Bush 41 and Emperor Moon--together again

(Cross-posted at Talk2Action.)

Word comes from FishbowlDC that George H.W. Bush, the 41st president, and the Reverend Moon, pontiff of the Potomac, are to share a stage May 17. The occasion: the 25th anniversary of the Washington Times, the enigmatic hard right newspaper.

In 2004, U.S. Senator John Warner said Moon's representatives had "deceived" him into signing off on a Capitol Hill ritual in which Moon dressed up like the Emperor Napoleon, and pronounced himself "God's ambassador." You would think Bush would be given pause by a long record of such behavior: Moon's claim to be Jesus Christ's replacement; his reputation among the Southern Baptists as a "wolf in sheep's clothing." But it turns out, their decades-long association has withstood many such bumps in the road. (More after jump.)

(Here's a YouTube link to the crowning.]

Somehow, each time politicians and media figures appear with Moon, they feign surprise at his spontaneity. Consider the curious institutional history of the Washington Times anniversary dinner.

Last time around, in 2002, the Times's 20th anniversary found reporters heading to the bar for a stiff drink, according to this report, after Moon declared that "[T]he Washington Times will become the instrument in spreading the truth about God to the world," something of a surprising corporate mission statement.

In 1997, the Washington Times birthday bash was televised on CSPAN. Bush, keeping tradition, congratulated the Times. And Reagan thanked the Times for helping him win the Cold War. Then the founder and funder of the paper, the mysterious Reverend, told the crowd that "I established The Washington
Times to fulfill God's desperate desire to save this world." (Listen to the sound clip.)

Let's hope the 2007 anniversary is every bit as eerie and fascinating a collision of cultures: between Moon's ultra-ultra-right Unification Church, which preaches that the Christian cross is a symbol of Satan, and the Washington Times, those incorrigible promoters of the "War on Christmas"...and between the church that claims to be uniting all races, and the nest of Confederacy-philes and up-with-white-people cranks who've been credited with flogging the Minutemen into a national phenomenon.

P.S. More on why I love the Washington Times: It's the only national newspaper that could produce this correction, from 2005: "The Washington Times yesterday inadvertently published a photograph of D.C. City Administrator Robert C. Bobb misidentified as the late soul singer Marvin Gaye."

Update [2007-4-4 21:49:10 by johngorenfeld]:Thanks for the recommendation, Daily Kos citizens.