Guest blogged by Frank Schaeffer
Dear Republicans: I used to be one of you. In fact you’d likely have no “Tea Bag” movement if it hadn’t been for my dad and me, and many others who, back in the 1970s and 80s, instigated the rise of the Religious Right. Dad and I were leaders of that movement. Then, after 1985, I got out, quit, left. But I hadn’t given up on the Republican Party altogether. As late as 2000 I worked to get McCain elected in the primaries instead of W Bush. (Later, as a “thank you”, McCain wrote a long and wonderful endorsement of one of my books about the military family.) When I saw the lies told about McCain — and others — by the Bush people and my old buddies on the Religious Right I finally quit.
These days I’m an Obama supporter. I’m also horribly aware that what we did, in bringing the Republican Party together with the Religious Right, is the root of one of the great American tragedies: the takeover of the Republican Party by very sick, simple and religiously deluded fundamentalists. And now you are out of ideas to the extent that all Republicans stand for is, well, nothing but obstruction.
What you’ve been doing in the Senate to stall health care reform is just too sad for words. And I take it personally. Who should I send my rising impossible-to-pay health insurance premiums to? Dick Armey?…
To the Republican jokesters in the Senate spending hours reading amendments out loud while trying to quash my health care by stalling, I add my voice to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who said from the floor of the Senate: “We have two wars, global warming, we have a twelve trillion national debt and the best the Republicans can do is try to bring the United States Government to a halt!”
After that stalling nonsense you Republicans turned to a “Prayer cast” to pray the health care reform to a halt. And, in that, we saw the absurdity of the convergence of all that is wrong with you. You are in bed with religious flakes from C-Street (“The Family”) to the whole evangelical, amorally bankrupt, and hate-driven anti-gay movement and its whole cast of “characters”. You are the people who like torture to be legal but not health care that’s affordable. So to stall action in the Senate you brought in a bunch of right wing flake preachers who’d pray for defeat of health care for the poor!
Well, it’s time to call it truthfully: the Republican Party is the enemy of America. You aren’t just another party; you are an insurrection against law, living and love. You trade in hate and fear and religious mumbo-jumbo. You trade in “death panel” lies. You do all this instead of the job you were elected to do, which is govern.
You are doing to our whole country what Bush did to New Orleans after Katrina: looking the other way and playing politics while the rest of us go down.
You Republicans are the ones who — to use your very own Sarah Palin’s words — are not the “real Americans.” You are members of a lie-based evangelical paranoid cult.
Enough! If prayer is what you call for now, here’s my prayer: May the Republican Party with its lies, hate, stagnation and obstructionism be swept away by our first black President’s success against all odds!
Frank Schaeffer is the author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back
His previous articles at The BRAD BLOG can be read here…
Amen!
This editorial along with Keith Olbermann’s from last night have defiantly hit home with me.
I am just beside myself with disbelief over the actions of several Insurance Whores, sorry, I meant Democrat Senators, along with every Republican Senator this week.
Thank you Frank! Your voice reflects a lot of passion to the mood in this Country at the moment.
Truer religious AND political words have never been spoken.
The Republican Party should change its name to the Ringling Brothers Circus.
Except the circus performers would do a better job governing, and I’d really hate to insult the clowns. The CIRCUS clowns, that is.
I agree that the Republican party has become an enemy of the country. Their actions are diametrically opposed to the good of the country.
I don’t understand how it is legal for the Senate (or Congress) to mandate by law that one must buy insurance from private vendors and can fine one through the IRS if one does not. This is unprecedented.
And the corporate hucksters who own our media and our congress play along with the evangelical movement because whenever these thugs are in power, they get to loot the national treasury while the evangelicals look the other way. Middle class be damned (literally)!
It seems the evangelicals want nothing more than access to our fine military for purposes of bringing about Armageddon and their own precious (and false) rapture.
How self centered and un-Christian can one get?
As much as I’ve always like Brad, and come here often for great reporting, lately I come looking for NEW from Frank Schaeffer.
The Republican party, as we grew up knowing it, is nothing compared to what it was. If they continue down this path, they are likely to go by way of the Dinosuars. They wont be missed.
Thank you Brad and Frank for all the wonderful stuff you do!
Frank.
You are right about the Republicans, but if the Democrats are less bad it is only by a small amount.
Besides pandering to Christian crazies the Republican fully support the interests of the kleptocratic elite that make up no more than 1% of the population of your nation. They are the natural party for these elites to support. However if the Republican manage to alienate enough non-elite voters to lose power, the Democrats are there as the backup party. When the Republicans are in power the Democrats criticise them for doing things against the interests of the non-elite and not doing thing in their interests , but when they gain power they pursue exactly the same polices.
Gore Vidal said, one party with two right wings called Democrat and Republican.
Quote from Frank’s article…
BRAVO! Frank…outstanding insight…
Dear Frank: Stop Hating Americans, and Start Bringing us Together.
By success I guess Frank means a surge in the “right” war: Afghanistan, and promoting a drone war in Pakistan.
Success also maybe lies in the fact that Democrats have had Congress since 2006. And the wars comtinue to escalate.
Maybe success also lies in the promotion of the lies of 9/11 and a hyped global war of terror…
Or does it lie in the success of Ben Bernanke (another Bush appointee) and his Federal Reserve policies for which Obama is a proud supporter.
Does success include TARP and stimulus package?
Does success lie in the continuation of Bush era policies that unermine our fabric of society, like habeus corpus, rendition, and torture?
Frank, I would hope you dont see all our problems as Republican based, and if you do, please rethink your position. We are all under the big hand of corruption, and it does not stick to one party. Bringing us together is the only hope.
“The people are not the problem, the problem is the problem” -ghandi
the republicans and the democrats are all the same. there is no difference. all any of them care about is winning and gett8ing re elected. i would like to see a provision in this health care bill that requires the congress to live on the same insurence as the rest of us instead of getting lifetime to the max insurance for free. stop playing politics. it is all the same. the real truth is that neither side will work with the other to get real health care. the republicans cant get the dems to negotiate so the can only block and the dems want to rush this bill through in the night without even thinking about it. how can you rush something as important as health care with artificial deadlines. this is working and all of us will lose. but dont blame the republicans; both sides are to blame.
Walter Bachner said:
Look, there is no love lost here for Democrats. But if you’re going to tell me “the republicans cant get the dems to negotiate”, after the Dems had reached out, for months, allowing virtually every Republican amendment to be brought up in conference, after Obama reached out to them again and again, then I’m calling u out as a wingnut, or someone so desperately misinformed that u might as well be.
U then go on to say, “dems want to rush this bill through in the night”. After which I’ll say, yup, you’re definitely a wingnut. If a 6 month (or more!) open debate on this, going through 5 committees, etc. is “rushing this bill through in the night”, then yeah, you’re a wingnut and your phony “the republicans and the democrats are all the same” rhetoric is little more than a cover for your partisan wingnutery.
Sorry, that stuff may work on other sites, but we call out such nonsense here.
Dear Frank: Why do you constantly capitalize on your father’s achievements and reputation while trying to harm his legacy? I know that you will always have an audience among the hate-evangelical Christianity crowd (as they revel in people like you), but all I’ve read from you over the years is hate and hurt. Whether you are an agitating evangelical, a rigid Greek Orthodox or a smarmy atheist, it’s just the same anger, different recipients. May God heal your soul.
Frank: Congratulations on a well-written and insightful piece.
The only thing I’d like to have seen added, is the link between these hard-right Republicans and their propaganda network, especially as it pertains to your assessment, quoted by Brad, that their incitements amount to “trolling for assassins.”
GO TO PERSON
Every family should have a “go to†person who can give answers to political and issue concerns, as suggested by Rush Limbaugh. Learning how means starting at the roots, the beginnings and differences between two sides of the same coin, which is all there is. One side is long established, where the few rule the many, irrespective of their labels. The other side is the newest, that of individual freedom and limited government. Why do many follow each side, and why the conflict between them? What side do current issues come from, such as health care, cap and trade as well as amnesty for illegal immigrants? What side of the coin most impacts the lives of your family, to whom you provide the answers? Call up claysamerica.com for the roots of both sides and improve your understanding of the issues so you have the answers. Claysamerica.com
Ah, Travis, you just don’t get it.
The Christian conservative voting block was used.
Used like a 5 dollar coke whore.
The corporate hucksters took your vote and took control. They promised family values and delivered crippling debt that will last for generations.
And the corporate hucksters gave themselves a 100 trillion dollar payday over the last 30 years.
You’ve been had, Travis, and the sooner you realize this, the sooner we can take back this nation.
Obama ain’t the answer. CONGRESS is.
Let go of the abortion issue and the hucksters will no longer have anything to offer and you will see through their lies.
Open your eyes, Travis, we need you to see clearly. Your nation is dying. And the Christian Conservative voting block has been the vehicle that put these hucksters in power.
Repubs and Dems aren’t the same…
Repubs are the drunken abusers…Dems are the battered wives.
Snippets from a Consortium News piece:
Those that adhere to the evangelical GOP loony right wing are authoritarian personalities who are susceptible to fascist rule.
Quoted from Impact Lab:
That is a thumbnail of the differences psychologically in liberals and conservatives.
Agent 99….RE: comment 16
[ed note: I think I fixed yer comment for you. Sorry it took so long. I’ve been helping a friend hassle with his blog template all day. –99]
Sen. Leiberman in a clip posted here told Sen. Franken not to ‘take it personally,’regarding his request for extra time to spew his vitriol. How else can one take this maddness?
Thank you Mr. Schaeffer for your passion and Brad for yours in posting this. To me it seems a crack in the Dem./Rep. fake war fortress. I appreciate both of you for your unwavering effort to expose this strange convoluted corruption.
One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Mr. Schaeffer’s honest passion coming from a man who understands well one aspect of the deception and corruption, Brad’s willingness to allow open discussion from ‘warring’ camps, and Sen. Franken’s naivete’ is what is needed to bring the people together.
Brad and all, the real “problem” lays in the PAC and Lobby money that has Purchased Capital (yes I know the difference) Hill and rules this nation now. Unless and Until we have Corporate Purchased Politicians removed from office and real Statesmen install we are screwed.
The system is broken. Get the Corporate, Wall Street, Banking and Insurance money out of politics and build an accurate representation of the American people.
Frank is right about the Republicans being hijacked by the Cults of Jesus and it’s their demise. Good riddance is what I say and each member of Congress who is GOP demonstrates exactly why. The Blue Dog Democrats are no better than the deluded Republicans and all line their pockets at the American Citizen’s espense.
WAKE UP America and take back our government.
Now I will post a question:
Dear Mr. Schaffer; Why do you continue to spew lies and hate about Republicans?
That’s right, I said you are lying. Republicans do not hate America. Democrats do not hate America. I refuse to join your hatefest about people who dare to disagree with whatever it is you now believe. We just saw it personified with Alan Grayson demanding that some guy with a website be thrown in jail for five years simply because that guy is getting under Grayson’s skin. Whaah. That’s who you remind me of.
Geeze, DaMail…
If what Greyson alleges in his letter is accurate, then that lady Langley is in violation of election law. And yup, her crappy website ONLY attacks him.
So there’s a good chance she lied to the FEC.
PS, I was EXTREMELY offended when the LDS in Utah inserted themselves into the CA Prop 8 campaign and honestly felt the entire church should lose it’s tax exempt status. I also feel the same way about the Rhode ISland Catholics and any Bishop that attempts to direct the policy debate on Abortion.
Dick Cheney SHOULD Shut the FUCK up.
The FED Should be audited.
And Your comedy is always welcome.
It would be s-o-o-o entertaining if Holder tried to take any action. Langley could then charge Grayson with false arrest and then sue his sorry butt. I don’t think Holder is that stupid, however.
Dick Cheney will never shut up. And for that I am glad.
Damail, dear, the only way you could possibly mean that is if you ARE Dick Cheney. I know it’s yer job to be obtuse about this stuff, but, sheesh, please. I know even you will be glad when he shuts up.
I don’t think Republicans hate America, but they are its enemy at this point.
I used to be a Republican also. Well, I suppose I still consider myself a conservative, but there’s nothing ‘conservative’ about the current Republican party. They’ve resorted to childish tactics to stall government, without offering meaningful and/or realistic alternative solutions to our nation’s most pressing issues.
I cant vote Republican with a clear conscience until the party turns around.
Sorry. Democrats are the enemy of this nation. Now what?
Remember, The Party of No Voted Against TSA Funding
by BarbinMD
Mon Dec 28, 2009
Why does the Party of No hate America?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/28/819858/-Remember,-The-Party-of-No-Voted-Against-TSA-Funding-