Hypocrisy: It’s the new black.
October 14, 2005 – 3:45 pm | by nerd's eye viewWelcome to Nerd's Eye View. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Want to know more about this site? See the Meet the Nerd page. And thanks for reading!
The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man. - Thomas Jefferson
Note 09/08: It’s something to read this rant three years later with Sarah Palin on deck. Qualifications, eh?
So. Harriet Miers. So.
If you were paying attention during the Roberts hearings (and making snarky comments from the sidelines) then I applaud you. If you weren’t, well, shame on you, and I don’t even know you any more. Stop reading this and go back to high school civics. Yes, now. Yes, you. I mean it. I should probably go back too, what with the ill informed rambling I’m about to do, but never you mind that, this is MY blog.
Okay, let’s continue, shall we? If you’re still with me, stand by for ranting and profanity. You’ve been warned. Anyone else want to leave the room? All righty.
I was saying. Harriet Miers. Not only is it embarrassing that such a patsy and a sycophant should be selected as the nominee, but the whole process has been fraught with hypocrisy. I. Just. Can’t. Stand. It.
Could we just talk for a minute about how Roberts successfully dodged any questions about his belief system by stating - and god forgive me, I agreed with him - that his beliefs should have zero impact on his ability to administer the law. Now, with Harriet Miers, it appears her belief system is her only clear qualification. That and her documented sucking up to the administration for the last I don’t know how many years.
They’re trotting out the church she belongs to. They’re trotting out James Fucking Dobson. I believe that’s how he’s listed in the phone book. (Try focusing on your own damn family and leaving mine alone, James.) It’s all about her faith. And now that it’s all about her faith, the “faithful” are having a fit. The people who have used their faith to drive the agenda of this administration, the folks this administration played like a fitty cent slot machine, are outraged to learn that faith is an issue in this appointment.
The Family Research Council: We are the last people on Earth to object to the news that she is a committed Christian. By the same token, this fact is not grounds for certifying her to us or to the public. … Inferences drawn from an individual’s religious affiliation have no place in decisions to nominate or confirm a judicial appointee.
Concerned Women of America: We find it patronizing and hypocritical to focus on her faith in order to gain support for Miss Miers.
It’s been all about their faith - and their particular variety of faith - up until this very minute in the White House, has it not? And now, it’s, um, not? What? Am I missing something?
The freaky part is that I actually agree with these statements. They are absolutely correct. Anyone who knows me will attest the the fact that I am a staunch supporter of the separation of church and state. Staunch is perhaps too weak a word, even. Something fishy is going on when I’m agreeing with the CWA and the FRC. Since when do the defense of marriage (You! No marriage for you!) people and the pro-life people (You! You’re having that baby, married or not!) think that religion has no place in politics?
The right is having a fit over Harriet Miers. They say it’s because they think she might be a closet liberal. First, are they fucking kidding? Secondly, I think they’re lying. I think they are having a fit because of another reason entirely. It’s because the administration’s pick for the courts reveals the President openly as a voice for the religious right. It opens the door on the Dobson deals (Can you wait for him to be a witness at the hearings? I can’t! I’m calling in sick that day!) that are driving the White House. Oops, there they are, all tucked nicely in to the same bed! Sorry, wrong room!
And now there’s all this outrage. How dare we make religion an issue in this appointment! How dare we! This kind of outrage isn’t suitable to the pearls and pumps set. Ladies, ladies, order! Thick necked white guys are getting all redfaced because in between telling us that Jesus wants teenagers to have babies, they have to stop to reiterate that religion shouldn’t play a role in Supreme Court appointments.
Whew. I gotta take a deep breath here. Whew.
Okay. I am a recovering anti-religious fanatic. I had a Bad Experience with some nasty evangelical types and it left an unpleasant taste in my mouth for the religious. Many, many years later and through the kindness of new churchy and synogoguey friends, I’ve lightened up quite a bit. I’ve returned to the whole “Jesus really just thought everyone should be kinder” school of thought. That is not a difficult school of thought to buy. I’m now willing to give church going Christians the benefit of the doubt. I willing to give the folks that have spirituality wider breadth. I was, for a while there, really freakin’ intolerant of the religious, no matter what flavor. That was totally unfair. I admit it. I’m pretty much over it now.
But my new, all inclusive point of view has got no room for whining hypocrites. No sir. They too are to be shipped right back to high school civics and given a great whopping helping of Thomas Jefferson. What the hell, throw in a little “judge not” too. These tyrannical fascists have been worming their way in to our government, aided and abetted by that very same government, and now they act outraged that their strict religious agenda is a matter for consideration? How dare they. Hypocrites. I don’t know how they can bear to look themselves in the mirror.
A-hem. Whew. Harriet Miers. If you truly give a good god damn about America, step down. Step down. And if you don’t step down and we don’t ride you and your religious credentials out of Washington on a rail, then we’d better all start packing, because the hypocrisy is all the rage and theocracy is here to stay. God help us.
Shrill ranting and raving? Yup. Wrong? I sure hope so. I would be all too delighted to find out I am wrong.
And now, to prove that I’m not a total crank, here is a picture of Dora’s Shop. Get yer personalized fall leaves here for a mere 25 cents!
