Is It All Identity Politics Now?
I weary of demographic groups and identity politics.
If you are Evangelical . . .
. . . your hatred is showing. Says Catherina J.:
I myself am a Roman Catholic and I cannot tell you the amount of times I have heard that I belong to a “cult” and am not a “christian”.
. . . not to mention an apparent lack of mental acuity. Says Jonathon Adler:
What does surprise me, however, is that more evangelicals fail to see through Huck’s increasingly transparent and disingenuous appeals.
So . . .
. . . Doug Wead thinks Huck and Romney are a “great team.”
The most interesting statistic to come out of the Nevada primary tonight is the dismal 8 percent showing for Gov. Mike Huckabee.
This shows what we all should have suspected that the Evangelical-Mormon estrangement cuts both ways. And it sends a very clear message to both the Romney and Huckabee camps. There is no way either one will win in a general election without having the other one on the ticket.
If you are Romney do you really want to team up with the characteristics I have just described? That has been my concern all along. Anti-Mormon thinking and voting just do not do us proud. We end up looking foolish and close-minded and any other number of things.
Now, the fact of the matter is, things are not nearly as bad as these links paint them. There are plenty of smart Evangelical voters out there, but I am beginning to think that like the reasonable moderate Muslims need to kick the AQ types out of the club, we Evangelicals need to start showing a few of our own the door.
K-Lo says it best…
Identity politics is bad news. Today seems like a perfect day to reflect on that.
Best MLK Day line I have ever read.
Lowell: Weariness is the order of the day, it seems. I had a telephone conversation with a newspaper reporter today who is interested in this blog’s subject. As I addressed topic after topic in response to her questions, using our past posts and links, I realized how long this discussion has been going on, how fascinating (and exhausting) it has been, and how ready I am to see some signs of progress, or milestones, or — dare I say it? — improvement in the public’s general enlightenment.
I’m still waiting. Maybe the situation will look a little clearer after February 5. It may not look better, but it should be clearer.
Some Interesting General Reading Added At The Last Minute…
John Mark Reynolds uses religion as the basis for some fascinating analogizing. Ah, reason!
The discussion of our politics in Great Britain is fascinating, and heating up. Well done.
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madison on 22 Jan 2008 at 8:08 am #
Oooh wow. You just compared evangelicals to Al Qaeda. I am now officially uncoditionally opposed to Mitt Romney, who is now FINALLY running the campaign that he should have in the beginning too little too late, just to spite people like you. You guys are just as hateful against evangelicals as you accuse evangelicals are of being against Mormons. Quite simply, you people are hateful, loathsome, evil human beings. Good bye, good night, and good luck. I know that you are not going to approve this comment because you usually don’t, and you can go ahead and shut down my account because there is no reason to come back here anymore.
The best part of this election is that evangelicals are now seeing what the GOP, especially Roman Catholics, really think of them and how little regard they actually have for issues that evangelicals care about. Hopefully evangelicals are reading stuff like this and will take David Kuo’s advice to drop out of politics. Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, or Hillary Clinton are all quite frankly better than you wicked liars deserve.
JLFuller on 22 Jan 2008 at 8:25 am #
I understand Doug Wead is a big time historian, but his News Max piece is a bit off the mark when he said
If the Republican party has to rely on Mike Huckbee’s mug on the ticket then we will loose. The American voter will not countenance a bigoted candidate. Every goof ball comment he has made, his religious denominations active hate campaigns and poor showings in non-Evangelical states makes Huckabee the poorest choice for a VP on a Republican ticket. The Republican party’s best chance is to distance itself from this guy. Just remember only about 25% of the population defines itself as Evangelical.
Other presidential candidates have been somewhat less identified with Evangelicals, GWB excepted. But Huckabee has the highest Evangelical profile since WWII. Is there anyone out there who thinks the Dems won’t drag that up? Every left wing darling group who can claim to be a victim of Evangelical demonizing would have an opportunity to tell the world about it while shaking his trembling victim finger at the Republicans. It is going to be tough enough for Romney or McCain to win given the dismal performance of the recent Republican Congress without putting a millstone around his neck.
JLFuller on 22 Jan 2008 at 6:26 pm #
I would like to address Madison’s concern as posted above. The general Evangelical membership is not the problem. I have been as tough on Evangelical leadership as anyone, but my issue has never been about theology. It has always been about the behavior of those who claim to represent Evangelicals who oppose Mitt Romney’s candidacy on theological grounds and their attendant distortions about Mormon doctrine and practice.
There have been many fine, and I believe Christ-like, people who have disassociated themselves from Evangelical leaders who mix religion and politics. But as far as the general membership goes, I have no more idea what the average Evangelical thinks than they do about what I think. I thought I knew but have been proven wrong often enough to change my mind. But I do know how many of them have voted and why, at least according to the entrance and exit polls. It is those people who I believe have erred and it those who claim to be leaders and speak for Evangelicals who have left the bitter taste in my mouth. Their behavior is fair game.
Madison also brought up Catholics. Religious intolerance has been a hallmark of Christianity for 2000 years. But things are changing. When we drop the “you are going to hell because you don’t believe like I do” nonsense then walls come down and relationships are repaired. Religious differences will always exist but they should not divide us. We are better than that.
CarlH on 22 Jan 2008 at 6:32 pm #
Not exactly sure what Michael Ramirez is trying say about Republicans by this cartoon for tomorrow’s Investors’ Business Daily, but it is certainly germane to The Question . . . and the issue of identity politics generally.
CarlH on 22 Jan 2008 at 6:42 pm #
Better link (?) to the Ramirez cartoon