Richard Spencer

August 07, 2008

It seems that Kathryn Jean Lopez is really excited by the prospect of another Dick Cheney in vice-president seat. Andrew Sullivan remarks:

How can a devout Catholic who believes church doctrine should be the last word on public policy be enthusiastic for a vice-president who personally authorized the torture of countless human beings? Sometimes these theocons just baffle me.

John Schwenkler expands further:

[K-Lo] has officially lost whatever credibility she may have had as an authentically Catholic political voice. Thinking that the abortion issue creates a moral requirement to vote for John McCain is one thing?a mistaken thing, I think, but still a view within the realm of reasonableness. But being openly ?enthused by the prospect? that our nation?s next Vice President will be one who emulates the lying, bullying war criminal who currently occupies that position is something quite different, and no one who writes such a thing deserves to be any sort of spokesman for American conservatism.

I?ve always found that K-Lo?s flaunting of her Catholicism is directly connected to her status as GOP spokesperson (come on, John, get with the gender neutral pronouns!) I don?t think K-Lo thinks too much on the dissonance between her faith and Cheney?s malfeasance in Gitmo. Instead, her MO is to break out the incense and clerical robes and offer pious benedictions onto each and every Republican Big Whig who appears in the news. It?s K?Lo?s own little form of political cheerleading.

Take for instance, K-Lo?s eucarist for Rush Limbaugh: 

?He’s a man ? grateful to his Maker for the opportunities and gifts he has.?

Well, that?s one way of translating ?talent on loan from God,? which has always struck me as more brash and mischievous than humble and pious. (At the very least, one interesting thing about Rush is that he?s secular and has always kept his distance from the Religious Right.) 

Then there?s K-Lo?s beatification of Tony Snow:

In an environment where man and manhood are often subject to derision, it?s important to celebrate good men who aren?t afraid to recognize there?s a power greater than their own. It?s important to celebrate good men who know the right order of things. It?s important to celebrate good men who have some clue as to what to do with a charge like King David?s; they know that ultimately it?s the charge of another King, who promises more than any presidential candidate ? even Barack Obama! ? can. And their examples are living moral compasses in a confusing world.

I?m glad that Tony Snow had a spiritual life, but emphasizing all this seems a rather odd way of remembering a man who, after all, dedicated his life to Washington politics.

In the same piece she gave Bush?who must in K-Lo?s mind represent the zenith of Republican success?the grand treatment:

Bush said it like a man who, with a cautious optimism and a deep yearning, ultimately looks forward not simply to more time in Crawford, but after that, to the full revelation of those mysteries come his Judgment day. The president?s words demonstrate an awareness of his place ? even as the leader of the free world ? in Creation. And yes, that is somewhat uncommon ? at least with consistency and confidence ? in our pop culture.

This is beyond parody.