A blog in North Carolina quotes from a story in a local paper (the actual article is not available online):
Robin Hayes has the solution to the Iraq war: have our soldiers convert all Muslims to Christianity.
Having won the election by only a hair’s width and almost getting himself kicked out of Congress seems to have had some profound psychological effects on poor Mr. Hayes. A speech that flip-floppin’ Robin gave last week at the Concord Rotary Club seems to prove he has finally gone off the deep end.
Our local weekly newspaper the “Concord Standard and Mount Pleasant Times” reported on Mr. Hayes speech in his hometown:
First there’s the usual talk of how we’re “winning” over there: “The war in Iraq has got to be won; it’s being won” (A couple of months ago Hayes said that the rise in violence in Iraq was an indication that we’re winning.)
Then comes the real kicker: “Stability in Iraq ultimately depends on spreading the message of Jesus Christ, the message of peace on earth, good will towards men. Everything depends on everyone learning about the birth of the Savior.”
Maybe we can set up a grudge match between returning saviors … the Theofascists’ Warrior Christ vs Imam Mahdi. (Oh, ignore the idea in Islam that Jesus will return AFTER Imam Mahdi to fight the Antichrist … what do THEY know?)
It is a serious embarrassment that morons like this man rise to positions of prominance in this country. Of course, considering the sociopath savant in the White House, I guess one more delusional theofascist in the hall of Congress is only adding a small twig to the fire consuming the rule of law and the United States’ standing in the world.
The idea that the “message of Jesus Christ, the message of peace on earth, good will towards men” can be delivered for the Iraqis’ salvation at the barrel of a gun, by the shrapnel and blast delivered by 500 pound bombs, by stress positions and barking dogs and sexual humiliation beggars belief. We have got to be the LEAST pious and peaceful people on Earth. The lessons offered in the Sermon on the Mount are almost utterly absent in THIS country, let alone in the way we treat OTHER countries, a sad fact that’s been true throughout most of our short history. We rape, steal, plunder, kill, torture, denigrate and destroy with a ruthlessness and abandon that would make the most cruel Roman Centurion or European Crusader blanch. Our behavior is ESPECIALLY reprehensible since we do these things while spouting words of love and respect, holding out a hand to shake while we sink the knife in, making sure to twist it for maximum pain, coating the blade with bilious poison. If our actions follow ANY book, it’s more likely the Left Behind serious or some twisted screenplay by Mel Gibson.
As our military flails about, outnumbered in Mesopotamia and undersupported by the superstitious fools running this country, one can’t help but understand that Muslims view us as Crusaders, and one can’t help but see that they will drive us out as they drove out so many occupiers before. We sow the seeds of our own dissolution, while bigots and zealots spout words of hatred and delusion cheering on the disaster.
This sort of thinking isn’t new, of course. As Gore Vidal explains:
Ruled over by ignorant bigots and greedy fools.
“So we became overnight a banana republic without any bananas to sell. And that is our problem at the moment.”
That is one good link!
That Gore Vidal link is incredible.
As far as the NC imbecile, it’s IMPEACHMENT Time for his sorry ass.
Vidal is a treasure.
Why is anyone surprised? While it hasn’t been politically correct to speak about it, the underlying motivation of the “religious” right has always been to create a Western-style civilization in Iraq. If you look carefully at their writings (and even the comments of W when he slipped off his script) it’s clear.
New Idea? Europeans tried to establish a Christian “Kingdom of Jerusalem” in the Middle East almost 1000 years ago. Of course, it failed–largely because of their own greed. W (fed by Rice’s single-minded political philosophy) was doomed to fail from the start.
Until we develop respect for other cultures and stop thinking we have the answers to everyone else’s problems, until we stop thinking of ourselves as the Bully of the world, nothing will change.
Remember, a (slim) majority of people in his district elected Robin Hayes. He didn’t just turn nutcase this week.
Perhaps they should just spread the gospel of the flying spaghetti monster. It would likley have just as much effect.
That god has been usurped by the (now cult of the) Virgin Komodo Dragon.
What the hell does anybody mean by “winning” in Iraq?
Hundreds of thousands of lives have been destroyed for a war that never had a clearly stated mission. The architects of this disaster have never spoken honestly about what they intended to achieve. Hegemony? Profit? Armegeddon?
This war was lost before it ever began.
will someone who uses the word “surge” in reference to American troops in Iraq please tell me what the hell, exactly, that means?