It's no secret that Texas governor - and now presidential candidate - Rick Perry has aligned himself with some of the most hate-filled and extremists elements of the Christianists. "The Response" last weekend was but the latest of Perry political fellatio efforts to secure the support of the ultra far right. Besides siding with extremists, Perry's record in Texas is not exactly comforting. Yes, he brags about job creation - but most of the jobs created have been at the bottom rung of the employment ladder. Certainly not jobs that allow one to prosper and raise a family. Karen Ocamb looks at why we should be fearful of a Perry candidacy at LGBT Pov. Here are highlights (I recommend that you read Karen's article in full):
Republicans might be divided about who best represents their political values right now but if, in the end, Republicans chose Texas Gov. Rick Perry as their presidential standard-bearer to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012, Americans should expect nothing short of a political holy war.
As Iowa voters drove to Ames for their curious Straw Poll that may weed out some GOP presidential contenders, Perry was in Charleston, South Carolina for the RedState Gathering where, as anticipated, he stole the national show by announcing his 2012 presidential run.
Mainstream journalists seem to think Perry has gotten past the brief controversy over the large prayer rally he organized, unabashedly meshing Christianity with politics – something Perry denied during the rally. In fact, most mainstream journalists paid scant serious attention to “The Response” at the time, shrugging off the rally’s subtitle – “a call to prayer for a nation in crisis.”
But the nation is in crisis and during such times, many people turn to religion for comfort and communion with others. They become “prayer warriors.” And while hard-core politicos might shrug with some bemusement at the emotional pitch in this video – religious people of all stripes will find in it something familiar. If former Texas Gov. George W. Bush was someone voters felt they could have a beer with – Perry is someone with whom they can pray.
As ThinkProgress has pointed out, God is in the mix on everything, including the bad economy. PERRY: I think in America from time to time we have to go through some difficult times — and I think we’re going through those difficult economic times for a purpose, to bring us back to those Biblical principles . . . .
But there is way more to this story, in addition to Perry’s explicitly antigay beliefts. In advance of Perry’s announcement, Rachel Maddow reported on some of the themes and through-lines Perry’s prayer rally prophets espouse . . . And Perry picking these radical fringe Christians – who believe they are prophets and apostles with a direct line to God – elevates the fringe Christians from the self-contained Christian church, TV and online networks to the national stage. And apparently Perry believes he’s been anointed by these prophets to be the “instrument of God” to bring about that theocracy.
On the excellent watchdog website Talk to Action, Rachel Tabachnick and Bruce Wilson have been studying, researching and writing about the New Apostolic Reformation [NAR] – the religious extremists to whom Perry is enthralled – for several years. . . .
The apostles of the NAR view themselves as leading the one legitimate church and unifying Christianity for the end times. In their end times scenario, it is necessary to take control over societal and governmental entities before Jesus can return. But first, as could be heard repeatedly in the messages at Rick Perry’s prayer event, the church has to repent and be cleansed.
In the context of the teachings of the NAR, the repeated calls for repentance of the church at Perry’s prayer event were about cleansing Protestantism of its toleration of homosexuals, a woman’s right to choose, and most importantly – of its toleration for religious pluralism, separation of church and state, and secular government. Again, toleration of those things of which they disapprove is not a virtue, but a sign that one is controlled by demons.
And now those martyrs to the cause, as well as the NAR prophets, have a politician around whom they can rally. If these troops are mobilized – and if the NAR’s amorphous identity can be masked to recruit the tired, poor and afraid – this 2012 election should be like no other we’ve seen.
These people are scary and constitute a clear and present danger to constitutional government if they - and Perry and those like him - are not stopped and defeated electorally.
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