Their own personal Jesus
I guess the Republican 11th commandment trumps the Bible’s 2nd:
And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” — Mark 14:30 (ESV)
[.....]
The incidents of late with Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Dick Cheney, and others is why I raise this. Putting it bluntly, were these guys on the left, their fellow leftists would at best be cheering them on and at worst silently nodding along. There wouldn’t be any on that side rushing to the nearest microphone to condemn them
[....]
Peter denied Christ three times. Our goal should be to not deny Christ and also to not deny the valuable members of our own movement. Embracing them does not mean we embrace every word and every deed. But it should likewise mean we don’t race to the nearest microphone to condemn our own when they do something [indiscreet]. The people we should shun are the ones who are quick to throw the rest of us out for daring to stand up for our friends.
(via Ben Smith)
May 28, 2009 11:29 am
Posted in: Burkean bells, Clown Shoes
57 Comments
57 Responses
Keith - May 28, 2009 | 11:30 am · Link
I believe Limbaugh did manage to turn water into gravy at a wedding party once.
Persia - May 28, 2009 | 11:31 am · Link
They really are beyond parody.
InflatableCommenter - May 28, 2009 | 11:32 am · Link
Which phase of the thing are they in now? Denial? Anger? Bargaining? Depression?
Tell me when they get to Acceptance.
gwangung - May 28, 2009 | 11:35 am · Link
They really do think the Dems are exactly like them.
He’s never read any liberals, has he? The term “circular firing squad” never crossed his eyes, hm?
DougJ - May 28, 2009 | 11:37 am · Link
The worshipping false idols phase. Libtards foolishly skip that one.
Little Dreamer - May 28, 2009 | 11:37 am · Link
I call BULLSHIT!
It has been said by the left many times, that if some Dems had to be taken down to get to the truth of the waterboarding crimes, so be it.
ricky - May 28, 2009 | 11:37 am · Link
I followed the link and of the first eight commenters, four started arguing about whether it was right to criticize those who defend mispronunciation of Sotomayor’s last name.
Classic.
Cerberus - May 28, 2009 | 11:38 am · Link
Wasn’t Imus a Dem when feminists condemned him? And aren’t those uppity queers getting all noisy about Obama’s “they don’t exist, I don’t have to acknowledge them” stance of late? And more importantly, isn’t every single left-wing blog filled with people demanding of allies to watch dehumanizing language and assumptions and call them out and to get into big huge arguments on every stance in the world? Isn’t that why liberal cohesiveness is so impossible and Dems seem so schizoid compared to the lockstep Repubs?
Oh wait, it’s conservalogic. Just take what you’re doing, assume liberals do it worse and then blame all your ills on them or use it as proof of how superior you are.
Forgive me, it was foolish to interject.
NonyNony - May 28, 2009 | 11:38 am · Link
They really are impossible to parody, aren’t they?
Also, I like this bit:
This is someone who has obviously never paid any attention to how people on “the left” in the US operate. When has “the left” ever operated like this? Never in my lifetime. If there’s one defining attribute about the left-wing of the American political structure, it’s that it likes to argue with itself over everything far more than it likes to argue with its supposed opposition.
It’s like they actually don’t know any liberals, and they’re just assuming that American liberals are much like the Collectivist Red Menace that their parents used to tell them scary bedtime stories about.
Little Dreamer - May 28, 2009 | 11:43 am · Link
@NonyNony:
Joseph McCarthy told them to be very afraid.
ricky - May 28, 2009 | 11:43 am · Link
Did Erik really suggest PUMA was composed of a bunch of ball challenged wimps? Time to send out an e-mail alert.
AhabTRuler - May 28, 2009 | 11:44 am · Link
I guess that he isn’t aware that a definition for the Peter principle already exists, and that it captures Republicans exactly.
gypsy howell - May 28, 2009 | 11:44 am · Link
Lemme see if I can untangle this. Dick & Rush want to excommmunicate everyone from the republican party who is to the left of, well… them. But we should stand up for Dick & Rush, and shun the people who do not want to rid the party of anyone to the left of Dick and Rush, because by shunning those people, and accepting Dick & Rush, we are … we are… wait a minute, what?
TR - May 28, 2009 | 11:46 am · Link
Jesus wept.
Ted the Slacker - May 28, 2009 | 11:47 am · Link
This was priceless, something like Jesus-is-my-political-strategist meets Gomer Pyle.
But hard to beat this, the subtitle, and the teabaggers rallying cry:
We hang together or hang separately.
You tell ‘em Erick, hell yeah!!
Balconesfault - May 28, 2009 | 11:47 am · Link
The Republican Party must die, so it can be laid away in the tomb, and on the 3rd day rise again.
Like the South. Or something.
The Moar You Know - May 28, 2009 | 11:51 am · Link
@Ted the Slacker: I prefer efficiency but am happy to accomodate the wishes of the doomed.
kay - May 28, 2009 | 11:54 am · Link
The incidents of late with Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Dick Cheney,
I’m pleased. Cheney shouldn’t be on that list, if I’m to believe op ed writers. But he is. I was told he was making a persuasive case for far right foreign policy, and was a net plus.
Why is he on the list, then?
gypsy howell - May 28, 2009 | 11:55 am · Link
I think they are eagerly anticipating the day when the GOP is down to twelve disciples. They’re getting close.
sstarr - May 28, 2009 | 11:56 am · Link
First of all, I’m pretty sure that embracing Christ means that you “embrace every word and every deed.” The analogy to Peter denying Christ is flawed …. unless you’re saying that you should profess your belief in Rush even if your life is threatened.
And also, there’s this: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.” Not even Rush.
sgwhiteinfla - May 28, 2009 | 11:56 am · Link
Has anyone been following the wingnut wars between Frum, Dreher, Levin and Reihl? Its getting nasty out there.
In other news Malkin is now saying Bill O’Reilly “smeared” her site hot air because he read some of the comments left there on air as he has done for years with the GOS to her wingnut delight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1r_4P0gQq8
I have to say this GOP canibalism is quite enjoyable!
Little Dreamer - May 28, 2009 | 11:56 am · Link
@Balconesfault:
is that days in like how we humans measure days, or how God measures days?
If so, I can live with that. ;)
Comrade Dread - May 28, 2009 | 12:00 pm · Link
Because calling Limbaugh, Cheney, and Levin amoral trolls for enacting, pushing, or supporting a torture policy in violation of the law, the Constitution, the bible, and human decency is EXACTLY like denying the Son of God.
Sweet frickin’...
I have no words for this kind of nonsense.
El Cid - May 28, 2009 | 12:02 pm · Link
So, now in Republican Dixie Bizarro land, leftists are simultaneously a weak and annoying cacaphony of disunited voices and a monolithic force which cannot criticize any purported leftist leaders.
RSA - May 28, 2009 | 12:05 pm · Link
Don’t you love it when someone tries to fancy up a piece of writing with an inappropriate choice in diction? Indeed, Erick, had you something not-totally-stupid to say, we might read you…
mey - May 28, 2009 | 12:05 pm · Link
@sgwhiteinfla: Michelle Malkin = Republican affirmative action failure
Zifnab - May 28, 2009 | 12:07 pm · Link
Lulwhat? No one stabs you in the back better than one of your fellow House / Senate Democrats. Perhaps the wingnut’o’sphere was completely and utterly unconscious during the Monica Lewinsky affair, or the invasion of Kosovo, or the health care fight in ‘94, or the anti-war protests in ‘03-’06, or the tax cut fights, or the judicial appointment fights, or – hell – anything ever written in the history of the Glenn Greenwald blog, but condemning party leaders is what Democrats DO as early and often as possible.
The Dem base never gets any love from the “liberal” punditocracy. The Dem leadership is regularly ripped on as lackluster and weak. Between PUMAs and MoveOn and the DNC, there has always been heavy conflict within the Democratic Party. This is just outright bullshit in every sense.
And I think it goes to show – once more – why the Republican Party is falling apart. They don’t want to recognize that intra-party conflict is normal and that not every dissenter is a Fifth Columnist wanting to bring the whole thing down from the inside.
Keith - May 28, 2009 | 12:08 pm · Link
This reminds me of a joke Limbaugh told at CPAC, with the punchline – I kid you not – of “And over the throne is a flashing beautiful angelic neon sign that says ‘Rush Limbaugh.’ And Larry King looks at Saint Peter and says: ‘I thought you said he wasn’t here.’ ‘He said, he’s not, he’s not. This is God’s room. He just thinks he’s Rush Limbaugh.’”
Zifnab - May 28, 2009 | 12:08 pm · Link
@mey: Oh please. Can you honestly show me an old white rich guy pundit that has significantly outperformed Malkin in the last 8 years? Ann Coulter doesn’t count.
dmsilev - May 28, 2009 | 12:14 pm · Link
Unleash the RedState Strike Force! Deploy the Amazon-affiliate Silly Putty of Doom! Engage the Circular Firing Squad of Great Hilarity!
Has anyone checked for correlations between popcorn sales in liberal-leaning areas and spasmodic eruptions in the remnants of the GOP?
-dms
flukebucket - May 28, 2009 | 12:21 pm · Link
I like the Johnny Cash version best.
Bill E Pilgrim - May 28, 2009 | 12:22 pm · Link
The eleventh comandment: The Republican Party as Spinal Tap.
So, am I missing something or are Republicans suddenly turning on Rush in droves? Aside from Colin Powell, who’s not running for anything? David Gregory, for facilitating Powell’s answer about Rush? Are they just admitting that all those Sunday hosts are Republicans, and getting on their case for daring to question Rush??
Because the rank and file in Congress seem to be still for the most part doing the “weak dissent/grovel and apologize” dance, if anything. Cantor even recanted calling it a “listening tour” the next day after Rush said that Republicans shouldn’t listen.
Cap'n Phealy - May 28, 2009 | 12:26 pm · Link
The real Peter Principle at play here is that these guys are all dicks.
cleek - May 28, 2009 | 12:26 pm · Link
My Party, Right Or Wrong!
fapfapfap
remember this, the next time Erikck says something like “your failure to condemn ABC for XYZ makes you complicit !”
not that i’d expect Ewwick to care much about his own hypocrisy.
Trollhattan - May 28, 2009 | 12:31 pm · Link
We need some viral interwebs video of a kid crying, “Leave Rush alone!” to drive home how cruelly he’s treated.
In the meantime, enjoy our very own Governator having a whack:
Heh, indeedy.
Trollhattan - May 28, 2009 | 12:34 pm · Link
Crap, linky a no-show.
http://www.sacbee.com/static/w.....22623.html
Ninerdave - May 28, 2009 | 12:38 pm · Link
Permalink to the Ben Smith article.
When I clicked through it was a post about Googleing Sonia Sotomayor’s name, which caused a brief moment of WTF?
LITBMueller - May 28, 2009 | 12:40 pm · Link
Huh….I always thought THIS was the “peter” principle:
Jay B. - May 28, 2009 | 12:40 pm · Link
Democrats apologized for delivering passionate political eulogies at Paul Wellstone’s funeral for Christ’s sake. The Democratic Party leadership routinely “denounced” whatever bullshit they were asked to denounce regarding Michael Moore. And then there’s the never-touchy, always in lockstep marching between the liberal wing of the Democratic Party and the Naderites.
Those were three examples off the top of my head.
Republicans, as always, are idiots.
Tsulagi - May 28, 2009 | 12:42 pm · Link
Yeah, right up until another short-term memory fart, then it doesn’t. But it will again.
Just two hours after the No-Peter posted chastising the Peters in his party, he posts…
He’s had earlier posts saying “Not one dime to the NRSC” for endorsing Crist and calling out R-pols like John Cornyn who have done so as well.
Oh, my bad, clearly that would be entirely different. The not-gay gay R-Crist has been judged RINO while apparently Limbaugh, Levin, and Cheney are job-sharing mini Jesus’ here on Earth. So let it be known that Commander EE is still peter free while touting his teabagging organizing prowess.
Ninerdave - May 28, 2009 | 12:42 pm · Link
My favorite part in bold. What right-of-center coalition?
Ash Can - May 28, 2009 | 12:47 pm · Link
I read through the block-quoted passage once, and thought “wait, that doesn’t even make any fucking sense. What the hell is this person trying to say?” Then I read through it again, and realized that it really was exactly as inane as I originally thought.
How are these people able to dress and feed themselves?
Little Dreamer - May 28, 2009 | 12:54 pm · Link
@Ninerdave:
Those are the people the crazy wingnuts think are going to deliver them a victory in 2010 and beyond. People who would vote R but are no longer willing to call themselves such.
While there may be a few, for the most part they simply don’t exist anymore.
stickler - May 28, 2009 | 1:03 pm · Link
Wait. So Erick bin Erick is against ostracizing Mark Freaking Levin?
But he’s also the architect of “Operation Leper?”
Oooohkay then. Carry on.
daryljfontaine - May 28, 2009 | 1:07 pm · Link
@Keith:
Don’t know about that, but he’s been turning whine into oxycontin for years.
D
Beauzeaux - May 28, 2009 | 1:27 pm · Link
Nice indirect way to compare Limbaugh with Christ.
I wonder how many little blue erection pills Jesus took with him to a tiny island nation notorious for underage prostitutes?
Bubblegum Tate - May 28, 2009 | 1:30 pm · Link
Like the South. Or something.
This made me snarf my (expensive, fancy-schmancy, elitist, possibly French) tea.
Jon H - May 28, 2009 | 1:31 pm · Link
@Keith: “I believe Limbaugh did manage to turn water into gravy at a wedding party once.”
I believe that was his bathwater, and it wasn’t gravy.
bago - May 28, 2009 | 1:43 pm · Link
Red China Bike Force!
LD50 - May 28, 2009 | 1:56 pm · Link
@InflatableCommenter:
‘Dementia’.
TenguPhule - May 28, 2009 | 2:15 pm · Link
Just because it was something brown and liquid does not in fact mean that was gravy.
shoutingattherain - May 28, 2009 | 2:16 pm · Link
@ sgwhiteinfla
Yes. They should just change their name to “The Donner Party” and get it over with.
TenguPhule - May 28, 2009 | 2:17 pm · Link
As long as you’re hanged in a timely fashion, the other details are trivial.
arguingwithsignposts - May 28, 2009 | 4:17 pm · Link
Erick the Red should be arrested for doing grievous bodily harm to the biblical passages he cites to justify his asinine viewpoint. Geez, spare us the chapter and verse.
joes527 - May 28, 2009 | 5:58 pm · Link
@Little Dreamer:
Wait. What?
I could have sworn that this line was from The Wrath of Khan.
Gocart Mozart - May 28, 2009 | 6:26 pm · Link
What is the difference between Jesus Christ and a Republican?
Jesus liked to turn water into wine. Republicans like to turn whatever into whine.
Paul Crowley - May 29, 2009 | 9:23 am · Link
Dear Republican Right: Please, please please keep this shit up. Unity at all costs – and throw out all who disagree!