When the teabaggers quote Jefferson about watering the tree of liberty and conveniently leave out his statement that the rich ought to shoulder ALL the tax burden for the rest of the country. Well, Jefferson said and did a lot of things, some good, some evil. But cafeteria style patriotism is sheer insanity, and the teabagger mob mentality illustrates that to the extreme. It reminds me of the alleged-Christian fundies who absolutely love CS Lewis, quote him in all sorts of ways to prove themselves legitimate faithful, but get the vapors and their guns when you point out that the theologian also said the practice of Christianity absolutely requires some form of (GASP) socialism!

I read some of his books years ago, though not lately, and I don't remember running into that. I like his writing more than most apologetics, so I'm curious.

The book 'Mere Christianity' was taken from a series of radio addresses Lewis made during WWII, if I recall. Fundies love to pick and choose from his various writings as they try to prove notions at which the man would've recoiled. Very few of them know or will admit that he advocated ANY form of socialism, their most hated word apparently. Tell them that the woman he married was a strong advocate of communism and they'll lynch you for a heretic no matter the color of your skin. If you haven't yet read it, let me recommend 'The Screwtape Letters' as well. That and 'The Great Divorce' make up my personal favorite CS Lewis trilogy.

It IS relevant to Boehner's hypocrisy, especially in this instance where he's cherry picking Lincoln; the pattern remains the same - twist the full truth to suit your own evil purposes. Lincoln was a man of his times. How could he not be? But he grew in wisdom ahead of his fellows and clearly if born today would be a Yellow Dog Democrat. Modern fundies don't like that fact whispered in their ears any more than they want to hear about the real CS Lewis. Those historical figures are reserved to bolster modern GOP fascism. "The party of Lincoln" my ass!

If you have a good enough head start and can run fast, try telling GOP fundies that Jesus is a socialist, and then watch all hell break loose. As you look back over your shoulder and try to pick up speed, 'cause your gonna need it.