Just to follow up for a moment on an earlier post, the LA Times piece on evangelicals’ growing influence included one tidbit about Jerry Falwell that warrants extra attention.
Falwell said he had spoken to Rove three times since the election, and that Specter called him this week to offer assurances that he would not block Bush’s court nominees.
To be sure, Falwell is a notorious liar — even by televangelist standards — and it’s certainly possible that Rove hasn’t spoken to him at all. Falwell routinely presents himself as more important than he is and Rove is unlikely to tell reporters that Falwell is making things up.
But if Falwell’s account is true, the president’s top political advisor has turned to a crazed TV preacher on three occasions too many. Falwell is one of the nation’s most despicable anti-American demagogues, attacking anyone not like himself, and even blaming Americans for 9/11 just 48 hours after the attacks.
And now the White House is chatting with him three times in two weeks? I can’t think of an exact parallel, but what do you suppose the reaction would be if Kerry had won last week and Michael Moore had told reporters yesterday that he’d talked to Joe Lockhart three times since Election Day? The claim, in and of itself, would quickly become its own story and an anecdote for right-wing direct mail and talk radio. It’d be the latest proof that Dems are “out of touch” and influenced by “liberal Hollywood elite.” Of course, the analogy doesn’t entirely work because a) chances are, Moore couldn’t get Lockhart on the phone; and b) on his worst day, Moore isn’t in Falwell’s league.
Falwell, meanwhile, can — and apparently, does — get in touch with Rove. No one finds this strange because it’s expected that top White House officials maintain an ongoing dialog with lowlifes like Falwell. Considering his record of hate and division, reasonable people and polite society should make him a pariah. Instead, Falwell has an ongoing dialog with the president’s chief aide.
Which is worse: that Rove and Falwell are chatting or that no one seems to find that disturbing?