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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2005-05-13

And Speaking of Over The Top

Vincent Carrol pointed this one out yesterday:

"This, my friends, is the Gestapo," said Kirton, a United Methodist minister. Later, Kirton defended his description saying, "I said Gestapo, and I meant it."

Kirton was among speakers who rallied behind Salazar at a news conference at the state Capitol. In a supportive letter to Salazar, the group condemned "the pursuit and abuse of earthly power," which was driving religious groups to support an up-or-down vote of President Bush's court nominees.

"These are the actions of an American Taliban, of reactionary, religious zealots," said the Rev. Peter Morales, head of the public policy commission of the Interfaith Alliance.

Gestapo? Taliban? Well, I suppose that's a little bit of moderation compared to "Anti-Christ," but it's still, well . . .

But it goes on:

Speakers at the Capitol news conference included Polly Baca, a former state senator, and several state legislators.

Which state legislators? I want names, and I want to know from their offices if they support the use of this language in this discussion, or if they, like Sen. Salazar's spokesperson, would condemn that language:

"Obviously, people on all sides of this issue have strong feelings," Cody Wertz said. "But I can say for sure that Senator Salazar would not associate himself with those remarks."

Okay, well, maybe "condemn" is too strong a word, but you get the idea.

Oh, and, to add to the files of "Democrats With Clear Convictions and Positions File," I submit the following quotes:

Speakers denied that they were engaging in the same derogatory speech tactics that they accused the religious right of using.

"Some individuals (here) feel that way, and that's their right," said Denver's former director of public safety, Butch Montoya.

However, Montoya said later he was bothered by characterizations like "Gestapo" and "American Taliban."

"That's when I sat down," Montoya said. "I thought, 'Oh, my god.' We want to be mainstream - we don't want to be extremist."

Yeah. Well, I think that ship has sailed there, Butch. And, in truth, of course, it's not that they don't want to BE extremist--it's that they don't want to APPEAR extremist. Notice it was only "later" that Montoya was bothered by the language. It appears to have escaped his attention earlier.

And. . .

Baca defended Salazar as an active member of a Catholic parish. But, she said, he doesn't use his faith to influence public policy.

"Ken has a very deep-seated faith that grounds his values and that drives his behavior," Baca said. However, that doesn't mean one's faith should necessarily drive one's public life, she said.

"It's not that clear-cut," she said. "You can't stereotype it like that, although it's a part of who we are."

Huh?

So, what? I guess public life and public policy don't fall under the heading of "behavior." Though it's not that clear-cut. . .

Perhaps it's "complicated." Maybe he's explained his "plan" for dealing with this on his website, www.johnker . . .
Posted by: Michael / 5/13/2005 12:46:00 PM

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