Matthew Yglesias is capable of insightful post, but too often he descends into crowd-pleasing snark that will never convince anyone.
As an example, today he highlights Pat Roberton’s acquisition of a Middle Eastern television station to broadcast Jesus’s Second Coming, and concludes:
Good thing that as long as the Republicans are in charge we don’t need to worry about any nutty pastors getting political influence.
There’s a few problems with whatever parallelisms Yglesisas is trying to draw between Robertson and Wright:
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The problem with Wright wasn’t the idea of a nutty pastor having an influence on politics. The probalem was a politician we don’t know that well whose mentor is someone whose views on race are diametrically opposed to those of Obama.
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Robertson’s “political influence” ain’t much. Giuliani’s campaign started heading down hill about the same time he received Robertson’s endorsement.
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While Robertson’s plans may seem kooky to non-believers, they are harmless. According to Obama’s own rhetoric, the culture of racial grievance expressed by Rev. Wright is destructive.
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Yglesias writes as if Wright is the first preacher ever to become a campaign issue, and pastors like Robertson and Falwell have gotten a pass. That doesn’t track with my understanding of politics.
But hey, judging by the comments, it looks like it was a big hit with those already converted.
