Religious Right is Most Dangerous Force in America
Religious right is
'most dangerous force
in America,' Press says
The extreme voices of the religious right have become "the most
dangerous force in America today," but Americans are "turning
away" from them, political commentator Bill Press said at the WEAC
Convention's Education Issues Breakfast.
Press, who studied for the priesthood and attended the seminary for 10
years and has a degree in theology, said it is not religion that is dangerous:
"It's just that their religion is so narrow and it's so mean and
it's so ugly and it's so intolerant and it's so un-Christian.
"They don't practice what Christ preaches," Press said at the
breakfast event October 30, 1998, at the Sheraton Hotel in Madison. Press
represents the liberal voice on the CNN television show "Crossfire."
Press said it is ironic that the religious right has everything politically
that it could ever hope for right now, yet is losing support.
"Figure it out. They own the Republican Party, they own Congress,
they sold this idea that they are the people of values, and they got this
'sinner' in the White House. This is their moment. And they blow their
trumpet and nobody follows. It proves how hollow they are."
Referring to the White House scandal, Press said Americans have been
telling pollsters they don't like adultery, "but what we like even
less is hypocrisy."
Predicting the gradual demise of the religious right's influence, Press
said, "This is Halloween, and I sort of want to dance around and
say, The wicked witch is dead!"
Press said independent counsel Ken Starr is a "religious prosecutorial
zealot."
He said the American people believe that what Starr has done is far worse
than what Bill Clinton did.
"Starr has destroyed our system of justice. He's destroyed our right
to privacy, and he's on his way to destroying the presidency of the United
States."
Press said he has always held to the belief that "it's performance
in office that counts, not performance in bed. Reporters should not be
asking about a person's private life and politicians and prosecutors should
not be investigating a person's private life."
He said Starr's investigation should never have happened in the first
place. It is the result of the fact that things are going so well in this
country that Congress thinks it has nothing better to do.
Press said the impeachment process will end when it reaches the U.S.
Senate because "in the Senate, at least, there are a few people with
a sense of history. In the Senate, at least, there are a few people who
can read. There is no way the Senate is going to convict the president
on those charges."
Most depressing, Press said, is that Congress has done virtually nothing
else for the past year other than conduct investigations. It has conducted
more than 50 investigations in the last couple of years, he said, at a
cost of $80 million.
"Do you think that is what Congress is all about? I don't."
He suggested a new variation on the popular vacation T-shirt theme, with
this one saying, "My congressman went to Washington and all he brought
back were these dumb impeachment hearings."
Press said the Republicans "are in disarray" as a result of
their handling of the White House matter. A month ago, he said, they were
predicting a "tidal wave" of victories on November 3 and now
they have reduced their expectations to picking up a handful of seats.
"The Ken Starr rocket has fizzled," he said.
On other topics, Press said:
- The media have thrown out all the age-old rules of journalism, and
as a result mainstream journalism has become tabloid journalism. "Even
the New York Times front page has become the Star and Enquirer,"
he said. Reporters no longer bother to get a story confirmed by two
sources. In fact, he said, they don't bother to get it confirmed by
one source. It used to be that if one media outlet reported a story,
another would confirm it before running it. Now, they just pick it up
as fact, he said, without having any idea whether it is true.
- Senator Russ Feingold is "a national treasure" who should
be returned to Washington.
- As for Governor Thompson, "I don't think there's anything wrong
with Wisconsin that a new governor could not fix."
Posted October 30, 1998