Dowd: DeLay, Deny and Demagogue

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/24/opinion/24dowd.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=

Oh my God, we really are in a theocracy.

Are the Republicans so obsessed with maintaining control over all branches of government, and are the Democrats so emasculated about not having any power, that they are willing to turn the nation into a wholly owned subsidiary of the church?

The more dogma-driven activists, self-perpetuating pols and ratings-crazed broadcast media prattle about "faith," the less we honor the credo that a person's relationship with God should remain a private matter.

As the Bush White House desperately maneuvers in Iraq to prevent the new government from being run according to the dictates of religious fundamentalists, it desperately maneuvers here to pander to religious fundamentalists who want to dictate how the government should be run.

Maybe President Bush should spend less time preaching about spreading democracy around the world and more time worrying about our deteriorating democracy.

[rodeodance]

1. "oh my god, we really do live in a theocracy" !! says it all!!

....Mr. DeLay moved yesterday to file a friend of the court brief with the Supreme Court asking that Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube be restored while the federal court is deciding what to do. But as he exploits this one sad case, Mr. DeLay has voted to slash Medicaid by $15 billion, denying money to care for poor people in nursing homes, some on feeding tubes.

Mr. DeLay made his personal stake clear at a conference last Friday organized by the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. He said that God had brought Terri Schiavo's struggle to the forefront "to help elevate the visibility of what's going on in America." He defined that as "attacks against the conservative movement, against me and against many others."

So it's not about her crisis at all. It's about his crisis.

E-mail: [e-mail]

[katinmn]

7. It's another GREAT peice by Dowd. I'm so glad she's not cowed by Bushco

:kick:

[Kagemusha]

2. With all due respect...

Every last thing Dowd has said here, I've already read 20 times on blogs. Sidney Blumenthal's latest column is a lot like that too, though his is shown in The Guardian so there's having to bring Brits up to speed on it all. But, for Dowd here, for the Paper Of Record, I'm not very comfortable with what's essentially a little bit of spin and an awful lot of cutting and pasting. I'd be close to ashamed to be paid for something like that.

[katsy]

3. Easy...

Dowd has a large audience.

Instead of dissing her... be glad the word reaches more people.

If she plagurized someone else's work, she'll be held to account.

[VHamrick]

5. She didn't miss a dis on Hillary

"While Senate Democrats like Hillary Clinton, who are trying to curry favor with red staters, meekly allowed the shameful legislation to be enacted, at least some Floridian House members decided to put up a fight, though they knew they couldn't win."

I read there were only four Senators present.

[depakid]

6. I think that's an accurate statement

as to the actions of the Democratic party in general.

Some members will at least put up a fight- while their supposed brethern sell them- and all of the rest of us out.

That type of behavior- on issue after issue- is why the Dems have become a minority party- and will remain a minority party.

[kris10ep]

9. A large reason that you feel you've read these things 20 times

is that this case is so blatantly and obviously an attack on democracy in a number of ways.

What makes MoDo stand out is the way she says it....

The more dogma-driven activists, self-perpetuating pols and ratings-crazed broadcast media prattle about "faith," the less we honor the credo that a person's relationship with God should remain a private matter.

The scene on Capitol Hill this past week has been almost as absurdly macabre as the movie "Weekend at Bernie's," with Tom DeLay and Bill Frist propping up between them this poor woman in a vegetative state to indulge their own political agendas.

Bravo once again, Maureen.

[bridgit]

4. in their minds, i think democracy to be an aside...

from the founders, and i'm not taking jefferson here, i'm talking witch burners; they were separated from god & monarch by pensive ocean & indentured servitude; they turned vast tracts of the natural world into demonic origin: red devils, black devils, yellow devils, evolutionary devils, science, etc...

when bush claims that democracy is the 'natural state' of man, he's not speaking his whole thought. were he to do so, few would have voted for him. as a fervent voice for corporations he is more on point though many pay no attention. corporations are themselves, in many cases, the absence of democracy. my sense is that that is what they seek by extension; by all means available. the absence of democracy.

how else can you explain keeping votes open past deadline till you get the result you're content with?

dowd has always a laser-like understanding of such things.

[The White Tree]

8. What a great synopsis of the Republican leadership:

-As the Bush White House desperately maneuvers in Iraq to prevent the new government from being run according to the dictates of religious fundamentalists, it desperately maneuvers here to pander to religious fundamentalists who want to dictate how the government should be run.-

This party should be permanently branded as the party of "Do as I say, Not as I do."

[bobbieinok]

10. sorry, this doesn't make up for her constant attacks on Gore....she did

her part to help create the power of this theocracy