A correspondent pointed out an even bigger problem with Karl Rove's dreams of long-term domination that I missed previously. Rove cites the notion that the younger generation is more spiritual as evidence in favor of the looming reign of the right wing. Which is fine if true, except that the younger generation doesn't hold much in the way of Christian Right issue positions on the key sexual orientation issues that have been the GOP's main evangelical mobilization tool in recent years.
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Rove's Non-Genius
03 Jun 2007 10:27 am
Comments (11)
It's tough to tell if this is something he believes or just spin he puts out to contributors and journalists. The exit polls in 2004 and 2006 would beg vehementl to disagree with him. But I guess he was the man with the numbers in October 2006. We know how that turned out.
I'm deeply confused. What do you mean "15% of the [legitimate] vote"?
Also, getting a Republican elected in 2000 was not very difficult. The Republican Party had built a great deal of infrastructure. The press corps uniformly detested Gore. And Shrum was running Gore's campaign, right?
Re: Also, getting a Republican elected in 2000 was not very difficult.
Well, actually it was. Let's not forget that Bush lost the popular vote and became president due to a constitutional technicality and a 5-4 vote of the Supreme Court.
On Matt's basic point, I think he's right that anti-gay politics is fast approaching its freshness date, and the issue wonlt fly much longer. But that doesn't mean the Right wonlt find something else to demagogue, just as they did when race baiting csaed to be socially rsepectable. My guess is immigrant-baiting will be the new wedge issue for the 2010s and beyond.
I have to agree with Matt. It's far from clear that "new spiritualities" are all landing people in the Christian Right tent.
It IS true that the Evangelical Churches have the most infrastructure to take advantage of people who are wandering, looking for spiritual guidance and meaning in their lives (and yes, I do mean _take advantage of_). However, the very strictness and illogicality of the Evangelical approach is likely to appeal to no greater a percentage of the population than usual. It seems more likely that a growth in spirituality will see either a more diverse growth in spiritual organisations, as the kind of people who like "ye olde tyme religion" are the ones who are already at the Evangelical sermons.
Meh has gotten it wrong. There is a budding evangelical youth movement that accounts for a lot of this burgeoning spirituality that Rove is probably thinking of. However, among these young evangelicals, the traditional issues (excepting abortion) of cultural conservatives that Rove plays with are not as important. This is especially true on gay rights.
I'm with Jonf.
Demagogues will find an angle somewhere, and religious people advertise their statistical willingness to ignore reason and evidence when shaping their worldview.
Re: Demagogues will find an angle somewhere, and religious people advertise their statistical willingness to ignore reason and evidence when shaping their worldview.
You kinda over-agreed with me, because I don't really accept the last part of what you said above. I don't think that religious people are any more irrational or credulous than anyone else. Irrationality is very much a part of human nature, perhaps ultimately because life itself includes powerful irrational facets of existence and a purely logical "Mr Spock" type being would not be able to handle this. And everyone who ever says (sincerely with feeling) "I love you" to another person is taking a far bigger leap of faith and probably a bigger risk of a damaging outcome than people who simply say "I believe in One God..."
I'm not as sanguine as the other posters here.
Religious types, especially evangelical types, are, pretty much by definition, people who are not interested in thinking for themselves, and who will swallow pretty much anything as long as it is couched in the right, appropriately vague, words. Those people, as individuals, are irritating to deal with, but not dangerous. As an organized group, however, you have a real powder keg on your hands.
The fact that they are not interested in parts of the GOPs agenda does not change any of this. All it takes is the right demagogue to figure out some insane crusade to lead them on. Something Middle East/anti-Islam related is the most obvious choice --- Jesus wants us to bomb Iran --- but I'm sure there are others.
If you were looking for an example of Rove's (and Mehlman's) non-genius, you needed to look no further than his support for the current immigration bill, and his fantasy that Mexican-Americans are "natural Republicans". The idea that a demographic group that consumes more in government services than it pays in taxes is going to vote for a party advocating lower taxes and (excepting LBJ-style Republicans like Bush) smaller government is crazy.
JonF:
I find gay-baiting of social conservatives distasteful (whether by politicians like Bush or Bill Clinton), but the recent rejection of gay marriage at the ballot box wasn't driven by that -- gay marriage got shot down by voters in Oregon, after all. You need to do some introspection on this one. Not everyone who has a problem with gay marriage is a bigot (just like not everyone who's against illegal immigration is a bigot). Labeling opponents to a policy bigots doesn't usually bring more of them to your side.
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Comments closed June 17, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
You're insane if you don't think Rove's a certified genius. The guy got Prince Bunnypants, the person who inspired the expression "George W. Bush-stupid," into the White House, let alone with more than 15% of the [legitimate] vote. Props where props is due.
So while the bastard Rove may be incorrect in what he says about these wedge positions, it's unlikely that he isn't aware of the reality or doesn't have a plan to deal with it. The guy is shrewd and wildly effective. For fuck's sake, George W. Bush is [technically] the President of the world's lone Superpower!
Posted by ed | June 3, 2007 11:19 AM