« Nobody in Russia/Georgia gives a damn about Edwards' sex life | Main | Russia, Georgia and White-Haired Dude's lobbyist pals »

August 12, 2008

Focus on the Foolish

Oliver Burkeman has written a wonderful critique of Focus on the Family's attempts to use "humorous" videos to reach the masses. Once you read it in its delightful entirety, you'll want to click through to the Focus on the Family web site for even more comedic relief. But just to set the stage:

It would have made today special enough just to be able to bring you the "humorous" video embedded below, in which a spokesman for the evangelical conservative group Focus on the Family outlines a hilarious plan to pray for "abundant, torrential" rain to wash out Barack Obama's open-air nomination acceptance speech in Denver later this month. But that was only the start of it, because finding this clip led me, like Quatermain discovering King Solomon's Mines, to an entire treasure trove of footage in which Focus on the Family attempts to use the exciting new medium of online video comedy to spread its hardline messages. It's all rather too fantastic to put into words, but after the jump, I'm going to try.

Sadly, the video has been pulled so we can't enjoy the hilarity anymore, but I call it to your attention anyway because I wanted to point out the audacity of the entire concept of praying for rain to spoil Barack Obama's outdoor speech. Assuming that God exists as the sort of character Christians teach that he is - loving, wise, and all-powerful - what makes these people think that God needs their input and is incapable of coming up with his own ideas for dealing with this subtle and dangerous agent of Satan who threatens to destroy the moral fabric of our nation? (I assume you all understand that I am attempting to describe the Christian Right's view of Obama and not my own.)

Just picture it: God up there sitting on a cloud thinking, "That Obama character is beginning to get a real following. What to do ... what to do ... What's that? Abundant, torrential rain? What a great idea!"

Or how about this: God has big plans for dealing with this evil and deceptive Obama character. The plans involve mind control in as many voters as possible, as well as making just the right number of people forget to vote, and maybe looking the other way on some election irregularities so that the morally upright and godly John McCain will squeak by and we'll still have a good man at the helm of this Christian nation. But what's that? His people are asking for abundant, torrential rain to ruin Obama's speech? Not quite as sophisticated, maybe a little childish, but hey, they prayed and he promised to answer prayers, so he'd better do it.

I really am becoming annoyed at the juvenile attitude being displayed this year by Obama's opponents. From the comparisons to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton to the exclusive focus on and denigration of Obama's suggestion that people ought to properly inflate their tires (and acting as if that is the sole feature of his energy plan), it has been an unrelenting display of kindergarden mentality.

When I was a kid growing up in a Republican family, I remember throwing a fit when Jimmy Carter won. My grandfather, who had not supported Carter, sharply rebuked me. "He is our President now," he told me. "You will respect him." That is the sort of maturity and dignity that is utterly lacking in Republican politics today. And that is precisely why I won't have anything to do with the party.

Posted by Becky at August 12, 2008 08:44 AM