Last week, I posted "Republicans: Their Corruption, Their Hypocrisy," (
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/8/123445/9614) a look at House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, two textbook examples of same. I intended it to serve as a preliminary deconstruction of the unadulterated greed and selfishness which pass for conservative ideology these days.
Now we proceed to Stage Two, the GOP's pervasive perversion. We're not just talking Jack Ryan and Bob Packwood and Bob Dornan here. This post begins a Republican rogues' gallery of degenerate sociopaths with no redeeming qualities, a parade of human scum who espouse piety but are, themselves, no more than garbage wrapped in skin.
First up: High-grade whackmobile Rick Santorum...
The wild-eyed Rapture-right wants theocracy in these United States and, as straitjacket crazy as that might sound to you and I, they're deadly serious about it. In opposition to the explicitly stated wishes of our Founding Fathers, they want to tell you how to live and die, whom to marry and how to worship their bad-tempered brat of a God. They are the latter day Pharisees who have targeted homosexuals as a group which is safe for them to mercilessly denigrate and persecute because gays are a virtually invisible minority, disinclined to defend themselves.
A prime example of these lunatics' disgusting obsession is "Sick" Rick Santorum, whose last name means 'anus' in Latin, such a completely appropriate appelation that it is almost eerie. This Catholic Senator from Pennsylvania is so utterly obsessed with sex that he literally cannot open his mouth without saying something about it. What I am about to tell you may sound at first like Jon Stewart's pointed Daily Show satire...but I assure you that it is not. And I've got the links to prove it.
In a piece he wrote for a religious website called Catholic Online in 2002, he blamed the permissive, liberal atmosphere in the city of Boston for the pedophile priest scandal where it initially came to light. I was absolutely stunned when I found out...and remain so to this very day! Such a debased thought prosess is so preposterously wrong on so many levels that it makes my teeth hurt. (http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/07/12/in_sanctum_santorum/) He piously claimed to know nothing of similar child abuse allegations in Pennsylvania...which would, of course, effectively negate his entire argument. But why let inconvenient facts get in the way of an energetic liberal bashing? Not only did this raving rightwad simply lie like a rug--which is called "bearing false witness" in Catholic-speak and which the Ninth Commandment strictly prohibits--but it turns out that a pastor from his VERY OWN CHURCH was placed on leave for decades-old charges of child molestation! All this is reported in an article dated 7/12/02 and entitled "Capital Hill Pastor Faces Child Sex Case," which even names "Sens. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Rick Santorum (R-Pa)" as church parishoners. (http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=124) For shame, Ricky, for shame!
Senator Anus--Oooh, I LOVE it!--has further claimed that he can interfere in women's reproductive issues as he sees fit because the right to privacy isn't really a right at all. (http://www.pandagon.net/archives/2005/07/your_rights_are.html) He has gone so far as to equate gay rights with "man on dog" sex. Honest! (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,84862,00.html) Beastiality, Rick? C'mon! This is a family program!
In a recent interview on the Brian Leher radio show, he started out hawking his new book calmly enough, but when the topic turned to abortion, Little Ricky came unstuck. Virtually yelling at the host that gay sex is NEVER consensual--and exactly how would he know THAT?--he likened it to bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery. Huh? (Guess he missed his meds that day...) Snarky Mr. Leher egged him on, reminding the foaming Senator that his very own senior spokesman, Robert. L. Traynham, had recently come out of the closet. Naturally, Santorum went ballistic. Crooks and Liars has the entire audio exchange and it's big, big belly laughs. (http://crooksandliars.com/2005/08/04.html#a4307 "Santorum Loses It")
Is it just me, or does this guy sound as crazy as a roomful of flies? Back in January of this year, he penned an editorial that appeared in the Allentown, Pennsylvania Morning Call. At that time he announced "Darwin's Theory of Evolution should not be taught as an absolute fact in the science classroom." Let's disregard for a moment that the ENTIRE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY, backed up by whole libraries of evidence, say the exact opposite. We're dealing here with a spooky specimen of the hysterical Rapture-right God Squad; what else would you expect him to say? However, when our resident White House nincompoop proclaimed early last month that Intelligent Design (ID)--otherwise known as Biblical creationism in drag--ought to be taught alongside evolution, did you-know-who chime in and forthrightly agree?
He did not!
Sick Rick, whom we now know will say ANYTHING for political gain, promptly told a National Public Radio audience, "I'm not comfortable with ID being taught in the scince classroom." Okay. YOU tell ME: Which one of these statements is the lie? And why did he think no one was going to notice? Sure, it's understandable that anyone with an iota of Beltway self-preservation would want to distance himself from a sitting president whose approval numbers are going south faster than a skein of geese in November. Still, does this religious nutbar think that on the basis of this one radio interview his constituents are likely to forget his ten-year career of voting to restrict contraception and abortion access? Are they expected to dismiss his rabid homophobia as mere peccadillo? Does he sincerely believe that, after standing at the geometric center of the Terri Schiavo circus and calling vociferously for the scalps of "activist judges" along with that poor, blind vegetable's husband, that he'll somehow convince anyone he's sane and rational and normal ever again???
In late July, this fundamentalist freak appeared on a TV show called Nitebeat where he claimed with a completely straight face, that "birth control is harmful to women and society." (Although he didn't say precisely HOW...)He added that "it's not a healthy thing for our country." (Although he neglected to mention precisely WHY...) Take a look for yourself: http://santorumexposed.com/serendipity/archives/49-Birth-Control-Harms-Women.html
Perhaps Sick Rick is under the impression that every single orgasm deserves a name. I don't know...but I can take comfort in the fact that, according to a recent poll, his chances for re-election range from slim to none. (http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x11379.xml?ReleaseID=810)
We can all be grateful for small favors.
Santorum, however, is not the only sexually-fixated wingtard out there, not by a long ways. He DOES seem to be one of the few who isn't acting upon his prurient desires. Jeff Patti, Republican chairman of the Sparta, New Jersey chapter, was arrested in January for possession and distrubution of video footage of a five-year-old girl getting raped. THAT'S horrifying. (http://www.dailyrecord.com/news/articles/news2-GNJarrests.htm.) Kiddie porn also figured prominently in the arrest of Christian radio DJ Chris Ruleman of Nashville, Tennessee in March. If Ruleman believes in a Hell as he claims, then he has to know that the violation of children--and vicarious enjoyment of same--are some of the things GUARANTEED to land immortal souls there.(http://www.ice.gov/graphics/news/newsreleases/articles/nash_032205.htm) Spokane mayor Jim West, heretofore a closeted homosexual, was busted soliciting young men over the Internet in his spare time--and even rewarding them with political favors!--yet outwardly maintained a stance as staunchly anti-gay as Rick Santorum's; now, THERE'S whole-hog GOP hypocrisy for you!
The case of missing teen Johnny Gosch in Iowa is starting to reveal the odious outlines of a Republican child prostitution ring (http://www.armchairsubversive.com/Johnny_Gosch.htm.) And of course there's Neal Horsley, militant anti-abortion activist who, in two appearances on a Fox radio program, admitted sexual encounters with the family mule. He further stated that, after he gave it an ear of corn, the mule consented!! That slut. Don't believe me? Look here: http://www.newshounds.us/2005/05/06/bizarre_sex_habits_of_the_extreme_rightwing.php and http://www.newshounds.us/2005/05/14/the_mule_consented.php
What we have in our midst is a political party of repressed deviates, who are in NO sense conservative, behaving in the most obscene, perverted and lascivious fashion imaginable, even while mouthing platitudes about "morals" and "family values." It appears to me that this is all of a piece with their callous political ideology which tacitly sanctions any sort of fraud, embezzlement or outright theft. This is merely more of the same; the commodity now is sex instead of money, but the prevailing sociopathic narscissism is equivalent. These reprobates and libertines find their motivation in Earthly, material things. Money. Sex. Power. They are not driven by anything higher than naked, covetous acquisition and they are most assuredly not Christian in any way that matters.
This must be kept firmly in mind at all times.
As camouflage for their own reprehensible behavior, the right has made a concerted effort to demonize Bill Clinton, trying mightily to make something of Gennifer Flowers and Paula Jones. The DID catch him lying about Monica...but all of Bill's escapades involved consenting adults. Consenting. Adults. Republicans don't seem to have any moral criteria whatsoever. Consider the Franklin Cover-Up, a scandal that very nearly capsized the Reagan/Bush White House.
You may never have heard of this one because there was a national TV news blackout imposed on it...and because the affair's chief investigator died, suddenly and violently, as did more than a dozen others linked with the case. Can you say "CIA termination with extreme prejudice?" At first it looked like just another GOP financial swindle, nothing to get excited about. The shutdown of Omaha, Nebraska's Franklin Community Credit Union and the subsequent implication of it's manager, Republican Party activist Lawrence E. King, along with Washington lobbyist Craig Spence, caused the Nebraska State Legislature to open its own investigation. In very short order, the case exploded into a hideous tale of drugs, Iran-Contra money laundering, a nationwide pedophile ring (involving boy prostitutes aged 15 and YOUNGER!) and the ritual murder of a juvenile at Bohemian Grove. Ladies and gentlemen, this one had EVERYTHING! I would urge you to peruse http://www.thelawparty.org/Franklincoverup.htm for yourselves. I promise you will be astonished, outraged and shocked clean out of your shoes. Bill Clinton was a babe in the woods compared to these dirtbags.
There's so much material I still haven't gotten to that it looks like I'm going to have to stop for now. I'll assemble the rest into another diary, ostensibly to be posted next week. Meantime, I leave you with one final GOPervert.
It is deeply satisfying to be able to boil down both Republican hypocrisy and perversion into a single figure. I present for your inspection one Monsignor Eugene Clark, rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. (You still listening, Sick Rick?) This piece of Catholic excrement, who once took supposedly lifelong vows of chastity, has been secretly having an affair with his longtime personal secretary, the still-married Mrs. Laura DeFilippo.
Right off the top, two of God's Commandments bite the dust: Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery and Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Wife. That's the Republicans for you.
Now this man, Eugene Clark, wasn't just any run-of-the-mill parish priest; some newly-ordained young buck of an acolyte, the dirt of the seminary still under his fingernails, who couldn't manage to rein in his volatile hormones. Oh, no! This was a SEVENTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD Monsignor of the Archdiocese of New York. (The NY Daily News headline dubbed him "Father Frolic." Yuk, yuk.) And neither was this just any brief and white-hot fling, either; it lasted for 19 of the 21 years of her marriage!
It gets better. The cuckold husband, Philip DeFilippo, has filed divorce papers against his wife, stating that she was romantically involved with Clark, an old friend who had MARRIED THEM TWO DECADES AGO!! (I just wonder: Did the old lecher get the hots when he first saw her in her wedding gown? Hmmm?) And, yes, there is videotape shot by a private eye in DeFilippo's employ, of the two of them leaving a hotel they'd entered a mere five hours earlier...and wearing different clothing.
And, of course, it gets better yet! Clark appeared regularly on "Relationships," a television program from EWTN, a worldwide Catholic TV network. On one particular show, recorded in 1999 and re-run numerous times since, Clark pronounced sanctimoniously that "Hollywood is not a Christian place at all, at all, at all. Most of the writers, the creative people, are homosexually inclined or homosexually recruited."
Homosexually recruited, the man said. Would somebody out there kindly explain to me what that might possibly mean? I truly cannot begin to imagine. Does this sexually-twisted, philandering maggot actually believe that gays can subvert any straight person they choose with the irresistable seduction of anal beads, Astroglide, fisting and live gerbils?? C'mon!!
In the typiccally condescending tones of all flying monkeys of the far right, he pronounced the Unites States "probably the most immoral country in the Western Hemisphere" (And what makes HIM such an expert?) while describing himself as "a strong proponent of traditional morality." Yeah, right. The longstanding traditional morality of homewrecking. Back in 2002, this old goat had the unmitigated gall to blame the Catholic Church's sex scandals on "the campaign of liberal America against celibacy." Oh, I see! The liberals MADE them do it! Spare me. I am absolutely certain when Jesus Christ said "suffer the little children COME unto me," pedophilia isn't quite what he had in mind.
The upshot of all this is that Msgr. Clark resigned his post at St. Patrick's on August 11th of this year and he will not be celebrating Mass or the sacraments "until this matter has been reolved" according to Edward Cardinal Egan. Also, EWTN has subsequently yanked the "Relationships" program from its schedule, says their president, Michael P. Warsaw. (http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050811/NEWS12/508110422/1028/NEWS12)
And all you liberal elites and gay heathens out there should remember that this is ALL YOUR FAULT! You made him do it!
I was honestly hoping to squeeze everything into just two parts...but that's not about to happen. I've got dirt on so many Republicans with vitiated libidos that to cram them all in wouldn't be fair to you readers. We want to savor this stuff, don't we? So come on back in about a week...and wear your best rubber gloves because it's going to get unspeakably nasty.
Angel Of Mercy signing off.