The Antichrist in the "fictionalized" Left Behind book series co-authored by Tim LeHay was called "The One". What did McCain title his recent Obama attack ad? Was McCain unaware of this "coincidence" when that title was chosen?
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1830590,00.html (excerpt below)
The ad was the creation of Fred Davis, one of McCain's top media gurus as well as a close friend of former
Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed and the nephew of conservative Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe.
It first caught the attention of Democrats familiar with the Left Behind series, a fictionalized account of the end-time that debuted in the 1990s and has sold nearly 70 million books worldwide. "The language in there is so similar to the language in the Left Behind books," says Tony Campolo, a leading progressive Evangelical speaker and author.As the ad begins,
the words "It should be known that in 2008 the world shall be blessed. They will call him The One" flash across the screen. The Antichrist of the
Left Behind books is a charismatic young political leader named Nicolae Carpathia who founds the One World religion (slogan: "We Are God") and promises to heal the world after a time of deep division. One of several Obama clips in the ad features the Senator saying, "A nation healed, a world repaired. We are the ones that we've been waiting for."
...
Two months ago, (Democratic consultant Mara) Vanderslice founded a Democratic PAC called the Matthew 25 Network and soon noticed that the negative e-mails she received from conservative Christians fell into two general topical categories:
abortion, and the assertion that
Obama is the Antichrist. The cataloging of similarities Obama shares with the Antichrist began nearly two years ago. But it picked up steam in February 2008 after he racked up a string of impressive primary victories. A Google search for "Obama" and "Antichrist" turns up more than
700,000 hits, including at least one blog dedicated solely to the topic. A more obscure search for "Obama" and "Nicolae Carpathia" yields a surprising
200,000 references.
It's not hard to see how some Obama haters might be tempted to make the comparison. In the
Left Behind books, Carpathia is a junior Senator who speaks several languages, is beloved by people around the world and fawned over by a press corps that cannot see his evil nature, and rises to absurd prominence after delivering just one major speech. Hmmh. But serious Antichrist theorists don't stop there. Everything from Obama's left-handedness to his positive rhetoric to his appearance on the cover of this magazine has been cited as evidence of his true identity. One chain e-mail claims that the Antichrist was prophesied to be "A man in his 40s of MUSLIM descent," which would indeed sound ominous if not for the fact that the Book of Revelation was written at least 400 years before the birth of Islam.
The speculation reached a fever pitch after Obama's European trip and the Berlin speech in which he called for global unity.
Conservative Christian author Hal Lindsey declared in an essay on WorldNetDaily, "Obama is correct in saying that the world is ready for someone like him — a messiah-like figure, charismatic and glib ... The Bible calls that leader the Antichrist. And it seems apparent that the world is now ready to make his acquaintance." The conservative website RedState.com now sells mugs and T shirts that sport a large "O" with horns and the words "The Anti-Christ" underneath.
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What is being done by the RNC and McCain, is nothing less than an attempt to trigger a wave of Manchurian Candidates. They supply the brainwashing, and hope for the desired result.
It's like popcorn. The first two kernels just popped. Anybody who isn't very concerned about this is either extremely gullible or uninformed about what the religious right and its beliefs are like.
Why would we think that violence in movies and video games influences people, but constant violent punditry and virulent political ads doesn't? Influence is influence.
I'm very annoyed by assertions that both sides subvert the truth. Whenever that is stated, I never see an example given of Dems doing it. On the other hand, readers only know what's being referred to because Repubs doing it is so widespread. It's a glib thing to say that it's both sides, but that assertion in itself is a subversion of the truth.