[Dean's World] Aziz P: political filtering

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Posted by Aziz P:
political filtering
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1162472410.shtml


   Frank Schaeffer is a highly-respected conservative columnist for the
   Dallas Morning News. In his own words, he's "a Christian, a writer, a
   military parent and a registered Republican." He has now decided to
   [1]leave the GOP:

     I was disgusted by an e-mail I just received that's being
     circulated by campaign supporters of Republican George Allen, who's
     trying to retain his Senate seat in Virginia.

     The message goes like this: "First, it was the Catholic priests,
     then it was Mark Foley, and now Jim Webb, whose sleazy novels
     discuss sex between very young teenagers. ... Hmmm, sounds like a
     perverted pedophile to me! Pass the word that we do not need any
     more pedophiles in office."Democrat James Webb is a war hero and
     former Marine, wounded in Vietnam and winner of the Navy Cross. He
     was writing about class and military issues long before me and has
     articulated the issue of how the elites have dropped the ball on
     military service in his classic novel Fields of Fire. By the way,
     that's a book Tom Wolfe calls "the greatest of the Vietnam novels."
     [...] enough is enough. I've had it with Republican smears.

     The Webb e-mail is the embodiment of the cynical Republican
     strategists, some of whom must know the difference between fiction
     and nonfiction. Was Agatha Christie a murderer because she wrote
     about murder? [...] The Bible has masturbation scenes, rape,
     pedophilia and God's favorite man â King David â warming himself
     with a young virgin in his old age. He's the same man God tells us
     committed murder after he indulged his peeping Tom fantasies. [...]
     My wife and I have reached the tipping point. We plan to go to town
     hall to dump our Republican voter registration and reregister as
     independents. I don't care anymore what party someone is in. These
     days, what I care about is what they're made of.

     Wartime demands leaders with character and moral authority. The
     political party smearing Mr. Webb proves it has neither.

   The smearing of Jim Webb is truly grotesque. RedState, which features
   [2]guest posts by Speaker Hastert, goes all-out on Webb calling him
   [3]a pervert and comparing him to [4]John Mark Karr.

   And why? What did Webb write in his book that has these so-called
   conservatives, standards-bearers of the GOP all, swooning with
   distaste? [5]Radley Balko explains:

     I just did an Amazon search on the passage in Webbâs book. It isnât
     the least bit titillating. Itâs in the context of an American in an
     exotic, backward, remote part of a foreign land. The penis-kissing
     scene baffles and bewilders the Americans. It is clearly not a
     âfellating.â It is not a depiction of pedophelia. Itâs very
     obviously scene painting, and the shock and oddity of the act adds
     to the lead charactersâ sense that theyâre out-of-place.

     Of course, that hasnât stopped the right wing blogosphere from
     gleefully calling Webb a pedophile.

     This is really despicable on the part of the Allen campaign. Itâs
     little more than a celebration of ignorance, isolation, and fear.
     Itâs a bald attempt to deflect the Foley scandal, not to mention
     Allenâs own ethnically insensitive missteps in this campaign.

     Letâs summarize: While George Allen was discovering his love for
     the Confederacy in Southern California and at the University of
     Virginia, Jim Webb was fighting the war in Vietnam, finding himself
     wholly immersed in a completely foreign culture. Webb was obviously
     rather profoundly affected by that experience. Because he chose to
     write about it, in a series of books that have won widespread
     praise from politicians, from fellow Vietnam vets, and from
     literary critics.

   The Allen campaign is already paying a price for its audacious smear
   attempt. And keep in mind that George Allen in one of the frontrunners
   for the '08 GOP presidential nomination!

   As the GOP leadership and leading stars continue to cater to
   extremists, solid and decent people like Schaeffer will continue to
   leave the party in droves. What they will leave behind will be a party
   even further bereft of the voices of moderation, so the cycle
   continues.

References

   1. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-schaeffer_01edi.ART.State.Edition1.3eab2ff.html
   2. http://redstate.com/stories/elections/2006/the_choice_could_not_be_clearer
   3. http://redstate.com/stories/elections/2006/a_note_to_campaigns
   4. http://redstate.com/stories/elections/2006/loins_breasts_unfortunately_were_not_talking_pork_poultry_its_a_jim_webb_kinda_day
   5. http://www.theagitator.com/archives/027168.php#027168