Letters to the Editor
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Surely Not!
Is anyone outside of the evangelical community surprised that Bush has been and continues to be a great pretender? Just as Osama sees his "base" as a means to an end, so does Bush.
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huh?
Okay, I've reached the grand age of 45 without ever hearing the phrase "shined on." Is this a regionalism from a region I've never visited? Anyone?
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Not surprising
I think the GOP has little intention of actually putting the Christian Right's full platform in place. The GOP raises a lot of money by promising to eliminate abortion and contraception, persecute gays and lesbians, and in general make conservative Christianity the law of the land. You'd think that with all three branches of government in Republican hands, we'd have seen more of this agenda actually enacted. But it's largely been put off. Republicans pay lip service to the Religious Right, say the right code words, nibble away at the margins of these issues, and even pass the occasional bit of red meat legislation. But when push comes to shove they haven't truly followed through, blaming liberals, Democrats, and the convenient bogeyman of "activist judges" for their own failure to get this agenda enacted into law.
This has been a successful strategy so far, getting religious bodies to the polls and money rolling into the GOP's coffers. And the GOP hasn't had to do much except spew toxic rhetoric and sponsor some bad legislation, which it would have done anyhow. More importantly, the Religious Right hasn't yet interfered with the GOP's true goal of enriching its leadership and maintaining itself in power.
But the Christianists may at last be waking up. Their agenda has not been put into place even after years of Republican dominance of government. Adding insult to injury, the ungrateful GOP won't even give the Christian Right's leaders the respect they so desperately crave. I don't think they'll stand for it much longer. The GOP will have to devote its resources to doing their bidding or lose their support. Either way, the delicate balancing act between the corporatist wing and the religious wing of the party will be upset. The resulting purge will be interesting indeed.
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Why
does this surprise anyone? These guys have been nihilistic from the get go. Playing everyone and everything for political gain. Their intentions were placed in writing long before they cheated their way into power in 2000.
One has to wonder if Wolfowitz's written intentions were dealt with in the same fashion by the "progressives" in power then. Do you suppose that the neo-cons were also called, "ridiculous, out of control and just plain goofy"?
Bush and company have proven to be the type of guys/gals who place apples with razor blades in them to unsuspecting "dirty trick-or-treaters", and slap you on the back while stealing your wallet. As Keith Olberman says: "the worst persons in the world"
Bush bashing? Madonna ragazzi! You can't make this stuff up. It seems as if everyone who has left this administration's job stranglehold has divulged the sordid truth about these bozos. The Religious Right has been taken for the same ride as the rest of us. The difference is that we had it figured out and they keep praying for a miracle...
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Duh! I think The Only Ones Who Didn't Know This.....
Were the kooks in the religious right! What utter morons!
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Language use -
although I see somebody's beat me to it, "officials shined on the faithful" left me befuddled. I, however, am 60, so am allowed occassional, even frequent, befuddlement.
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When the moderates are silent the radicals speak for all
and if religious people lose sight of their own religions' intention (peace on earth) they are EASILY duped into following the most corrupt, selfish, hate-filled leaders on earth. All Bush ever has to do is say he's a Christian and they follow in lockstep, like sheep to the slaughter. When we consider that Jesus NEVER condone war (never ever) it becomes clear that there is nothing more pathetic and sad then a religious person advocating war, especially in the 21st century. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and they repeat it over and over and over and over and over...
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but ...
When we consider that Jesus NEVER condone war (never ever)
But he did advocate self-defense:
"[Jesus] said to them, 'But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one' " (Luke 22:36).
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Language
I am also 60, never befuddled and I heard a variant of this expression (Don't shine me on) fairly often when I was young. I don't know the etiology of the expression, but I grew up in the Detroit suburbs in the 50s and 60s, and use of the variant was fairly common. I went to Brown University which, while small, mostly white and mostly upper middle class, was quite diverse geographically. I heard the variant there a few times mostly from kids from Chicago, Milwaukee, etc.
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The Devil Made Me Do It
The Bush doctrine is all about winning at any cost. Fundamentalist religion is all about believing at any cost. Mix them together and what have you got? Bibbity-Bobbity-Bo.
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Shine me on, dead man
I can't find a good link to the origins of the phrase, but I have probably seen it in a Stephen King book, at the very least. Imagine going to someone with a concern and they nod and smile and understand and say they will do their utmost to take care of it. And then they don't.
Brother, they just shined you on.
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But...
I thought the Bush admin was full of religious nuts?
Wow. This must be a real shock to all the "progressives".
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Nicely done, Mr. Franken
Al Franken had his finger on the pulse of this story years ago when he wrote "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them." He has a nice evidence-based chapter (in other words based on empirical reality rather than blind faith) where he lays out his argument that Bush and most of the neocons he surrounds himself with are just poseurs. Amazing what one can deduce from facts and a bit of basic logic. Even more amazing is the fact that faith-based folks can be so easily duped (repeatedly) because they let their belief trump what their eyes and ears are telling them.