The Cynicism Roundup

My household has been dealing with a recurrence of the dreaded “explosive kitten diarrhea,” and because of all the associated cleaning (of carpets, walls, bedspreads, couches, kittens, etc), tonight I am too tired to find anything much to blog about.

But here are a few brief items that I found rather interesting:

First, here’s are some selections from Bush aides called evangelicals ‘nuts,’ ‘goofy’, WorldNetDaily’s article about David Kuo’s book Tempting Faith.

Asked if White House officials really mocked conservative Christians, Kuo told Lesley Stahl, “Oh, absolutely. You name the important Christian leader and I have heard them mocked by serious people in serious places.”
Specifically, Kuo says people in the White House political affairs office referred to Pat Robertson as “insane,” Jerry Falwell as “ridiculous” and that James Dobson “had to be controlled.”
[…]
The White House calls Kuo’s book “ridiculous” […].

And presumably, the WH also stated that Kuo was insane, and has to be controlled. But hey, that stuff that Kuo said that they said about Robertson, Falwell, and Dobson is completely untrue!

Anyway, although it seems to me that the most explosive charges in the book deal with the way that religion was cynically made to serve political ends, the wingnuts seem most outraged at being called names. For example, here’s part of a column by Jason T. Christy, publisher of the Christian conservative magazine The Church Report:

David Kuo, a former deputy in the White House Office of the Faith Based Initiative, has taken it upon himself to author a book where he maintains that the Faith Based Initiative falls terribly short of it promise and that White House officials routinely mock prominent Evangelicals describing them as: “nuts, goofy and boorish.”

And for taking upon himself to maintain such things, Christy has declared Kuo to be “an addition to the Axis of Evil.”  (Seriously.  In fact, Christy titled his piece “David Kuo: An Additon to the Axis of Evil.”)

But Kuo has done more than say that WH officials describe Evangelicals as goofy, boorish, nuts.  Much more!

Don’t be fooled by Kuo; he is someone who has been described as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Don’t let his smarmy tones and pouty eyes fool you. Having done campaign work for several Kennedys, having contradicted himself and his own letters, Kuo is being used to try and prop up the liberal left, to breathe life into lifeless campaigns and his master literary work is a mere smokescreen. Questioning the faith and motivation of this administration is wrong.

Pouty eyes???

But remember, my children, you must NEVER question this administration’s motivations, because doing so makes you just as bad as Iraq, Iran, or North Korea.  And we all know what happened to Saddam after he question the Bush White House’s motivations (the talk about him having WMDs was just a clever ruse to cover the real reason for the invasion)!

But anyway, speaking of James Dobson, it seems that he will be safely on a cruise ship in the Alaskan waters this summer. (Another Focus on the Family moneymaker, or a White House ploy to control the Dobster? YOU make the call!)

Focus on the Family Alaska Cruise – 2007
I ‘m excited to announce that Focus on the Family is planning an Alaskan cruise in July 2007 – we’d love to have you join us! […]
I’m pleased to report that we already have a stellar line-up of speakers and singers who have committed to the cruise: Dr. James Dobson, Focus President and CEO Jim Daly, Dr. Emerson and Sarah Eggerichs, and a special humorist to be announced later.

Anybody have any guesses as to who the “special humorist” might be? (I’m thinking that it might be Ann Coulter, but having her on the same boat as Dobson might be tempting God a little too much).
Oh, and speaking of cynically using non-profits for political ends, it seems that ol’ Jack Abramoff was doing just that. Here’s part of the Wash Post’s story on one of the many, many ongoing Republican scandals.

Report Says Nonprofits Sold Influence to Abramoff
Five conservative nonprofit organizations, including one run by prominent Republican Grover Norquist, “appear to have perpetrated a fraud” on taxpayers by selling their clout to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Senate investigators said in a report issued yesterday.
The Senate report released yesterday states that the nonprofit groups probably violated their tax-exempt status “by laundering payments and then disbursing funds at Mr. Abramoff’s direction; taking payments in exchange for writing newspaper columns or press releases that put Mr. Abramoff’s clients in a favorable light; introducing Mr. Abramoff’s clients to government officials in exchange for payment; and agreeing to act as a front organization for congressional trips paid for by Mr. Abramoff’s clients.”
The report bolstered earlier revelations that Abramoff laundered money through the nonprofits to pay for congressional trips and paid Norquist to arrange meetings for Abramoff’s clients with government officials including White House senior adviser Karl Rove.
The groups named in the report are Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform; the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, which was co-founded by Norquist and Gale Norton before she became secretary of the interior; Citizens Against Government Waste; the National Center for Public Policy Research, a spinoff of the Heritage Foundation; and Toward Tradition, a Seattle-based religious group founded by Rabbi Daniel Lapin.

Et tu, Heritage Foundation spin-off? And man, I can see using tax reform group, religious groups, and anti-government waste groups to launder money and pay for congressional trips, but I expected better of a Republican environmental group.

Here’s another interesting bit:

Abramoff traded on Norquist’s cachet, at one point referring to him in an e-mail as a “hard-won asset” of his lobbying empire. In exchange for Norquist’s opposition to taxes on Brown-Forman products, Norquist recommended that a $50,000 donation be made to Americans for Tax Reform, according to an Abramoff e-mail.
“What is most important, however, is that this matter is kept discreet,” Abramoff wrote to a colleague at the Preston, Gates & Ellis law firm. “We do not want the opponents to think that we are trying to buy the taxpayer movement.”

Heaven forbid that anyone ever get such an idea about Abramoff, or any of the people he was pimping out, such as his hard-won asset dear friend Grover!

Anyway, now that we all know just what Grover is, let’s find out his price.

Norquist wrote an op-ed piece, published in the Washington Times, as part of an extensive Abramoff campaign for Channel One, which broadcasts educational programming and advertising into public school classrooms. An Abramoff e-mail to Norquist offered him $1,500 for an op-ed, and another e-mail exchange suggested up to $3,000 to buy an “economic analysis.”

I don’t mean to criticize, but Jack could have had Jeff Gannon for the whole weekend for that price – and Jeff would have thrown in the op-ed for free!

And speaking of Jeff, you may recall that he managed to get an interview with Karl Rove. There was a lot of speculation about how he managed that, but it now seems that it was probably just a professional courtesy.

Posted by s.z. on Tuesday, October 17th, 2006 at 4:55 am

I’ve got to ask. Really I do. Is there really a Rabbi Daniel Lapin? I also find it hard to believe that this is the guy’s real name. OK, so I can see someone whose family name is a French word that means ‘rabbit’, but Rabbi Rabbit?

Left by Serge on October 17th, 2006

Can I add a nail to the Christian-right coffin?
You’ve probably heard of the Michelle Bachmann/Patty Wetterling race in Minnesota, and how Bush and the RNC are pouring gobs of money into a race between a crackpot and a Democrat (duh…is there another kind?).
Thought you’d like to read my take on a speech Bachmann gave at a church the other day and why as a Christian, I cringed

Left by actor212 on October 17th, 2006

As I see most things, the most rabid purveyors and proponents of anything spoil its appeal to the open-minded. Why should religion be different?
And seriously, pouty eyes? Dude, WTF?

Left by heydave on October 17th, 2006

“people in the White House political affairs office referred to Pat Robertson as “insane,” Jerry Falwell as “ridiculous” and that James Dobson “had to be controlled.”
Well, it took them six years, but finally somebody in the White House actually got something right. Robertson is, indeed, insane. It is now official, and, more, it shows that this country is not divided on everything. On the other two, Falwell and Dobson, this statement on Robertson shows that there is the possibility of further negotiation. If the left can concede that Falwell is ridiculous and drop its hard-line insistence that he is a complete buffoon, maybe the right can concede, in the interests of a new bi-partisanship effort, that the best way to control Dobson is by lobotomizing him.

Left by tomg on October 17th, 2006

Yes, the WH take on our religious “leaders” is quite accurate! So how cold they get Iraq so wrong?

Left by Kathy on October 17th, 2006

I’m guessing if the interview with Jack and Jeff had ever taken place, Jeff would have had to talk directly into the microphone.

Left by mmm...lemonheads on October 17th, 2006

Unholy s**t!!!
Hey actor212, you should stop cringing and get on the horn to the IRS, and ask them to focus like a laser beam on that church’s 501c3 status!! (Just tell them the Lord put it in your heart to make the call.)

Left by trashfire on October 17th, 2006

Hey, actor212, thanks! I enjoyed that. Hey, s.z. I’m scared for your poor little kitties. Whatever they have sounds awful – for them and you. Please let us know ASAP how things are working out.

Left by BeginningToWonder on October 17th, 2006

“Pouty eyes.” Perhaps he’s related ti the Sandman character, the Corinthian (not that he pouts much).

Left by Marq on October 18th, 2006

Would it be wrong of me to wish for SpongeDob’s Lurveboat to sink, Titanic-like, in the frigid Bering sea? Probably, so I wont wish that… much. Besides, the damage to the environment would be significant. Incidentally, they won’t announce the “special humorist to be announced later” until the voyage is actually underway–that way, no one can escape. That can only mean one thing. It’s Dennis Miller.

Left by Marq on October 18th, 2006

Trapped on a boat with Dobber and Miller? How deliciously eeeeevil.

Left by heydave on October 18th, 2006

Since Kuo is obviously half Asian, the “pouty eyes” reference is no doubt code to the faithful to remind them that “he’s not really one of us”. Yellow peril and all that, you know.

Left by Carmen Sutra on October 18th, 2006

Don’t give your young cat milk, they can’t digest the lactose.

Left by Big Al on October 18th, 2006

It’s been said many times, but I’ve gotta ask again, what would it take to get the true believers off the Bush bus? If Bush and Dobson took turns buggering Jason Christy’s child would he blame the child? Jesus, will these idiots ever realize that they’re being used?

Left by Gus on October 18th, 2006

I used to have issues with runny kitty poop. I heard that soft cat food often is the culprit. Since then, I’ve fed my cats only dry food. It’s nutritionally all they need – I sweeten the pot with the occasional kitty treat – and since then have never had anything even loose to clean up. Plus, my cat never throws up, which is good, because that’s my one thing I just can’t deal with.
This insulting of the Religious Leaders is almost better than the Foley scandal. They can spin it all they want to, but a lot of those people had to know they were being mocked. This came at a good time; some of the less stupid among them were already starting to grumble about how they were just being used.
I hope your youthful felines are better today.

Left by Candy on October 18th, 2006