Monday, October 10, 2005
Hitch is Back
Christopher Hitchens has a blistering critique of the Meiers nomination and the place of religion in government in today's Slate. As usual, he's high on vitriol and low on practical advice, but also as usual, the angrier he gets, the more of a pleasure he is to read. And so far I believe he's the only person to point out that Bush seems to believe that Meiers religious affiliation should be qualification enough for the hard right. To their credit, most hard-righters are rejecting this view. Here's the heart of the piece:
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Of the nomination of Harriet Miers, by contrast [with Roberts], it can be said that only her religion has been considered by her conservative fans to be worth mentioning. What else is there to say, in any case, about a middling bureaucrat and yes-woman than that she attends some mediocre place of worship? One could happily make a case that more random civilians, and fewer fucking lawyers, should be on the court. But the only other thing to say about Miers is that she is a fucking lawyer. Her own opinion of herself is somewhat higher: She does not attribute her presence among us to the laws of biology but chooses to regard herself as having a personal and unmediated relationship with the alleged Jesus of Nazareth, who is further alleged to be the son of God. Such modesty! On this basis, the president and his people have felt able to issue assurances of her OK-ness. So, as far as I can determine, she was set, and has passed, a religious test: that of being an "Evangelical" Christian.Read the whole thing.
The cowardice of the Democrats in this respect is absolutely breathtaking. Having determined that they, too, must move to faith-based high ground (and having chosen a Mormon as their Senate leader), they have refused to make the smallest squeak about this overt theocratic blackmail. Having swallowed Roberts by agreeing that religion should have nothing to do with it, they will swallow Miers even though it now seems that religion has everything to do with it.
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