Fascist Republicans Vow to Ram Crosses Into America’s Foreheads
Former Arkansas Gov. Michael "Mike" Huckabee's not-so-subtle message was heard loud and clear by America's pundits, who saw the Great Floating Cross and brought it to the nation's attention. Even the normally chary Catholic League president Bill Donohue was forced to comment, as the Dallas Morning News reports, telling "Fox News Channel's 'Fox and Friends' that the ad injects religion into politics 'even too far for guys like me.'" Reporting on Taki's Top Drawer, Chronicles executive editor Scott P. Richert uncovered yet another Republican icon-infestation—a "whole French door full of crosses" in Ronald "Ron" Paul's "Season's Greetings" ad:
It turns out, Huckabee’s and Paul’s holiday-hate message are only the tip of the iceberg. Right-wing religious zealot John “Rambo” McCain carefully framed himself next to fellow-theologian Ronald Reagan in this campaign ad:
And who could deny the obvious latter-day cross on display in this Mitt "JFK" Romney ad:
Fred "SVU" Thompson claims to be a "frederalist," but look closely—very closely—at the wall over his shoulder. Can you say "Law & Order Crusade"?
And sure, Rudolph "Rudy" Giuliani claims to be a pro-abortion tough. But can anyone in his right mind deny the obvious Jehovah's Witness "torture stake" in this deliberate pose?
Looks like there is only one GOP candidate who won't ram a floating NIV, the Baptist Faith and Message, Omni, First and Second Nephi, and the entire New World Translation down our throats.
The choice has never been clearer.
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Very funny!
Incidentally, this story broke simultaneously with 2 minor news items: (1) unpayable entitlement guarantees now reach 46 trillion dollars; (2) contra to the "democratically elected" Iraq government we have been at some pains to create and defend, we tacitly authorized an airstrike on its turf by Turkey yesterday.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Huckabee "floating cross" were deliberate, as it rather jumps out at the viewer with its strong contrast against the background and is very close to being balanced. The other examples, contrariwise, are clearly unintentional. But that said, what's wrong with Huckabee's cross? I'd much rather have his faith out in front where everyone can see it than have him pretend (except before church-going audiences) to be a firm believer in secular values and the marginalization of religion as a "purely personal" issue that a candidate can separate from his politics. Being honest about who you are and where you stand may not be the most reliable way to get elected, but it would at least show some integrity -- something most politicians lack.
Why then the specific, pointed lighting and the moving background? Why the disengenuous rhetoric "Hi, I know you're all sick of political ads at Christmas time but I thought I would make one anyway disguised as a Christmas greeting." ?
I agree that this is one these rather silly issues that always seems to pop up in camapaigns that has nothing to do with anything. I don't think Dr. Paul even saw the ad or what it was about until it was described to him and then asked what he thought about it. Perhaps it would have been better not to comment on what you haven't seen.
But then later on an interview WHO radio Dr. Paul talked about Christian just-war theory and the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. I think that contrasts nicely with the "God of Warr" rhetoric that one has heard from Republican candidates this past year, including Governor Huckabee.
Is Governor Huckabee a fascist? No but he's not far away from it. He's not far away form it in his right-wing social democratic policies. Chronicles readers will not have trouble identifying his Lincolnian rhetoric for what it is and certainly M.E. Bradford would label it for what it is: totalitarian. When a man says "We're one country, right or wrong. We're the United States of America not the Divided States." He's not far away from saying "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer" as I wrote in my Etherzone.com article "Governor Huckabee and the Cult of Unity."
Personally, I think it would be a good thing if "the cross" was intentional. Better Christian identity politics than pathetic, self-flagellating Christian pluralism.
Sean, have you seen my comments at Taki Mag? Fascism is a specific term that means very specific things. The left would like to label everything that is not left fascism. But all authoritarianism is not fascism. We should be very careful in our use of words.
This is the same reason why "Islamofascism" is such a silly and imprecise word.
To be honest, I had many reservations about Huckabee from the beginning. In short, he seemed to be a shill for globalism. If Giuliani and McCain agreed with the neocons 99% of the time, and Romney 96% of the time, then Huckabee probably agreed with them about 92% of the time. Much of Huckabee's rhetoric involved the invoking of universal human rights to condemn authentic traditionalists and conservatives, dismissing patriots as "racists" who want to curb the Third World invasion of their ancestral lands.
More recently, however, Huckabee is sounding more like Buchanan, especially on trade and immigration. He allegedly had a "conversion" on immigration, and now is running Tancredoesque ads. Is Huckabee attempting to play the "Middle America card"?
Huck is accusing actual immigration restrictionists of trying to grind a heel into the face of 6 year old wetback children.
He is a shill for the globalists, trying to carry a cross and wrap himself in the flag. Shun his sorry ass.
Whoever empty13 is, listen to him. Take it from an Arkansan. Dont let the dishonest Huckabee fool you. Do you really want a knife in the back yet again?
Red, the left screams fascist for the same reason it screams racist at everyone it doesn't like, because they have nothing to say. It's simply a knee-jerk designation for people they can't argue with. That's why I ignore their designations because they meaningless jeremaids. However, conservatives, paleos or otherwise, must call a spade a spade when we see it. Fascism is still socialism and still a perversity. I'll say again that Huckabee is not an outright Fascist but he has exihibited toltalitarian traits and rhetoric.
Very funny article.
@Sean Scallon:
A few months back, you were advising us to quit holding debates at the John Randolph Club because you thought that they were too divisive. Now, in a Republican primary campaign where Congressman Paul needs Christian votes, you're recommending that he pursue a strategy of calling Huckabee a fascist because he used a cross (intentionally or not) in an ad wishing people a Merry Christmas?
Tell me, Sean: What is the ratio of self-identified Christians to self-identified anti-fascists among Republican primary voters in Iowa?
Sean,
As I say elsewhere, Fascism was a movement in Italy in the 1930s, and has been dead since the 1940s. I think that it’s a bogeyman today used by the Left to silence conservatives and traditionalists.
There are many things regarding which one can criticize Huckabee (e.g. immigration, the war, taxes, etc.). Religion is not one of them. To call Huckabee a fascist for invoking Christianity is a move straight from the Cultural Marxist bogeyman playbook.
Sean,
And I'm not saying that you're doing that. But, like Red, I'm saying that we should be very careful and not throw around the word 'fascism'.
Dr. Paul quote Sinclair Lewis to the effect that fascism would come to the US wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross in commenting on Huckabee's ad on Fox & Friends.
Bede:
Huckabee is attempting to play the Middle America card, as this article makes clear: http://nymag.com/news/politics/powergrid/42083/
How successful he will be depends on whether he can come up with an intellectually coherent program, as opposed to the “Fair Tax” he is peddling. His past record on immigration is truly appalling as well–he would have to convincingly put that behind him.
Sean, I believe historically there was a red scare but there was also a counter brown scare. An active attempt to portray anything to the right as closeted fascism. If I am not mistaken, Sinclair Lewis was a leftist and was not sympathetic to Christianity. His comment was made at a time when this red scare/brown scare dynamic was in play. It is a comment for an earlier time and is not really appropriate today.
What you detect in Huckabee is an authoritarian streak. But a "compassionate conservative" expanded welfare state is not the same as centralized economic planning, and nanny state do-goodism (banning smoking) isn't fascist either. Unfortunately, all the candidates except Ron Paul would mouth the unity nonsense, but it is an idea nation unity. How can one be a fascist which implies ethnic nationalism and want to coddle illegal immigrants? This is the same reason it is not really correct to call him a populist.
On foreign policy, while he supports the War, he is less bellicose and more of a "realist" than are many of the other candidates.
The authoritarian label applies at least as well to McCain and Rudy as it does to Huck.
Scott,
Elections are divisive because one is forced to choose sides, you either vote for one person or the other (or none of the above I suppose) and hence those who vote for the other candidate than the one you voted for are divided from you.
No, Rep. Paul should not campaign Iowa calling Mike Huckabee a fascist because that would be taking him off his message and not accomplish much of anything. He was asked a question, he answered it. As I said, he probably would have been better off not commenting on something he had not seen.
The issue is not whether Mike Huckabee says Merry Christmas or has a cross in the background of an ad or had one of his ad team maninpulate lighting and background movement to make it look as though it was a "floating cross.". The question is what the candidates stand for and what are their track records are and I think its clear that Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee stand for different kinds of Christian styles and thought.
Look at the cover of Kevin Phillips last book and you'll see what I mean. I think Huckabee represents a kind of nationalist Christianity, or at least did when the war was popular. I find Huckabee to be a part of the broader mass of popular Christian culture which has been held in contempt in the pages of Chronicles for many years. Huckabee would fit right into a crowd at a Joel Osteen sermon and wouldn't have a problem reading A Purpose Driven Life. He could play bass in a Christian rock band. This kind of Christianity is very vulnerable to popular and political trends and tends to blow with the wind of broader American culture. In fact it very much apes and gets its ideas from that culture. That's why Huckabee is doing well right now. That's also why he seems to transform himself from time to time based on what's popular and his own instincts as a politican. I don't feel he's a man of ideology or unbening principals. I think he does what works for him. Do I believe he's a Fascist? No, but I believe he does exhibts some qualities of fascism as I said in my piece "Mike Huckabee and the Cult of Unity," and I think M.E. Bradford would see the Lincolnian elements in him. Daniel McCarthy called him another Huey Long on Takimag today and I think that's also a fitting description.
I will leave you a link to where you can access a radio interview Dr. Paul did yesterday on WHO 1040 out of DesMoines with Jan Mickelson where talked about the influences he's had in his thinking about just war theory from St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas(http://www.ronpaulaudio.com/index.html#new). I think you'll agree Dr. Paul's beliefs are sincere and in line with traditional Christian doctrine. It's these beliefs that have to sold to the broad mass of Iowa Christian voters, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant, rather than Huckabee's "American" Christianity.
If one of you fine men might instruct me... I've heard terms like "Christo-Fascist," "Christianist," and "traditionalist." In fact, I've been called all of them. I'm not sure if I should be offended or if I should embrace the terms. I Ron Paul generally though I am not a libertarian. I like Tancredo's immigration position, but that's his only issue. I like Huckabee's militantly Christian ad, but I'm very nervous about his immigration position. Anyway, has anyone have an idea about such terms?
... and this is how it should look like, I guess:
Holiday Greetings to Everyone,
I wanted to send some sort of holiday greeting to my friends, but it is so difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. So I met with one of the lawyers in my office yesterday, and on his advice I wish to say the following:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.
I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (not to imply that Canada is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.
By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.
Disclaimer: No trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced.
-------------------------
If anyone of you think it's funny, just wait...
I think you've identified the problem we face Red, because I see such things in Huckabee that me believe he has those tendencies and you point out to me things which accurately show he isn't and we're left confused because the fascism and authoritarianism doesn't fit neat discriptions the way communism does. We're left grasping at straws.
Yes I agree there have been "brown scares" along with "red scares" that have ruined people careers and reputations. We have to distinguish ourselves from a social democratic left and right that uses such terms in pathetic name calling and silly misapplication. We have know what we're talking about and how identify it.
One's thing's for certain, Huckabee is a skilled politican. Look at how that ad has divided Paul's libertarian and conservative supporters and look at how he can claim he's being persecuted by the PC police, which will only deepen the bond between himself and his supporters.
@Sean Scallon:
"Look at how that ad has divided Paul’s libertarian and conservative supporters"
The ad didn't divide any of Paul's supporters. Paul's remark did.
Not to pick substanceless nits, but what appears in Huckabee's ad isn't a cross. It has a midpoint cross section. Regardless of denomination or tradition, the cross is depicted as having its cross-section above the midpoint.
Ok, so maybe that is nitpicking.
More seriously, given this robust past article by Dr. Paul, I think his comment has more to do with his view that the Governor lacks credibility, than the notion of promoting religion.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul148.html
Sometimes a cross is just a cross. And sometimes Mike Huckabee is too cute by half. You got to watch-out for guys like him.
Yes, that's true Scott, my mistake.
Scott and I have written some critical comments here and on TakiMag about Ron Paul's "caught off guard" comment about the Fascist Floating Cross. (No wait! "He" didn't say it; Sinclair Lewis said it.) Almost every reply to our comments has been either a condemnation for our support for Mike Huckabee (?) or a lesson on Ron Paul's political stance. I like Ron Paul; I may even break from my recent tradition of writing in Tom Fleming (begun when Ezloa was picked by a certain campaign) for President and color in the line for Ron Paul. But that doesn't mean that Ron Paul is above criticism, or else this whole thing has degenerated into an us-versus-them contest of ideologies. If we start pushing a "Paleoconservative ideology" (or "Paleolibertarian . . . "), we should quit.
There are lots of reasons to criticize Mike Huckabee. (I criticized him at length in Chronicles on the topic of "Covenant Marriage" before this election even started.) But calling him (I'm sorry, "Sinclair Lewis" calling him) a fascist for having a "Merry Christmas" ad? The Floating Cross!? Now that's just funny. And finding humor in this whole ridiculous election farce is about the best thing you can do (with it). Reminds me of what my (now deceased) relatives in the Ozark hills said in '92: Vote for Clinton, so he'll get out of Arkansas.
It is sad, too, because Ron Paul had an opportunity to clarify himself in that radio interview. No, not for his Revolutionaries, who have his name written on their foreheads and wrists, but for people out there who are starting to get disgusted with this endless war (which RP rightly criticizes) and who are looking for a sane reason to reject it. We have to be patient teachers.
Can someone with pull contact the campaign? Is anyone close to Lew? He does need to clarify himself.
There is already some discontent on a Christian site I go to.
If we can accomplish anything with our discussions, one first order of business should be to recover the use of our language, and that includes the meaning of words like "fascist." Strictly speaking, fascist refers to the national-socialist (but not racist or anti-Semitic) policies advocated by the architects and ideologues of the Fascist Party in Italy, but there were other fascist or quasi-fascist movements at the time. To make a long story short, fascists join nationalists in exalting the nation and national unity, and, while they sometimes tip their hate politely in the direction of the Church as the repository of tradition, they are opposed to any social role for the Church. They are equally suspicious of monarchy, though they may support a king who is the symbol of national unity, and, although fascisim tends to be a petty bourgeois movement, it has included members of the aristocracy and in Italy at least many Jews. Fascists believe very much in economic and social planning, and although their language sometimes sounds corporatist in the old sense, they have more in common with Swedish socialism.
The first fascism introduced overtly introduced into the American system was FDR's New Deal, though Lawrence Dennis would be put on trial for treason for saying that FDR made war on fascism abroad in order to impose it at home. Because fascists opposed communism, homosexuality, ethnic self-hatred, feminism, multi-culturalism, everything good, decent, and true is stigmatized as fascist.
Frankly, I once (30 years ago) had some small sympathy for fascists as enemies of the left, but the more I read, the less sympathy I had. But for all their stupid ideas and strutting, fascists were far less repressive or violent than communists and leftists, and at least they expressed some decent love of their county. Many good people joined the Fascist Party in Italy; many more voted for it; and still more do not like to hear the lies told about italy under Mussolini.
But, also frankly, I do not think we should care much if people call us fascists, because that is one of the more term usually thrown at us. It is the equivalent of calling Democrats Commie Queers. So long as the Left controls the dialogue, they win, and so long as we are afraid of them--as virtually every normal conservative is--and worry about what Michael Kinsley or Fred Barnes or the latest namby-pamby ignoramus to stick his head up out of the NR bratpack has to say, then no good can be accomplished. And, so long as soi-disant conservatives want to hurl insulting epithets handed to them by the Left, they can only be regarded as the Left's useful idiots. I don't like Huckabee, if only for his slickness, but he is no more a fascist than Sean Scallon. For all I know, he is no more of a Christian than Ron Paul or Fred Thompson. Calling him a fascist attributes to him a level of conviction I do not believe he has--such a title might be better misapplied to Hilary and Rudy.
Ron Paul is right on foreign policy, sinister world federalism and the federal reserve, but far too indifferent in the culture war against Christianity.
Giving the executive branch the power to label anyone, including potentially paleo-conservatives, as "enemy combatants" crosses the Rubicon River upon constitutional rights and has a whiff of Leninism, achieved in the Reichstag fire of the war on terrorism.
When paleo anti-war critics see their airline tickets marked "SSSS" like 700,000 other Americans on a watch list, wake up and smell the first stage of fascism wrapped in the flag.
Look at how Bonapartist Pod man Rudy treats and looks upon Ron Paul in the debates, as a useful idiot tool of Jihadists. An imperial executive branch can unite left and right in a short term truce, especially in the face of the wrong POTUS. (Google video Naomi Wolf's 10 steps of fascism, ignoring her sickening NPR cultural norms)
Leninists understood control the media, control the society. Leninists being Fascists of the left on steroids, with quotas to fill.
My 6-year-old son just read (in a 1930's child's history textbook)about "fasces" and their symbolism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasces
The left doesn't whip people with axes bundled in rods, but they accomplish a similar thing using their control of language.
@Bruce:
Sinclair Lewis's novel, as awful as it is as a piece of art, was describing certain currents in the United States at the time. I actually have a small collection of public-school textbooks from the 30's that are festooned with fasces, and even with swastikas. They're not Nazi, as in German Nazi, but they are clearly national socialist.
I've written about this a couple times in Chronicles, by the way. In the public schools, much of this was tied to an abstract American nationalism that thrived between the wars, and had the effect of undermining the European national identities of European ethnic groups in America, without really "assimilating" them. In the long run, particularly in the wake of the immigration liberalization of the 1960's, this had disastrous consequences.
Paul - Lutheran
Thompson - Church of Christ (lapsed)
Huckabee - Southern Baptist
Romney - Mormon
Giuliani - Catholic
McCain - Episcopalian
Until the krauts starting letting sodomites under their cloaks last summer, they were probably my favorite of the bunch.
With the exception of one, all of them are secret brothers in the same religion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0md2vXiOGs
Oh yeah, and here are some others:
Tancredo - Presbyterian
Brownback - puritan-come-Roman
Keyes - Roman black
Tommy Thompson - Wisconsin Giuliani Catholic
Hunter - Southern (read “California”) Baptist
Donnie Kennedy - Presbyterian
John Cox - Catholic
Paul is a Baptist. His brother is a Lutheran Pastor. Maybe Paul was raised Lutheran.
Yes to all the above, Red. Here's a link to the (ELCA) Lutheran church where Mr. Paul's brother serves: http://www.tlcgr.org/
Tim, not all Krauts go that way. Some of us in the Missouri Synod started writing E?CA years ago (after the "Call to Common Mission"), but then it became E??A, and now it really should be ???A. They really are America.
RE:34 This particular textbook was from a Christian dayschool. The reference to fasces was presented as an interesting factoid and was tied to Italian fascism. The book also made multiple references to its readers (probably mostly Anglo-Saxons) as "Aryans" as in "you're probably an Aryan." That's a rather imprecise term but I didn't find the useage Nazi-like.
I was just impressed because you'd never find such an interesting and informative reference in a modern textbook (public or private). Back then, a 9-year old was better equipped to understand what words actually mean. We try to use older textbooks when possible.
RE:38 I thought the ELCA was largely made up of various Scandinavian Lutheran groups. I thought Krauts tended towards LCMS or WELS.
How Funny!..................Noone could ever offend me with a Christian Cross........................................Or the Battleflag of The Confederacy!
RUBES:
Think it has anything to do with the coerced [voluntary] illegal taxation - that not only invades privacy and enslaves - but since we're larger than the European UNION, corrupts us domestically and the entire world to boot - a wee-bit more than it has to do with Christ. ?
And (yet) it is only via him, [whether in one's own mind a believer in God or a believer in no-God] via jesus christ that we even have learned to get close to standing just above the lesser and conflicting verities of the world...thanks to athens rome jerusalem as well.
in the meantime as long as the biggest game in town is getting one's fangs into the essentially unconstitutional u.s. federal tax pool is also really the only game in town, think it will change much? - even if say r. paul is elected - he'll be r. reagan, won't he? or worse huckabee... please, don't make me laugh and barf simultaneously. i may choke to death - to your delight.