Creative Loafing – Armageddon for the Religious Right? — An excellent analysis of the religious-politco scene from the heart of darkness, Georgia.

And the GOP strategy for employing religion in the next election is already clear. Consider the martyrdom of Tom DeLay, whose holiness turned Congress into a brothel for big business lobbyists. The Rev. Rick Scarborough, an influential Texas Baptist preacher and founder of the pro-war, pro-GOP Patriot Pastors, declared in March that the deposed House majority leader “was a target for all those who despise the cause of Christ.”

Embedded in his statement is a kernel of the Republican game plan: Assert that the party is God’s holy tool, and depict Christianity as under attack. In other words, break with the Republican Party, and you’ll become the tool of the Antichrist or, even worse, the ACLU.

“I believe we’ve seen the birth of the first religious party in the United States,” says Kevin Phillips, a former strategist for Richard Nixon and author of the just-released American Theocracy. “It should scare every American who values his liberties.”

Will the political preachers who’ve helped to redefine the Republican Party continue to keep the grassroots army that has given them so much power marching in lockstep?

The writer here is the great John Sugg and if you you like his stuff then his article about Democrats being butt-kissing losers is even better (and shorter thank goodness).



  1. Thrall says:

    You offend me. This site is so far left it’s crazy…

  2. Roc Rizzo says:

    Ann Coulter is a MAN!! Next time you see him, look for his adam’s apple!

  3. Johnny-Cakes says:

    Is it wrong that I think that Ann Coulter is smoking hot? I think what she has to say is about as reprehensible as anything a human could say…but she’s so damn hot! I’m so torn.

    But yes, I really like John Sugg and that’s a great article.

  4. Matt H says:

    #1, why is it left to feel threatened by crazy right-wing christians? I’m moderate and I feel threatened. I believe there are christians out there who have the crusade mentality – convert or destroy. Every side has its extremists and I’m scared to think of what would happen if a right-wing christian got into power. Oh wait.

  5. Milo says:

    Thrall: A very appropriate name for your comment.

  6. RTaylor says:

    She’s just after cheap press to sell her wares. If people like this was just ignored they would eventually go away.

  7. Jim Petersen says:

    She added to this outrageous, that this plan worked well in Korea.

    She may be outrageious, but, she is also quick witted.

    Jim Petersen

  8. Dylan Neild says:

    What’s so sad about Ann Coulter is not so much that she’s such a bottom-feeding, hate-spewing witch… it’s moire that she has never said a single original thing in here life and just ‘thinks’ she has.

    Everything she says is regurgitated talking points. Of course, her buddy O’Reilly is no different – and makign matters worse, both of them just outright make stuff up sometimes, on the spot, to keep their point going. “No-spin Ann” they call her? Please.

    I take that back – what’s REALLY sad about Ann is that she only gets to have her soap-box because she’s a good looking blonde woman and the people she works for want to look like they’re the sort of people who are comfortable with letting a good looking blonde woman say ‘intelligent’ things on their behalf.

    I weep for Ann and her empty life.

  9. Sounds The Alarm says:

    #3.

    Your not alone – I’d pop her too.

    But she’s a whack-job.

    Rev. Rick Scarborough is a real and very total asshole though. Do these guys read the same bible I do?

  10. DavidtheDuke says:

    Most Christians have either a passive-supporting attitude and/or a vehement attitude soley before they haven’t been placed in the gunfire. I’d like to see them replace their Sundays with a regular ol’ infidel gunfight. I imagine most would opt out.

  11. James Hill says:

    Wow.

  12. Sounds The Alarm says:

    Has anyone every noticed the loudest supporters for this war aren’t actually the ones being shot at? Case in point Ann Coulter, Jerry Falwell, any one in congress etc.

  13. Brenden says:

    I always cringe when I see the words religous right. It’s not that I’m offended because I am a Christian through and through it is just that the religous right say a lot of stupid things and lead people to believe that all christian are right wing nut jobs. “Pro-War Pro-GOP Patriot Pastors.” Seriously what’s biblical about that. I know that Christianity is all about faith, but not pure blind faith in a corrupt system run by corrupt leaders who are waging a war based on lies.

  14. forrest says:

    #14 Good points…

    Not all Christians are equal, just like not all people in this country are really equal…

  15. Raff says:

    NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise…surprise and fear…fear and surprise…. Our two weapons are fear and surprise…and ruthless efficiency…. Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency…and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope…. Our *four*…no… *Amongst* our weapons…. Amongst our weaponry…are such elements as fear, surprise…. I’ll come in again.

    [The Inquisition exits]

  16. JohnnyM says:

    #14 actually some are more equal than others….

  17. Mark T. says:

    What has this story have to do with Ann Coulter? A quote from her two days after September 11th seems a little out of context here. BTW, everyone was out for blood two days after the WTC attack, not just Coulter.

    Is there no “religious left”? Are all Republican religious? Are all Democrats athiest? As an athiest conservative, I am proof that people like me do exist.

    BTW, both parties have been VERY religious since the early days of the Republic. It is just that in the last couple of decades, the left has gone so far left that they now seem to be the “radical atheist left”. To me, that sounds like a good description of commies.

    It seems the whole country is polarized. Is there no one in the middle? We need more conservative athiests. Or, maybe, religious commies.

  18. moss says:

    We have a religious Left, Mark. They’re usually vegans at that. But, I’d rather march alongside Buddhists — while you’re stuck with Bubba.

    Chuckle.

  19. Roc Rizzo says:

    Hey all you guys who think Ann Coulter is so hot…. You MUST have an up close look at her/him. Is this the only woman with an adam’s apple, or is “she” a man?
    Several years ago, I saw her at some thing in NYC, and there “she” was. “SHE HAS AN ADAM’S APPLE!!!”
    I think that “she’s” a cross-dresser.
    You guys who want to “bang” her would be in for a big suprise!

  20. SN says:

    I’m with you Roc, she is or was a guy. I have no doubt about it. Check out this picture and pay attention to “her” neck.

  21. Milo says:

    Ann Coulter is unmarried and has never had kids or even a boyfriend as far as anyone knows… a hero to the family oriented right wing! Rush Limbaugh: 3 wives and no kids… ditto. Drudge: gay as a picnic basket. One right wing value these people all represent: market forces!

  22. Mark T. says:

    SN, the best way to decide about Coulter is to see her hands. They are long but not man-ish big. See this picture:

    http://www.ljworld.com/photos/2005/03/30/coulter.jpg

    I am not convinced yet. Either way, she is not what I call hot.

  23. JSFORBES says:

    So Ann’s really just an angry, lonely, she-he?

  24. KB says:

    “she is or was a guy. I have no doubt about it. Check out this picture….”

    cripes!

  25. AB CD says:

    “she has never said a single original thing in here life and just ‘thinks’ she has.

    Everything she says is regurgitated talking points. ”

    She’s one of the most original columnists out there. Her book Treason had a defense of Joe McCarthy that’s not usually seen. Try googling ‘Greg packer’ and you should be able to find an example of original material. The New York Times and others must have been really embarrassed that it was ANN COULTER that caught this.

  26. Ken says:

    Well at least the Christian fundies don’t want to behead blasphemers and apostates, mostly anyway.

  27. JimS says:

    #6 Dave, if you are ever in my neck of the woods, I’d like to buy you a beer.

  28. GregAllen says:

    As for the Ann Coulter quote… I always assumed this was just freaked out of her mind on 911 and blurted out something idiotic which she now regrets.

    Not so! In this recent issue of Vanity Fair, she says it again!

    I guess the Crusades went so well the first time, she want to do it again.

  29. Steve says:

    I think it’s great that we have yet another description of the “religious right”. The big bad scary religious right! They eat their own. What else do they do? Only wear white on Sundays? Sacrifice lambs? LOL. Up until five minutes ago the New York Times’ description of the religious right (as noted in that great book “Slander”) was a broad (and I mean BROAD) definition. It seems to have meant extremist minsters like Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson. But in the majority of articles researched, it also referred to anyone who voted Republican and believed in a higher being. NOW, it also means: Republican politicans and conservative commentators. In the highlight of DaVinci Code madness and Dixie Chick refutations, liberals are still running from the big bad religious right.

    Well, my advice would be….before you run from them, properly identify who they are before you start using the phrase to frighten liberal blog followers.

    So, Ann Coulter is coming out with a book countering the arguments made by books such as the DaVinci Code. Why does this make her a member of the “religious right”? Ann Coulter is a single woman who wears mini-skirts. She drinks. She smokes. The religious right (whoever they are) may be highly offended that you would put her in the category.

  30. Johnny-Cakes says:

    I don’t put Ann Coulter into the religious right….nor even right wing conservative politics, considering she’s been fired from just about every job she’s ever had in that area. Miss Coulter doesn’t have a category. If she had one, she’d be in the same category as Ted Nugent. But I have a feeling that Ted’s is more of an act then anything else. Miss Coulter actually believes in the crap she says.


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