I loved the progression of madness (which I have helpfully highlighted) in this Bloomberg piece, which begins:
Iowa conservatives were asking how and why Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act came under fire. Texas Senator Ted Cruz had found the culprit. "The Fortune 500 is running shamelessly to endorse the radical gay marriage agenda over religious liberty, to say: 'We will persecute a Christian pastor, a Catholic priest, a Jewish rabbi,'" Cruz told a Wednesday morning audience of more than 300 people in Sioux City. "Any person of faith is subject to persecution if they dare disagree, if their religious faith parts way from their political commitment to gay marriage. The Fortune 500 has cast their lot in with that."
That opener is hard to beat. But Bob Vander Plaats, of Iowa Family Leader, found a way:
"Some of these businesses fund conservative causes because they believe in conservative values of governing, of low taxes and less regulation," said Vander Plaats. "And then, because the rainbow flag goes up, they feel they’ve got to be more in vogue than the next guy. They don't appreciate that this is leading them in a march to socialism and redistribution."
Hmmm. It seemed we had another winner. Then came the close:
"That quote [i.e., Cruz's, above] is one of the reasons Cruz's presidential launch has exceeded the conventional wisdom's expectations," says Steve Deace, a conservative talk radio host based in Des Moines. "He's got the cojones to 'go there.' He's exactly right. You can't have a political party where the 20 percent writing the checks have different values on EXISTENTIAL ISSUES LIKE AMNESTY, MARRIAGE, AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY than the 80 percent of the people in the base."
Existential issues? Our very existence is threatened because two agnostic Hispanic dudes in Ottumwa get engaged?
You win the prize, Mr. Deace. You win the prize.
When are the christian cons going to realize that they're being used for their votes and will never get what they want?
Posted by: merl | April 03, 2015 at 12:27 PM
Well if it bothers them that much, then maybe they can start advocating to get money out of politics? Or is that too much to ask?
Posted by: Anne J | April 03, 2015 at 02:57 PM
I hope Cruz does well in Iowa. That would give the GOP fits.
Posted by: Fight for Justice | April 03, 2015 at 03:00 PM
I think Mr Deace meant existential in the context of the Republican party's; he's got a point.
Posted by: Shaun Appleby | April 04, 2015 at 03:14 PM