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Title: Now He's A Godless Commie
Source: Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish
URL Source: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.c ... 8/04/now-hes-a-godle.html#more
Published: Apr 14, 2008
Author: Andrew Sullivan
Post Date: 2008-04-14 10:17:18 by aristeides
Keywords: None
Views: 528
Comments: 28

Now He's A Godless Commie

Bill Kristol, trained in the same politics as Hillary Clinton, now argues that Obama's remarks in a fundraiser q and a are the "real Obama" - and that his voluminous writing and speaking about the sincerity of his own religious faith, and of others, are presumably "masks." The reason for inferring Obama's Marxism is the following point Obama artlessly made about the way in which economic distress can alter people's tolerance for others:

"It’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Is this indistinguishable from saying, along with Marx, that all religion is an obviously false consciousness caused by the alienation of the world-historical class struggle? No, it obviously isn't. It's saying that economic distress does often in human history express itself in more rigid forms of religion, more reactionary cultural identification, less tolerance of "the other." Since large swathes of human history have shown this to be true - and perfectly arguable without any materialist understanding of religion - Kristol is deliberately distorting to paint Obama as a cynical manipulator of religious faith for political ends, rather than as a genuine Christian. He's calling him a lying, Godless communist.

You could argue, as Kristol and others hilariously will, that Lou Dobbs has no base, that fundamentalist Christianism has no problem with "the other" in a globalized world, that dozens of state constitutional amendments banning civil marriages that had never and would never have taken place were just spirited forms of civic engagement, rather than scapegoating or politicking on resentment. You could also argue, as others legitimately will, that spasms of economic distress and social discontent are unconnected. Hey: Weimar had nothing to do with Hitler. But Kristol is doing something much more pernicious: he is saying that Obama is faking faith, that his very profession of faith is a "mask" that is slipping, and that Kristol is the person to determine whose faith is genuine and who is a fraud.

A non-Christian manipulator of Christianity is calling a Christian a liar about his own faith. That's where they've gone to already. And it's only the middle of April. What are they so scared of?

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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 22.

#2. To: All (#0)

Oops, I left out the link to the Kristol piece to which Sullivan refers: The Mask Slips . And Sullivan is not exaggerating: Kristol really is accusing Obama of being a Marxist in this piece.

An awful lot like the way some posters here have been bandying about that "Commie" label a lot these days, isn't it? I wonder how they feel about Kristol engaging in the same tactic.

Of course, as a Marxist would say, what they're doing "objectively" benefits the Zionist cause as much as what Kristol does.

aristeides  posted on  2008-04-14   10:22:22 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#22. To: aristeides (#2)

An awful lot like the way some posters here have been bandying about that "Commie" label a lot these days, isn't it?

I hadn't noticed. What I do notice is that the Obama believers want to engage endlessly about how Obama is the lesser of the choices the globalist pukes have made for us and therefore he should be chosen. I'm tired of trying to point out that a vote for Obama for change is futile. Perhaps that's why you're getting video instead of pointless debate. It's my assessment that over the past few interminable threads, Peppa and others have made their positions clear.

You support Obama because you hope he's better than the others and you want to believe that there's hope to change this country for the better. I don't see any rationale to support that analysis.

angle  posted on  2008-04-14   12:53:16 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 22.

#23. To: angle (#22)

You support Obama because you hope he's better than the others and you want to believe that there's hope to change this country for the better. I don't see any rationale to support that analysis.

I hope you also don't see any rationale for various posters here repeatedly calling me and others here "Commies".

aristeides  posted on  2008-04-14 13:59:09 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


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