Hitchens Tirade a Bit Off The Mark

Christopher Hitchens, writing for Slate, ranted about Palin's dismissal of Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) research. He summed his arguments thusly...

This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just "people of faith" but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity.

...then maniacally wiped the spittle from the corners of his lips.

Here is an important insight I would like to share with Hitchens: Politicians will say anything it takes to get elected. While McCain has continuously pumped out disinformation on Ayers to confuse the electorate, he stated that "He doesn't care about some washed-up terrorist" at the most recent presidential debate. While Palin extolls the ideals of Real America and the Real Americans that inhabit it, she also feels that same sex union should have full legal weight as she stated in the VP debate. Where their feet can't be held to the fire, at their rabble-rousing rallies, McCain-Palin pander to the most obscene impulses of the Republican base, including anti-science, anti-intellectual, xenophobic rhetoric.

I think neither McCain nor Palin are as theocratic as they seem. I expect Palin took advantage of political opportunities afforded by wingnut church affiliations in Alaska, as Obama did in Illinois. Hitchens should remember that Obama had to shed a few theo-albatrosses of his own, including distancing himself from ties to his muslim schooling and renouncing Reverend Wright.

All this political maneuvering is obscene, and the US should take a long look in the mirror and divorce theological rhetoric from political discourse. I actually winced when Stephen Harper closed his victory speech a couple of weeks ago with the words, "God Bless Canada." I hope that someone virtually bitch slaps the PM for his exhortation.