While assuring them that the Middle Eastern Jesus hates Moslems and anyone else not like them.

The creationist issue is not so much a matter of political expediency as it is of profound science illiteracy. This is unfortunately because the GOP has been taken over by a fundamentalist religious cabal. This began in the late 1970's when first Jerry Falwell (Moral Majority, which it was neither) and Pat Robertson (Christian Coalition) seized control of the GOP by running fundy religious kooks in thousands of precincts throughout the country. Falwell and Robertson knew what many Democrats today do not. When one wants to change the direction of a political party one starts at the bottom, not the top.

The result is that today's GOP is more of a mega church as it is a political party. The politics is a mere facade. It is all about the religion. And all one has to do is listen to these idiots to know that fact.

I don't give a fuck which Democratic candidate you support. I will support our party's choice. Because the GOP already has the majority in the state houses, governor mansions, US Senate, and US House. We have the White House. That is all. Pretty slim pickings, by my accounting.

That is why creationism has such strength in this country.

If one wants to change the direction of a party, one needs to work from the bottom up, just like Falwell and Robertson knew back in the late 70's.

As we all should know by now, the White House is necessary, but not sufficient.

Work hard, DUers.

My best to you all.

Championing creationism is less about science than about tapping into the anger and fear of middle America.

Anger and fear are the fuel of the GOP -- easily tapped into and easily directed at any target including colleges, healthcare, women, Obama, LGBT, anti-global warming policies, etc. The GOP uses people who are governed by their own negative emotions, top down.

It began at the pulpits of hundreds of Protestant churches who held meetings to get folks to run for GOP precinct delegate. It was phenomenally successful, to the point that the largest county GOP party in Kansas' monthly newsletter read more like a religious tract, than a political one. It invoked Jesus more than any candidate. As an officer in the county Democratic Party and eventually district and state delegate, we were shocked by how fast it happened. The Sedgwick County GOP even had the audacity to host "The Godarchy Line", a phone line one could call to listen to a daily message explicitly expressing advocacy for theocracy. This was in the early 90's.

It was amazing. And nothing much has changed since then. The GOP is still barking mad with theocracy.

They used high profile people like Anita Bryant, Falwell and Robertson. There was an alliance between the GOP and evangelical churches. So while the number and votes came from the bottom, the vision for how to mobilize and use these people came from the top.

An interesting clip starting at the 42:45 mark here puts this movement into the context of the rise of neo-conservatives mirroring the rise of Khomeini and the first islamic state, Iran in 1979:

However, what they understood and so many here on DU do not, is that if an ideological cabal wants to take over one of the two main political parties in the US, one has to do it from the bottom. And if one has fundamentalist pastors all over the country hosting political "how to become a GOP delegate" lessons, it becomes easy. Game over, man. Game over. The GOP is not grandpa's GOP. It is now a religious cabal.

If all the delegates at the precinct level are fundamentalist Christians, than all the district delegates will be, too. And the state delegates. And the national delegates.

I watched it all happen in the 80's and especially the 90's, when it finally became real.

Having the top of the ticket, the Oval Office, is meaningless if one has nothing else.

That is where the Democratic Party stands today.

K & R

"Good" is defined as being synonymous with "The Bible (TM)". So, if a politician supports "The Bible (TM)", he must be a good guy, right?

not very intelligent people.

So if a candidate wants to win the base, they need to say xenophobic and/or not very intelligent things.

Pretty obviously, shit about the Earth being only 6,000 years old, Jesus riding a dinosuar, what have you, falls into the latter category.


The good news is, Millennials are having none of it (statistically speaking); so whatever gibberish the GOP candidate has to say during primary time, will come back and bite them on the ass next November, assuming we can motivate younger voters to the polls.

explaining the repigs

............along with hatred, xenophobia, racism and misogyny!



How the GOP Weaponized Ignorance

Americans lap up the kind of stupidity people elsewhere in the world drop in the dumpster at first sight.

We are a pathetic, gullible and brutally stupid AND ignorant society.

now you're "Chrischun" if you mouth some Adventist heretic's piffle; it's a delightful thought-terminating cliche

Much of the fundamentalist base know that at least some of the candidates do not REALLY believe that the Universe is 6000 years old. But if they can make them say that they do, then it proves that they have power and influence over them.

I wish that the GOP candidates feel at least a little bit humiliated by this, but they are so far beyond shame I think they actually enjoy how well the pandering works out.

Labeling everything that disagrees with you and your position is a form of control all on its own. And that applies to both sides of the isle.

We may see creationists as a bunch of illiterate science denying jerks that want everyone to adopt their ridiculous beliefs.

But they may very well think the same about us. Regardless, labeling a class of people and calling them a threat cannot result in anything good happening.