Popular Posts

  • Challenging Tom Wright
    N.T. Wright has been an important shaper of my understandings of Scripture, Jesus and worldviews. I have had the opportunity to turn many...
  • Ayn Rand, Father Sirico and First Things
    The controversy over the nature of the late Ayn Rand’s ideas and their alleged influence on Republican ideas continues to illuminate ideol...
  • Rick Santorum, Civility Cop
    It is refreshing to see, after lo’ these many months , Republicans policing each other’s extremist language. It seems that Rick Perry has c...
  • Disputing Volf on Pakistan
    Miroslav Volf is a singular figure on the global religious map. His theological writings consistently display elegance, fairness, and profo...
  • The Debt Ceiling
    The Debt Ceiling I have been out of commission for weeks due to extensive travel and family commitments, but I wanted to take a moment t...
  • Hagee/Beck Alliance hardening
    The over the top reaction among many Christians to President Obama's speech yesterday should be a matter of concern to religious and pol...
  • Significant Jewish support for Obama's speech (UPDATE)
    Andrew Sullivan has helpfully catalogued the outrage that flowed almost immediately from some conservatives and Christianists in response t...
  • Gushee and the Uniqueness of bin Laden
    In an otherwise thoughtful, reasoned essay, the ethicist David Gushee has written a sentence that invites correction if not rebuke. Toward...
  • Digging Deeper into the Arab Spring
    I have been reading lengthier essays on the Arab Spring from a variety of contexts and perspectives. The scholars and commentators I ha...
  • A Year Later on Osama, Netanyahu and Obama
    The anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden and the latest controversy from Israel c oncerning the head of Israel’s military pushing bac...

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Joe Wilson Now Key to Boehner's "Win"

The symbolism is rich--those on the inside are reporting that Boehner's desperate effort to secure votes for his own extremely conservative proposal is now dependent on the support of Joe Wilson. Yes, that Joe Wilson, the extremist who shouted out "Liar" at President Obama during his health care speech to Congress in 2009. Wilson is important for another reason, rich in historical symbolism--he is the head of the South Carolina group of congressmen Boehner is frantic to appease. Yes, South Carolina is again the center of extremism and legislative intransigence. But do not fear, we are assured that these are good Christian men thinking things through. You can't make this stuff up:


"Several sources say the South Carolina delegation — which includes five Republicans — could be key in getting the vote across the finish line. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) visited the leadership office suite in the Capitol Thursday evening.
Adding even more drama to an already chaotic evening in the Capitol, several members of the South Carolina delegation retreated to an ornate chapel to pray on the issue.
Asked whether divine inspiration might hit during prayer, Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), a freshman from Charleston, replied: “Divine inspiration already happened. I was a lean no, and now I’m a no.”
A few key South Carolina Republicans were then seen in GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy’s office as the vote remained delayed on the House floor."
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)