post under the circumstances. If it's an issue for Palin, is it not also an issue for self-professed bastion of conservatism, NRO? I did not formally request such an acknowledgement. Ultimately, my earlier ::snicker:: still stands.

Frankly, net net - if Right-side Beltway media wants to dot the i's and cross the t's to cheap shot Sarah Palin, or other serious conservatives, conservative blogs are fairly entitled to take a closer look at those letters, too.

Jim Geraghty just can't stop digging, providing even more foolishness regarding media-based tax credits, not subsidies as regards Sarah Palin and Alaska. But this raises a couple of interesting questions.

At some point (I expect and hope) Sarah Palin is going to go out before the American people as a presidential candidate and argue that government can and must do less and spend less. I just grind my teeth knowing that she’s now set up for the easy snickering response: “Yes, that way government can stick to its core duties, which is providing tax incentives to television programs.”

First to NJ, as I imagine Jimbo might hyperventilate over every new Chris Christie You Tube video. While Christie cut $2 million from NJ's tourism budget, it still spends several million dollars of taxpayer dollars a year to attract tourists. Through some tax credits, Alaska now has Ice Road Truckers, Deadliest Catch, Alaska State Troopers, Palin's reality show and other productions, which often tout Alaska as a beautiful tourist destination, while building a cottage film industry that provides jobs and income to Alaskans. They're even building a sound stage up there, so I hear. Certainly in Jim's mind, if Palin's tax credits are an issue, Christie's 5% hotel tax to fund all that government spending in NJ is an even bigger problem for him, right?

So, how would Christie defend all this spending as a conservative were he to run in 2012? I bet Jimbo will get right on providing us the answer to that troubling question. But the question below this is, perhaps, an even better one.

New Jersey funds tourism through a 5 percent hotel-occupancy tax. The state Travel Industry Association said that will generate about $9 million in the next fiscal year.

How is it Geraghty can pontificate so on the evil of tax credits when (Jim and others are not compensated by tax emempt dollars by NRO)  the very place that employs him relies upon them to bring in the cash to pay him to pontificate? Maybe when he gets done grinding his teeth over that one, he'll let us know what makes him and NRO so special that they have to be subsidized by American taxpayers. I'm not so sure it's as good an investment of our hard earned dollars as it once was, now that I think about it. Are you? ::snicker::

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Rep. Keith Ellison's Shameful Tears At Radicalization Hearing

Were Keith Ellison crying for Mr. Hamdani simply because he was an American hero who did his job on 9/11 - and lost his life for the effort, I would salute this.

The first Muslim elected to Congress broke into tears Thursday as he delivered his opening remarks at a hearing on radicalization in the Muslim American community. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) became heavily emotional as he spoke about a 23-year-old New York Police Department cadet and paramedic named Mohammed Salman Hamdani.

However, I heard the audio. That is not what Ellison was doing. What he was doing was not saluting Hamdani as a brave American victim of 9/11. He was using Hamdani's death to make him into a cliche, a political victim ... to further Ellison's political agenda, not Hamdani's, for all we know. Given Hamdani's noble actions, how is it he deserves to be made into a political victim like that when he can't speak for himself? For all we know, he detested such stunts. I see his Mother became a commentator of some sort and has used his death for political purposes, too.

Evidently the FBI was interested in Hamdani, and I assume other Muslims, at least somewhat, until his remains were found at Ground Zero. I'm sorry, but I don't believe this constitutes bigotry, as she alleged, under the circumstances. It was a devastating attack, had to be sorted out - and that means being thorough, as well as involving more than a bit of panic and confusion. The attackers were Muslims. That is not the FBI's fault. Had the attackers been devout Christians, I've no doubt any known Evangelicals in the building would have been looked into, too. Were they Jewish, does anyone believe the FBI wouldn't have been interested in the five Isrealis who died on 9/11? Of course they would have felt compelled to ask questions. That was their job.

While most families of 9/11 victims are accorded a special respect, that status hasn't always shielded Hamdani and Ashrafi from bigotry. Hamdani said because her son was a Muslim, authorities investigated whether he was connected to the 9/11 plot. FBI agents interrogated Talat Hamdani and her now deceased husband. "He was an NYPD cadet, he was an EMT, he was a first responder, and he wasn't given dignity," Hamdani said.

So, five Isrealis died on 9/11. It's been estimated that between 400 - 500 Jews died. Per this article, a full seven years after 9/11 many Arabs were still blaming the Jews for 9/11 in 2008. Should we cry all the harder for them simply because of that? Because of someone else's deranged hatred? Or, should we simply now embrace them as Americans and innocent victims who lost their lives in a despicable act of terrorism by Islamic extremists?

Some number of nuts actually blamed and still blame America in the form of the Bush adminstration for 9/11. Would it elevate, or soil the memory of all the Americans who died on 9/11 to mourn them somehow more especially for that? That would not elevate them. It would demean them. And by using the late Mr. Hamdani as a prop in a personal political stunt, that is precisely what Ellison did to him.

Mourning Mr. Hamdani as a noble, self sacrificing American is not simply the only tribute such a man, or any patriot deserves. It is the only tribute befitting an American hero, which is precisely what Mr. Hamdaniwas. He was victimized more than enough on 9/11. His memory should not have to endure being made out as a victim in any other cause, whether it's that of a fellow Muslim who happens to be a politician, or his Mother's. As I said, Mr. Hamdani was victimized more than enough on 9/11 by radical Muslims. They are and were the only culprits complicit in his death, not the FBI, nor American citizens, or America, as a whole.

“Mr. Hamdani bravely sacrificed his life to try to help others on 9/11. [Pause] After the tragedy some people tried to smear his character [pause] solely because of his Islamic faith.

“Some people spread false rumors and speculated that he was involved with the attackers because he was a Muslim," Ellison continued. "But it was only when his remains were identified that these lies were exposed.

“Mohammed Salman Hamdani was a fellow American who gave his life for other Americans. His life should not be just a member of an ethnic group or just a member of a religion, but as an American who gave everything for his fellow Americans.”