Speaking, as I was, only a few inches downscreen, of apocalyptic right-wing rhetoric, Newt Gingrich takes a back seat to no one in that regard. Cynically milking the contra-versy for all it's worth, pretending that Obama's policy isn't the very same as what Republican governors (including, it goeth with the saying thereof, Romney, who, naturally, lied about it) have had in place for years, he leapfrogs the phony Phoxian war on Xmas and takes it straight to the heavens. Not only is Obama fighting a war on religion, Newt avers, he actually thinks the President of The United States takes precedence, in the US of A!!! if you can believe it!!!, over the Pope. The horror!
Remember when people claimed that if John F. Kennedy were elected he couldn't fulfill the oath of office because he'd take orders from the Pope? How far we've evolved from those times: now, Newt is outraged that Obama doesn't. This pudgy prevaricator, this hysterical historian, this delusional deceiver, egregious egomaniac, suggests there's something wrong with considering the Constitution -- as opposed to Papal bull -- the law of our land.
Can he even hear himself anymore?
The disgraced former Speaker is right, of course, in thinking that by playing on the current Christian/teabagger sense of paranoid aggrievement and counter-factual persecution he can whip up votes. That the idea of Obama warring against religion is demonstrably false only makes it more appealing to the right side of the aisle, where falsehood is the oil in the gears.
Look up "suicidal, fucked-up, aggressively ignorant countries, trying like hell to destroy themselves from within by deliberately making their citizens frightened and dumb and then counting on it to win elections" in the dictionary and you'll see a picture of the U.S.
Newt is a post-Vatican II Convenience Catholic who has no experience of actually living according to church teachings. Where was he when the rest of us were eating fish sticks on Friday, fasting during Lent, and asking our parish priest for permission to see a risque movie? (James Bond, Goldfinger BTW) Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, we'll see if he struts around with a black smear on his forehead. A couple of hours inside the confessional booth might be in order too. He, Romney, and Santorum are contemptable.
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