It caught the reporters and the professional political media by surprise--but you guys, the ones who regularly read my Bachmann stuff here--*you* weren't that surprised, were you?
I'm referring to this:
Beck's marriage of politics and religion raising questions
By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
A few weeks before organizing a massive rally on the Mall that had the feel of a religious revival, Glenn Beck sought the blessing of some of the country's most prominent conservative Christian leaders.
The Fox talk show host wanted their support as he shifted from political commentary to a more spiritual message, he told the group of about 20...
If you read these things I've been posting on Bachmann for the past five or six years--you already have an idea about who some of names in "the group of about 20" that Beck went to for support.
For five or six years now, I've been telling readers that the rise of Michele Bachmann and her proto-fascist garbage was facilitated by a religious right that has already been organized as "a de facto third party" in American politics.
(continued)
That happened a long time ago, but the pro media and the political analysts and activists and the voters and donors here--don't understand that. They don't understand what the difference is, between "a religious right that's a very powerful lobby affecting the Republican Party" and a "religious right that was formed into a stealth political party, one with its own media (2000 radio stations, and that's just one chain), that set out to effectively take over the national Republican Party and its local affiliates in districts where evangelical conservatives are strong."
For years, I've been writing on blogs where this development is seen as "something Bill covers, not me." People who spend their lives following politics ignored this earthquake change in American politics--ignored it long after the movement I'm talking about ensured that GWB would be the presidential nominee in 2000, and sent GWB the 3 million votes he beat Kerry by. (Remember how that margin of victory sent the world--even the secular conservative world--into a kind of stunned silence for at least a month?)
There are still political junkies and professionals scratching their heads now, going "What was all that "God" stuff that Beck was suddenly talking about at his uber-hyped rally of talk radio conservatives? Where did that come from all of the sudden, Beck doesn't do that on his broadcasts--"
But there's no mystery there,
- if you're a very happy evangelical conservative political activist who's spent decades working for results like this
- if you're a very worried Republican player living anywhere near a red state who's wondering if he now has to get baptized to ensure his
future in the GOP,
or
- if you're one of my dozen loyal readers.
If you're in one of those groups, you understand why Beck said what he said in the link below. You understand that there is a major third party in American politics and there has been for at least a decade, you understand that that last fact has escaped all the American political class to the left of the GOP...
...and you understand that it's not "the religious right--the lobby," it's "the religious right--the political party, just like the Democrats or Republicans but with its own media around the country..."
...and you understand that the tea party is jack shit compared to this "third party," that this third party has its very own 24/7 media all around the country (see the reference to Salem Network in the link.)
...and you understand that whatever your particular political concerns are (environment, identity politics, civil rights, etc.)--those are dwarfed by the threat to democracy posed by this third party...
...which is nuts, led by nuts, looks forward to a proto-fascist USA "in the name of the Constitution and Jesus Christ", and which views a politician like Michele Bachmann as its ideal figurehead, and can promote a nut like that into a position of national influence.
Here's the link. Below that link, is link on how a Mormon like Glenn Beck can be accepted into an evangelical conservative Christian movement as one of their own--despite the fact that Mormons terrify evangelical Chrisitans. (Yes, all this crazy sectarian religious stuff is going to matter, in your life, from now on--even if you live in a liberal enclave or a college town or San Fran-f*****g-cisco.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Look at the names, the names of the religious right political players--the crossover in "names that matter to the reporters"--in the Washington Post story and the crackpot conservative reporter story below.
http://newsbusters.org/...
ACTION LINK: Please do what you can for Tarryl Clark, Bachmann's opponent. If we can stop Bachmann here, in this race, it would be a major set back for this national political machine--otherwise, it's coming soon to a government ruling you.
http://tarrylclark.com