It's All About Tom
Ed, at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, noticed this bit from a speech DeLay gave to a fundamentalist group on Friday:
"One thing that God has brought to us is Terri Schiavo, to help elevate the visibility of what is going on in America," Mr. DeLay told a conference organized by the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. A recording of the event was provided by the advocacy organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State."This is exactly the issue that is going on in America, of attacks against the conservative movement, against me and against many others," Mr. DeLay said.
Mr. DeLay complained that "the other side" had figured out how "to defeat the conservative movement," by waging personal attacks, linking with liberal organizations and persuading the national news media to report the story. He charged that "the whole syndicate" was "a huge nationwide concerted effort to destroy everything we believe in."
Ed has it just right, commenting:
Such moral myopia. Such narcissism. Yeah, Tom, it's all about you and your political beliefs. God was so concerned about the future of your political movement that he decided to strike this woman down in the prime of her life, beginning a decade and a half of anguish for everyone who cared about her. He planted the thoughts in the minds of her husband and her parents to start a big legal battle over it so it would blow up into a political issue just so that you and your pals could fight back against your political enemies. Because after all, it's all about you. And God loves you so much he's willing to necrotize the brain of an innocent victim just to help you score some political points later on.
It's become almost passe to complain about the wimpiness of the democrats, but reading Ed's comment, I can't help but wonder why the party can't take mount a similar critique (in a less chatty, less streetwise style). DeLay is living proof that Cro-magnons do indeed still walk the earth. He is also a central figure in the republican party. Could this be any easier?
Lena at March 26, 2005 7:26 AM
Political allegiance is for wimps. You wanna pick a team, go ahead... But no tears when it doesn't work out, OK?
In other news, Loveline made a good point the other night. We knew that Schiavo's health had been crippled by bulimia (heart attack at 26). But Amy's friend Dr Drew put much of this in perspective when asking us to remember what sort of homes produce daughters with eating disorders (family themes of control and compromised individuation, etc).
All the sudden the story is interesting again. It's like the continuing willingness of the family to try to master her most private conditions has never abated. The husband is probably a real dick.
But the collision in family dynamics is necessary to make this a national story anyway... As Lena and others have noted, people get this sick ALL THE TIME.
So it's all about sex and family vibes. (Politicians are exploitative shits, but that's not news.) Friends, all roads lead to Paglia, and it's a shame that she's so distracted with her book tour.
Cridland at March 26, 2005 11:32 AM
Never thought about the family influence on her eating disorder. Good spy.
Little ted at March 27, 2005 9:46 AM
I shoulda seen it too, it was just sitting out there in the open.
And re: Paglia, see this, with the proviso that 'fuck Clive James.' I think he's just upset that he never hit the ball out the park the way our Cammy did.
Meanwhile, let's hope that Schiavo doesn't actually die until after midnight EST. Rainier, OK... And the Pope, like wut-evar. But if Schiavo dies on Easter, the freakadeak Christians are going to become intolerably precious...
Cridland at March 27, 2005 10:13 AM
12:24 monday morning, and she "lives"... Ahhh!
The UK Sun is reporting that Rainier is dead but on life support pumps until the workweek is underway and the tourists have left the casinos... Wouldn't want to harsh the holiday vibes for the paying customers. Amazing the shit you can pull when your soverign nation is smaller than Griffeth Park.
Cridland at March 27, 2005 9:28 PM
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