Rudy gives Pat a pat (on the back)–talk about strange bedfellows (Stephen Crowley/NYT)Yes, it’s not a typo and it’s not an acid flashback. Pat Robertson today endorsed Rudy Giuliani for the Republican nomination. The anti-abortion, pro-family Protestant Southern heartland evangelist endorsed the pro-abortion, thrice-married adulterer, Catholic, non-church-going, Northeastern urbanite. Perhaps the stars are aligning for some apocalyptic event we’re not yet aware of.
All I can say is that AIPAC will be delighted with this. The hardest-right pro-Israel candidate has been endorsed by the doyen of the Christian Zionist movement. If Rudy becomes president Israel can annex the West Bank, invade Syria and Lebanon, bomb Iran’s nuclear reactor, transfer the Arabs from Israel, and announce the Second Coming (in no particular order).
And wouldn’t you know that Israel was the matchmaker that brought these two lovebirds together:
[Giuliani said of a flight back from Israel] “We had a lot of time coming back from Israel to talk about our understanding of how important Israel is to the United States, how important they are in this whole vast effort that we’re involved in in this terrorist war against us…
Islamophobia apparently isn’t far from the mind of either of them:
Mr. Robertson said he was confident that Mr. Giuliani would defend the country against “the blood lust of Islamic terrorists.”
We should give the last word on this political mishugas to John McCain:
“Every once in a while, I am left speechless,” Mr. McCain said. “This is one of those times.”
Gail Collins NY Times column today is especially entertaining on this subject.
Read the Collins article – good stuff. Personally, I would hope that any sane American would run like hell from someone that Pat Robertson endorses. But I am well aware that – unfortunately – there are quite a few insane Americans around these days. Although a number of them ( of those who voted for George Bush in the last elections) have come to their senses and seen the error of their ways. Somehow I can’t see them being fooled twice and voting for Guiliani now and Robertson’s endorsement should only strenghten that insight. I sure hope so!!
It occurs to me that except for the Catholic part, RG’s life sounds like a lot of Southern mens’! Especially the 3 ex-wives part; I seem to remember a C&W song about that.
Who knows? Maybe back in the Korean War, they used to go to the same skivvy house in Yokosuka!
Zhu Bajie
Pat Robertson’s action is beautifully emblematic of the moral and spiritual bankrupty of the Religious Right leadership, at least the Uberloon, wild-eyed end of it (as opposed to the totally loony but maybe not quite as utterly loony end represented by Dr. Dobson, Tony Perkins and others). I’m not convinced that very many conservative evangelical Christians will necessarily go along with Robertson; I think he’s come to be seen as something of a fringe laughingstock by more and more conservative evangelicals over the past handful of years. Anyhow, we’ll see what influence this has. If there’s a better example of a vapid Machiavellian ends-justifies-the-means move by a famous figure, I can’t think of it. For a left-liberal Christian like myself (as, I imagine, for most people), the nuttery of the Christian Right never ceases to entertain and terrify me. These guys have about as much in common with the message of the Gospels as Cheez-whiz does with a really great hunk of Bleu d’Auvergne.
I’m not at all surprised by this. At the end of the day, the religious right are a bunch of authoritarian followers who are looking for a leader who will make all their decisions for them, and make no mistake, Giuliani is ready, willing, and able to do that.
As long as I’m on the topic of “authoritarian followers”, let me take the opportunity to encourage one and all to read through Robert Altemeyer’s classic study of authoritarianism:
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/%7Ealtemey/
It’s very impressive just how far Altemeyer’s basic insight – that the right wing is fueled by a toxic mix of fear and self-righteousness – goes in explaining all kinds of things. (Something to keep in mind when reading the Jerusalem Post, eh, Richard?)