Just Stop It!

OK, I will say this in little words and short sentences. The Democrats need to quit pandering to the religious right -- which will (are you listening?) NEVER VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT EVEN IF THAT MISGUIDED RABBI, JEBUZ OF NAZARETH, GETS DOWN OFF OF HIS CROSS AND HOLDS UP A SIGN SAYING "VOTE DEMOCRATIC IN THIS ELECTION IF YOU LOVE ME I DIED ON THE CROSS FOR YOUR SINS YOU WILL BE WASHED IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB BLESS MY SOUL IN THE BOSOM OF ABRAHAM!"

I understand. Many of you, are, in fact, devout xians. You see nutjobs like Tom DeLay and Larry Craig and David Vitter and, the xian god forgive us, George W. Bush, getting elected because they appeal to xian whackjob fundies and you say to yourselves, "Self," you say, "why don't I get some of that action?"

The next time that you say that to yourself, go smack yourself in the face with a wet washcloth and get the fuck over it. Stop picking Harry Reid for Senate majority leader because you think that because he's against abortion (and, it turns out, ever doing anything even mildly effectual), he'll appeal to "value voters." He won't. Stop running devout catholics like John Kerry because you think that will inoculate the party against attacks from the little-boy-molesters in the catholic church. It won't; Razi will arrange for Bush to visit Rome and give the sitting pope a medal while releasing rumors that Kerry should be denied communion. Stop running bullshit ads, like Obama's been doing, about how you're a committed xian and are "called to serve." Just stop it.

We're seeing this week how much good it's done Obama (and, yeah, they're all guilty of it, but he's gone way out of his way to assert that he should get elected because he's such a devoted xian and he's getting pounded the hardest for it this week, so I am using him as an example) to play the xian card. He's getting hammered over the head with his xianity and this is WEEKS and WEEKS after he, supposedly, put this entire issue to bed with his "masterful" speech on race in America, which we were all told was such brilliant political ju jitsu. Not.

Religion will NEVER be anything except a hammer to use against Democrats. Democrats need to accept that fact. I am more religious, I am willing to wager, than 95% of Americans. My religion would only be a detriment to me if I decided to run for office. The best thing for Democrats to do -- and, wow, here's a benni, it's also the right thing to do -- is to insist that religion has no role to play in American politics. Refuse to answer questions about your religion because, in America, we have a separation of religion and the State. Change the topic. Assert the principle. Quote John Adams. Move on.

Look, my number one issue is the environment. I'm NEVER going to vote for a Republican, even if s/he talks about "Blue Skies" and "stewardship" and "Clean Forests," etc., etc., etc. First, I don't believe her/him, and, second, even if I did believe her/him, I don't think that she's/he's AS COMMITTED to those notions as is the Democrat. I'm not really any smarter than someone who's number one issue is the rather obscene notion that "America is a xian nation." They don't care how much a Democrat talks about "Called to Serve," etc., etc., etc. First, they don't believe the Democrat and, second, even if they do believe the Democrat, they don't think that the Democrat is AS COMMITTED to those notions as is the Republican.

So Democrats have two choices. They can concede that being a good xian is important in politics, in which case, they can keep losing. Or, they can challenge the basic premise and begin to move the debate off of their opponents' favored ground. It's unclear to me why this is such a difficult choice for them.