Ever heard of the Council for National Policy? It's a conservative Christian "umbrella organization" that brings together like-minded leaders (i.e. rich, powerful men of the type that inspire the phrase "right wing nut jobs") for networking and policy ideas. It was founded in 1981 when Ronald Reagan rode into Washington on his "Morning Again in America" horse. One of the CNP founders was Tim LaHaye, co-author of the "Left Behind" series.
They meet formally, as a group, a few times a year. Lately they met in Utah and I believe they'll meet again before the year is out. 2007 will have included speeches by Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney. They hate Rudy Giuliani -- apparently if he's chosen as mainstream Republican candidate, they'll go third party (the Party of God?). Oh, and, no surprise -- Dick Cheney is part of the crew.
Rick Santorum, former senator from Pennsylvania who lost his seat last year to a Democrat, gave a speech to the CNP in the spring -- "The Gathering Storm." The complete text is available on the internet, but here are some snippets:
Iran has been at war with us, as you know, since 1979 . . . I believe when it comes to America, any time we lose a war we will always lose at home, not with our brave men and women in uniform . . . Terror is a tactic; it is not an enemy . . . We're not saying that all people of Islam are fascists . . . I started seeing the moves of our enemies and the American left. I started to see the chess pieces move around and I had this eerie feeling . . . There's a gathering storm of Islamic fascists . . . Osama bin Laden wouldn't be anywhere if it wasn't for one thing: oil . . . Chavez is not as smart as Castro, but he's smart enough to listen to Castro . . . And who is Venezuela [sic]? . . . Some have suggested that the Islamic fascisms is [sic] just a few crazies in the world . . . The question is what do we do? How do we win this war? I want to share with you some of my ideas. I suggest that we evangelize, educate, engage, and eradicate . . . Europe is dying . . .
Eradicate: we have to defeat the enemy. We've got to win. We've got to stay in Iraq and anywhere else that we are confronted with this enemy, on the battlefield . . .
And finally, we have to change the government of Iran . . .
Meanwhile, the Turkish Parliament has given the green light to send in the Turkish Army -- into northern Iraq for anti-Kurdish guerrilla (PKK) operations, etc. More will be revealed.
Rita Hayworth during the Second World War.
Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.
Birthdays: Albertus Christiaan van Raalte, Jean Arthur (b. Gladys Greene), Irene Ryan (Noblette), Nathanael West, Arthur Miller, Rita Hayworth (Margarita Carmen Cansino), Montgomery Clift, Julie Adams, Robert Atkins, Jimmy Breslin, Evel Knievel, Margot Kidder, Robert Jordan, Richard Roeper, Ziggy Marley, Eminem (Marshall Bruce Mathers III), Tarkan (Tarkan Tevetoğlu).
Hasta La Vista!
5 comments:
Enjoy your blog Erik. It is well written. I appreciate your condolences. MW
As they say: Holy mackarel! War again?
MW and Tosin, thanks! MW, you are very welcome and I wish I could do more.
I suppose the world isn't truly crazier than it was in the old days. It's just that now the crazies have a platform. And people cluster.
Btw, did you here that Obama is apparently distantly related to Cheney?
Yep, think tanks are how we got to where we are today. The Enterprise Institute is another interesting one.
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