US religious Right concedes defeat

[Abdul Alhazred]

US religious Right concedes defeat (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5136050/US-religious-Right-concedes-defeat.html)
Telegraph (UK)

Leading evangelicals have admitted that their association with George W. Bush has not only hurt the cause of social conservatives but contributed to the failure of the key objectives of their 30-year struggle.

James Dobson, 72, who resigned recently as head of Focus on the Family - one of the largest Christian groups in the country - and once denounced the Harry Potter books as witchcraft, acknowledged the dramatic reverse for the religious Right in a farewell speech to staff.

...

Interesting article, but don't break out the champagne just yet.

A mix of straightforward reporting of certain leaders' disappointment and a bunch of misplaced triumphalism.

The "US religious right" still exists on the ground and will find other leaders and other tactics.

[INRM]

Well Bush was only using them to get votes and support.

[TragicMonkey]

Lordy, they do so love to drama. "We are awash in evil", indeed. Yeah. Obama is freaking Sauron and this is Mordor.

Any country where a foolish jerk like Dobson not only lives but prospers is clearly not awash in evil. It's awash in stupid. Funny how you never hear the religious right campaigning against stupidity.

[shawmutt]

A persecuted Christian is a happy Christian,

[Cainkane1]

US religious Right concedes defeat (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5136050/US-religious-Right-concedes-defeat.html)
Telegraph (UK)



Interesting article, but don't break out the champagne just yet.

A mix of straightforward reporting of certain leaders' disappointment and a bunch of misplaced triumphalism.

The "US religious right" still exists on the ground and will find other leaders and other tactics.
When I was young I'd listen to whom the teleevangelists wanted as President and then voted for whom they were against. Thats how Billy Clinton got in office.

[GreNME]

Well Bush was only using them to get votes and support.

And the part where Bush is pretty much an evangelical who has regularly made statements completely in line with Religious Right agendas doesn't count?

No, I'll agree that many in the GOP, and even (especially?) Cheney, were using them to get votes, but to imply in the least that Bush was anything even similar to a fair-weather friend or just in it for votes ignores quite a lot of his bible-thumpery and evangelical sky-daddy-ism. He definitely counts as a True Believer, unless you have some type of evidence that counters loads of public comments he's made and behaviors he's had.

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A persecuted Christian is a happy Christian,

Only the superficial, faux persecution like they could twist the article into. Kind of like how they'll sacrifice by skipping dinner for a while to feel holy.

[paximperium]

Well Bush was only using them to get votes and support.
So claims the Fundies when an alliance with Bush no longer suits their agenda. "Oh, he used us...boo hoo. We didn't demand things and get them in return. We were used...boo hoo."

[.13.]

Leading evangelicals have admitted that their association with George W. Bush has not only hurt the cause of social conservatives but contributed to the failure of the key objectives of their 30-year struggle.

Inanity like


denounced the Harry Potter books as witchcraft

probably didn't help either

[Tumblehome]

Leading evangelicals have admitted that their association with George W. Bush has not only hurt the cause of social conservatives but contributed to the failure of the key objectives of their 30-year struggle.


Or it could be that the religious right's key objectives were too unrealistic in today's society and were impossible to achieve no matter who they aligned themselves with.

[Mark6]

Or it could be that the religious right's key objectives were too unrealistic in today's society and were impossible to achieve no matter who they aligned themselves with.
Very likely true.

[ClassyElf]

Dobson attributed most of their failure to the internet.

Go knowledge!

[LarianLeQuella]

That title is way too hopeful. By conceding defeat, they should no longer be an effective propeganda machine for their (and only their) hate and bigotry. Instead, they still seem to have the GOP by the short and curlies...

[TaoMacGuy]

As Phil Plait -- who? ;) -- likes to say, "The Stupid, It Burns."

And, it seems to me, even if the religious right did concede "defeat," it would be a red herring.

We'd still be having to shine the light of enlightenment on the game of darkness known as "Whack a Mole: The Stupid Edition." Whatever the organized group du-stoopid-jour is, I fear we will, for the duration of my lifetime anyway, still be whacking away.

Ever vigilant!

[bigred]

That title is way too hopeful. By conceding defeat, they should no longer be an effective propeganda machine for their (and only their) hate and bigotry. Instead, they still seem to have the GOP by the short and curlies...
You could just as easily say that about the left and Democrats.

Extremists suck, regardless of their "side."

[PrincessIneffabelle]

Dobson attributed most of their failure to the internet.

Go knowledge!

Agreed! Critical and factual education and research, as well as exposure to new philosophies, are anathemas to religion.

As Billy Connelly said, "Never trust people who've only got one *********** book."

[Father Dagon]

Well Bush was only using them to get votes and support.The players got played. Ironic.

And it's good that you are in it for the long haul. But can't too long a perspective be counter-productive?

[Tumblehome]

Or it could be that the religious right's key objectives were too unrealistic in today's society and were impossible to achieve no matter who they aligned themselves with.

Very likely true.


But someone has to be blamed, I guess. "I didn't fail you, and the movement didn't fail you. It was his fault."

Doesn't sound very Christian.

[Steelmage]

Funny how you never hear the religious right campaigning against stupidity.

How else can the religious wrong, er, right stay in power then. Stupidity is what got them where they are at.

[Beerina]

"Politician lies about support for a cause in exchange for votes. News at 11."

[qayak]

Thats how Billy Clinton got in office.

Big deal! What we want to know is why he got into Monica? :eek: