I realize that when a prominent national figure passes away, many will want to paint his or her life in as positive a light as possible. It just seems polite.
That said, the praise showered on TV preacher Jerry Falwell this week on the House floor was galling, even by the embarrassingly low standards of the House Republican caucus.
Congressional conservatives yesterday held an hour-long memorial for the late Rev. Jerry Falwell on the floor of the House of Representatives, extolling the “incredible and remarkable” religious right leader.
Senior conservative leaders joined the “special order” session, including Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), the #2 Republican in the House, and Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA). […]
[O]n the floor of Congress yesterday, Falwell was heralded as a “great leader of America’s conservative movement” whose “strong set of values” and “unshakable moral compass” had made America “a better place.” “More than we all realize,” one member of Congress said, “we are very blessed the he came our way.”
I certainly don’t expect lawmakers to take to the House floor to denounce Falwell’s life as a hateful, demagogic clown, but the hagiographic admiration these guys showed for the man was truly ridiculous. Virginia’s Bob Goodlatte said, “Jerry lived his life guided by a strong set of values and an unshakable moral compass.” Cantor called the man who blamed 9/11 on Americans a “true patriot.” Arizona’s Trent Franks said, “No matter what his enemies say, America is a better place because of Jerry Falwell.”
If these guys actually believe any of this, they’ve completely lost their minds. Do we really need to rehash Falwell’s record? His list of hate-filled harangues against anyone and everyone who didn’t believe as he did? Slate’s Tim Noah recently described Falwell as “a bigot, a reactionary, a liar, and a fool” — and he backed this assessment up. Falwell made America “a better place”? How’s that, exactly?
I should also note that the White House was only marginally better.
As my friends at AU noted:
The Rev. Jerry Falwell’s funeral was yesterday and, predictably, President George W. Bush sent a representative. Tim Goeglein, White House liaison to religious groups, stepped into the pulpit of Thomas Road Baptist Church and praised Falwell as a visionary.
As the Associated Press reported, “The White House sent Tim Goeglein, its liaison to religious groups. He called Falwell a ‘great friend of the administration’ and told mourners that Falwell had trained young people now serving in the Bush administration – ‘so a man of great vision has seen a vision fulfilled.'”
A man of “great vision”? What vision might that be? Falwell’s vision was one of an officially “Christian America” — Christian by his narrow definition of that faith, of course. His “vision” would have excluded not only Americans who happened to be Jews, atheists, Muslims, Buddhists and other non-Christians but also millions of Americans whose Christian faith is less rigid.
Is Falwell’s great “vision” his legacy of ugly gay bashing and his crude personal attacks on anyone who dared to stand up to his narrow-mindedness? Perhaps the “vision” the White House celebrates is Falwell’s constant attacks on the great constitutional principle of church-state separation (which he repeatedly said was a lie and a myth) or his often-stated desire to tear down the public schools.
But maybe the “vision” Goeglein celebrates is the one Falwell outlined two days after Sept. 1, 2001. With the wounds of that horrific attack still fresh, Falwell went on national television to blame the mass killings of nearly 3,000 people not on the evil terrorists who executed it but on Americans who disagree with him on political issues. […]
Have we forgotten already? The White House apparently has.
Yes, and so have congressional Republicans.