Noem: George W. Bush Not Conservative Enough

The Brits get a taste of Kristi Noem in their Daily Mail. UK reporter David Rose comes to South Dakota to call our Republican candidate for U.S. House "glamorous" and "gun-crazy." He also finds she takes her conservative cues from Glenn Beck, not George W. Bush:

But what sets Kristi apart from the mainstream Republican leadership is when she starts talking about the last Republican President, George W. Bush.

In Britain, people tend to think of Bush as quite conservative. Not Kristi. 'Of course Bush was a good president, but he leaned too much to the middle and created programmes that put too many people on the government payroll. And once the Democrats got control of the House in 2006, he only used his power to veto their legislation once.'

...Beck, a former disc jockey and now a bestselling author, has launched his online 'Glenn Beck university', and among its teachings is that America started to go to the dogs at the time of the First World War, when government expanded far beyond the limits envisaged by the founding fathers with the establishment of institutions such as the Federal Reserve and publicly funded universal education.

In South Dakota, 52 per cent of all voters and 80 per cent of Republicans say they identify with Tea Party values. Kristi Noem says she agrees with Beck's analysis.

'His overall concept of more limited government and the need to go back to what our forefathers wanted is right,' she says.

'There are things that have to change but, as Beck says, not core values' [David Rose, "They see Obama as a hostile, alien force - like Hitler or Pol Pot: The glamorous, gun-crazy women preparing to blow the President away," UK Daily Mail, 2010.10.24].

Kristi Noem thinks George W. Bush wasn't conservative enough... and Bush wanted to privatize Social Security. So did Kristi, back in May, before she had to start thinking about what she was saying.

But a Republican Party moving from George W. Bush to Glenn Beck as font of good governing principles is a scary, scary party.

Bonus photo: If for no other reason, check out Rose's article to see the money shot of Kristi Noem coming to drink your milkshake.

Weiner Roasts Beck's Gold Sponsor

Shout out to Adam: Come back from the TV... and don't order those coins!

If Dennis Kucinich ever tires of running for President, I hope Anthony Weiner will take up the challenge. My favorite Congressman from New York has issued a report finding Goldline uses conservative talk-radio paranoia and other shady tactics to drive sales. From Congressman Weiner's report:

...Goldline International has been in business since 1960, but has gained national prominence recently by sponsoring conservative talk show hosts.

These paid spokespeople have happily agreed to promote Goldline by playing off the fear of inflation, to encourage people to purchase gold as an investment that will protect them from an out of control government.

In reality Goldline is a company that uses conservative rhetoric, high pressure sales tactics and tall tales about the future of gold to sell over priced coins that can be bought somewhere else for cheaper [Congressman Anthony Weiner, "As Seen on TV: An Investigation of Goldline International," U.S. House of Representatives, 2010.05.17].

In pot-calling-kettle news, Goldline spokesman and entertainer Glenn Beck accuses Rep. Weiner of using McCarthyite tactics. (Really, Glenn? Really?!?)

Rep. Weiner is undaunted, saying "...the facts are clear. Goldline rips off consumers and Glenn Beck helps." (So do fellow fear purveyors Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson, Dennis Miller, and Laura Ingraham, all with choice goonie goldbuggery quoted in the report.) The Congressman is calling for consumer protection legislation to require metals dealers to disclose hidden fees, purchase price, melt value, resale value, and resale profit information.

Glenn Beck to Madison Christians: Might as Well Be Atheists

While the local Glenn Beck fan club, including District 8 House candidate Patricia Stricherz, presume to lecture me about their piety, their Dear Leader is proving he doesn't know his theology. His equation of Christian social justice with Nazism and Communism leaves Madison churchgoers with very few places to worship. Here's a quick survey of where our local churches and their denominations stand on social justice (I welcome additions, corrections, and more links!):

• Trinity Lutheran: the words social justice appear on their website. Run away! Run away!
• St. John Lutheran: social justice doesn't appear verbatim on the website, but they're ELCA, and my wife assures me they're all about social justice. "God's Work, Our Hands"—socialist code words if ever I heard 'em! (Same goes, I'll bet, for St. Peter Lutheran!)
  
• Our Savior's Lutheran: even the Missouri Synod can't get away from social justice.
• Good Shepherd Free Lutheran: Well, they're Free Lutherans, so they're free to believe whatever they want, I guess.
  
• St. Thomas Catholic: the Diocese talks about social justice. I also hear some local Catholics are Democrats. And don't even get me started on that Pope fellow. He's socialist... and German!
• Living Hope Wesleyan: the home site seems less concerned about social justice, but the denomination says social justice "is dear to the hearts of Wesleyans as well." Eeeek!
• West Center Baptist: Their Covenant and Constitution declares "Whenever men are in bondage to ignorance, poverty, or fear of prejudice, we shall strive for justice, freedom, dignity, and peace."
• Grace Episcopal: social justice gets its own page on the national website. (Perhaps Father Tim can offer some enlightenment!)
• Madison Methodist: they donate to all sorts of social causes.
• "River of Life" Assembly of God: The AG is all about social justice.

In Glenn Beck's world, if you go to church in Madison, you're pretty much a Nazi Commie. If my Christian neighbors took Glenn Beck seriously, there'd be a lot more people home reading my blog on Sunday morning. (Wait, maybe you should take Beck's advice.... ;-) )

Fortunately, Christians of all stripes recognize Beck's commentary offends true Christianity:

“What he has said attacks the very heart of our Christian faith, and Christians should no longer watch his show,” Mr. [Jim] Wallis, who heads the antipoverty group Sojourners, wrote on his “God’s Politics” blog. “His show should now be in the same category as Howard Stern.”

Rev. James Martin, an editor at the liberal Jesuit magazine America... wrote on the Huffington Post: “It is not enough simply to help the poor, one must address the structures that keep them that way. Standing up for the rights of the poor is not being a Nazi, it’s being Christian. And Communist, as Mr. Beck suggests? It’s hard not to think of the retort of the great apostle of social justice, Dom Helder Camara, archbishop of Recife, ‘When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist’ ” [Laurie Goodstein, "Christians Urged to Boycott Glenn Beck," New York Times: The Caucus Blog, 2010.03.11].

Even experts in Beck's own professed religion, Mormonism, say Beck is wrong:

Kent P. Jackson, associate dean of religion at Brigham Young University, said in an interview: “My own experience as a believing Latter-day Saint over the course of 60 years is that I have seen social justice in practice in every L.D.S. congregation I’ve been in. People endeavor with all of our frailties and shortcomings to love one another and to lift up other people. So if that’s Beck’s definition of social justice, he and I are definitely not on the same team.”

Philip Barlow, the Arrington Professor of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University, said: “One way to read the Book of Mormon is that it’s a vast tract on social justice. It’s ubiquitous in the Book of Mormon to have the prophetic figures, much like in the Hebrew Bible, calling out those who are insensitive to injustices. “A lot of Latter-day Saints would think that Beck was asking them to leave their own church” [Goodstein, 2010]

Christian neighbors, if you've been listening to Glenn Beck, you might want to reread that commandment about false idols. Beck profoundly misunderstands and misrepresents the basics of Christianity. He uses piety as a marketing tool. But would you expect any less from a man who converts to Mormonism just so he can have sex?

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Bonus reading: Matt Yglesias hits the same theme at Think Progress. Hey, doesn't his name mean church?