Jewish evangelism?
Today, in an article about Harriet Miers and evidence that she is a friend and fan of President Bush (I wonder how much detective work went into uncovering that startling fact), Julian Borger provides us with a classic example of how The Guardian’s caricatured view of the right in the States prevents it from reporting the world as it is.
Detailing the grief that Bush is getting from within his own party over the nomination, Borger delivers this:
In fact, it is the non-religious right that is up in arms over Miers. Evangelical leaders such as Marvin Olasky and James Dobson are in fact supporting the Miers nomination. It is the intellectual right, making distinctly intellectual arguments, that is opposing the nomination.
George “There is no reason to trust Bush” Will, Jonah “She’s a crony” Goldberg, Bill “Disappointed, Depressed, and Demoralized” Kristol, Charles “Withdraw this Nominee” Krauthammer, Peggy “What was the President thinking?” Noonan…this is not a roll-call of conservative, evangelical Christians. This is the intellectual base of the conservative movement. (Guardian readers, along with Borger, may be surprised to learn that the true “base” of the conservative movement in the US is indeed intellectual, and not religious.)
Frankly, by characterizing the positions of people like Kristol, Goldberg, and Krauthammer – Jews all - as “evangelical”, even if just by implication, Borger reveals just how truly automatic and unthinking the association of evangelism with the political right in the US really is at The Guardian.
Detailing the grief that Bush is getting from within his own party over the nomination, Borger delivers this:
Many doubters on the right believe she has not shown herself sufficiently committed to evangelical legal causes, such as a ban on abortions and gay marriage.Borger’s attempt to paint the objections of the right as religiously motivated, through the use of the characterization “evangelical”, reveals the great extent to which he doesn’t know what he is talking about.
In fact, it is the non-religious right that is up in arms over Miers. Evangelical leaders such as Marvin Olasky and James Dobson are in fact supporting the Miers nomination. It is the intellectual right, making distinctly intellectual arguments, that is opposing the nomination.
George “There is no reason to trust Bush” Will, Jonah “She’s a crony” Goldberg, Bill “Disappointed, Depressed, and Demoralized” Kristol, Charles “Withdraw this Nominee” Krauthammer, Peggy “What was the President thinking?” Noonan…this is not a roll-call of conservative, evangelical Christians. This is the intellectual base of the conservative movement. (Guardian readers, along with Borger, may be surprised to learn that the true “base” of the conservative movement in the US is indeed intellectual, and not religious.)
Frankly, by characterizing the positions of people like Kristol, Goldberg, and Krauthammer – Jews all - as “evangelical”, even if just by implication, Borger reveals just how truly automatic and unthinking the association of evangelism with the political right in the US really is at The Guardian.
2 Comments:
Not sure Jonah Goldberg is Jewish. His Mom, Lucianne, certainly isn't.
The larger point, though, is that w/ the exception of Peggy Newman, none of these folks wear their religion in public. More important, the intellectual horsepower of the American right now dwarfs that of the American left -- an idea that Guardian readers can't and won't handle in any circumstances.
The Guardian invented double standards, so there's really nothing new here. Borger, witless tit that he is, blends right in.
tired,
You are correct about Lucianne, but Jonah was raised in the Jewish faith.
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/jonahgoldberg/2004/12/22/14023.html
SC
Post a Comment
<< Home