Oh, another Values Voter Summit, a gathering of social conservatives that stands for "faith, family, and opportunity for all." Yes, well, it's actually one that stands for a particular strand of Christian faith, a particular kind of family, and opportunity for all except for those who are G, B, L, or T, or those undocumented that do their lawns, build their roofs, or clean their hotel rooms.
Checking out the list of speakers, I saw a number of right-wing has-beens, a symptom of the Summit's growing irrelevance to national politics and the US political culture:
Rep. Michele Bachman (R-MN), under the haze of a Congressional ethics probe, is not running for re-election in 2014. She recently made the false claim that the Obama administration is arming Al Qaeda in Syria, and added that this was a sign of the end times (yes, please, Jesus, come take her away). Of the 59 Bachman statements Politifact evaluated, 8 were deemed mostly false, 21 false, and 16 "pants on fire." What an icon of truthiness.
Gary Bauer, head of American Values, and one of the most strident anti-gay guys in the US. His position has becoming increasingly marginal as a growing number of Americans, even conservatives, simply don't share his homophobia (see, for example, this Pew report).
Glenn Beck, booted by Fox a couple of years ago when advertisers finally could no longer stomach his loony-tunes musings. He continues his asinine conspiracy theorizing via his Blaze media network, reaching a smaller, but apparently more devoted audience.
Jim DeMint, a Senator (R-SC) who suddenly resigned at the beginning of this year and took the position of president at the conservative think-tank Heritage Foundation. Evidently he prefers the well-paid bully pulpit to the harder work of governance. Last May Heritage published a report asserting that comprehensive immigration reform would cost trillions of dollars and grant undocumented migrants that now pilloried status, "amnesty." Critics on both the left and right panned the report's math. They also noted that one of the authors, Jason Richwine, has regurgitated the 19th century racist theory of phrenologists who believed in a racial and ethnic hierarchy of intelligence (Hispanics and blacks are on the bottom). As Jamelle Bouie suggests, his move to "exercise power from a different perch has backfired, and on this issue, [he is] a more marginal figure than he was in the Senate."
Allen West, a one-term Representative (R-FL) known for a host of outrageous comments that probably spelled his failed re-election bid in 2012. Along with saying that a number of his Democratic colleagues were out and out commies (Joe McCarthy must have smiled in his grave), he said
Cruz tells it like it is. Obama has dictatorial ambitions:
Cruz is a funny guy, even while reminding of us of what we must fear:
Cruz mocks the French, a sure sign of fidelity to all those who truly love God and the US, and who see the two as joined at the hip:
Speaking of God, you should know, according to the Values Voter Summit, that a "war is raging for the soul of America."
I suspect there's only one group fighting this war, the sponsors of the Summit. The rest of us are just hoping for reason to reign in DC.
Rep. Michele Bachman (R-MN), under the haze of a Congressional ethics probe, is not running for re-election in 2014. She recently made the false claim that the Obama administration is arming Al Qaeda in Syria, and added that this was a sign of the end times (yes, please, Jesus, come take her away). Of the 59 Bachman statements Politifact evaluated, 8 were deemed mostly false, 21 false, and 16 "pants on fire." What an icon of truthiness.
Gary Bauer, head of American Values, and one of the most strident anti-gay guys in the US. His position has becoming increasingly marginal as a growing number of Americans, even conservatives, simply don't share his homophobia (see, for example, this Pew report).
Glenn Beck, booted by Fox a couple of years ago when advertisers finally could no longer stomach his loony-tunes musings. He continues his asinine conspiracy theorizing via his Blaze media network, reaching a smaller, but apparently more devoted audience.
Jim DeMint, a Senator (R-SC) who suddenly resigned at the beginning of this year and took the position of president at the conservative think-tank Heritage Foundation. Evidently he prefers the well-paid bully pulpit to the harder work of governance. Last May Heritage published a report asserting that comprehensive immigration reform would cost trillions of dollars and grant undocumented migrants that now pilloried status, "amnesty." Critics on both the left and right panned the report's math. They also noted that one of the authors, Jason Richwine, has regurgitated the 19th century racist theory of phrenologists who believed in a racial and ethnic hierarchy of intelligence (Hispanics and blacks are on the bottom). As Jamelle Bouie suggests, his move to "exercise power from a different perch has backfired, and on this issue, [he is] a more marginal figure than he was in the Senate."
Allen West, a one-term Representative (R-FL) known for a host of outrageous comments that probably spelled his failed re-election bid in 2012. Along with saying that a number of his Democratic colleagues were out and out commies (Joe McCarthy must have smiled in his grave), he said
These Planned Parenthood women, the Code Pink women, and all of these women have been neutering American men and bringing us to the point of this incredible weakness. . . .We are not going to have our men become subservient [see here for more silliness].But other invited speakers are up-and-coming darlings of the hard right. Ted Cruz is one. The Values Voter Summit just anointed him in its straw poll for the 2016 presidential elections. He took 42% of the votes, with Dr. Ben Carson (who??) in a distant second with 13%. These straw polls have been good predictors of electoral failures.
2009 Mike HuckabeeWhy do people with the right values--the rest of us have the wrong ones, don't you know--like Cruz so much? Here's some choice lines from his Summit speech, and why they likely worked for his audience.
2010 Mike Pence
2011 Ron Paul (Tony Perkins sniffed that Paul won only because he bussed in libertarian supporters)
2012 Mike Huckabee
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| http://www.salon.com/2013/06/19/what_if_we_demanded_ted_cruzs_papers/ |
Cruz tells it like it is. Obama has dictatorial ambitions:
This is an administration that seems bound and determined to violate every single one of our Bill of Rights. I don't know that they have yet violated the Third Amendment, but I expect them to start quartering soldiers in peoples' homes soon.Senator Cruz must be powerful to get around President Hussein Obama's clampdown on the First Amendment right to free speech.
Cruz is a funny guy, even while reminding of us of what we must fear:
So this afternoon President Obama has invited the Senate Republicans to the White House. So after leaving here, I'm going to be going to the White House. I will make a request. If I'm never seen again, please send a search and rescue team. I very much hope by tomorrow morning I don't wake up amidst the Syrian rebels.Oh, please be careful Senator Cruz. You've been targeted for oppression, but you bravely accept the risks, all delivered in dark humor. What a non-subservient manly man!
Cruz mocks the French, a sure sign of fidelity to all those who truly love God and the US, and who see the two as joined at the hip:
Our foreign policy is detente, which I'm pretty sure is French for surrender.Oh, those frigging French. Please, Senator Cruz, give us Freedom Fries again!
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| http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/ 0,28804,2061530_2061531_2061545,00.html |
I suspect there's only one group fighting this war, the sponsors of the Summit. The rest of us are just hoping for reason to reign in DC.
2 comments:
Well put!
Ted Cruz sounds like a pretty funny guy.
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