The current [Texas] House Speaker is Joe Straus, a conservative Republican leading a conservative Republican majority. He's currently facing a challenge from state Rep. Ken Paxton, who appears to agree with Straus on nearly everything.
So what makes this noteworthy? Straus is Jewish, and some far-right activists in Texas have a problem with that.
A few weeks ago, a coalition of Tea Party and right-wing Republican groups began lobbying for Paxton to replace Straus, with coalition activists circulating anti-Semitic emails. The message from conservatives was that the GOP state House needed a "Christian conservative" leader.
....One of the two party leaders, John Cook, insisted in a message, "We elected a house with Christian, conservative values. We now want a true Christian, conservative running it."
....
He added that he prefers Christian candidates, but isn't anti-Semitic. "They're some of my best friends," he said of Jews, naming two friends of his.
Someday, folks will have to understand that "some of my best friends are [fill in the blank with a minority group]" is a cliche repeated by bigots. I would have hoped that was obvious by now.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Texas Republican State House: only Christians need apply
From Steve Benen
And for more bigotry - read here
ReplyDeleteSee this. Explains it all.
ReplyDeleteWe have heard it so many times...
ReplyDeleteAnd we are surprised because? The more I know about some self-styled Christians, the more I want to be Buddhist.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about this a little while ago. There is a very fine section of the Church Idea by William Huntington Reed on the fact that our form of governnet is unique in that it is "religion free".
ReplyDeleteI would also hope that non-ConEvs would realize that, proverbially, when they lie down w/ Christianists, they will wake up w/ fleas!
ReplyDelete