Letters to the Editor
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Friends, It's Time for a Lesson in Southern Morality
Dear Friends:
Many of you were not raised in the Southern way nor do you understand the utility of confession in Southern politics. A confession, even a false one, covers a multitude of sins. Ergo we watch vapid liars, crooks, and cranks parade across the political stage as we gape, astonished at their mendacity, and amazed that no one else gets it. Tom Delay: born again and an honored speaker at many a Christian gathering. Why in the midst of his Texas legal problems, a local fundamentalist megachurch here in Houston had him lead Bible studies. George W. Bush, born again and certified cleansed by none other than that paragon of Christian virtue, Jerry Falwell. Newt Gingrich, born again? Maybe not, but married three times he was, and Pope James Dobson absolved him of his sins. Mr. Dowd is employing a time honored Southern tradition that gives everyone, even vapid liars, a second chance. As I was raised in a Southern Baptist tradition, and many of Salon's readers haven't a clue what that means, let me fill you in. Mr. Dowd is engaging in an altar call confession except rather than walking the aisle, then weeping uncontrollably on the pastor's shoulder, Dowd expects that his painful "revelation," his soul searing "introspection" made public in print, will right his past wrongs. If you hang around a Southern fundamentalist church long enough, you'll occasionally see the same person walking the aisle everytime an appeal is made for the congregation to "rededicate" their lives. Maybe in Dowd's case, the cure will "take," but my money is on him NOT ending up in Africa anytime soon. Follow the cash, and at the trail's end, there you will find Mr. Dowd, an opportunist till the end of his time.