“The creation of ‘Values Action Teams’ in Congress, led by such evangelicals as Tom DeLay, Tom Coburn, and Denny Hastert, plays a pivotal role in this story.”

DeLay and Hastert on values teams? Teaming up to find out how much value their corruption could produce?

Why the use of Denny? A personal friend? He was always referred to as Dennis Hastert (R- IL) or Speaker of the House or Mr. Speaker. Denny? Something doesn’t smell right here.

Always?

Sometimes he’s “Denny Hastert,” other times “Dennis Hastert,” and still others “J. Dennis Hastert,” with or without a title.

In fact, the official House of Representatives website has a pull-down menu, to let you find specific representatives by name. The listing for Hastert is “Hastert, Denny, Illinois, 14th.”

If it’s good enough for the Clerk of the House, it’s good enough for me.

juslin @ 64

hey peterr and dan gilgoff
it’s time someone wrote about the mingling of the far right and christianity…

Someone already has. Jim Wallis, “God’s Politics: How the Right gets it Wrong, and the Left doesn’t get it.” Wallis is a Progressive evangelical and a member of the Spiritual Progressives Network.

Bob in HI

you’re welcome to email me: author@thejesusmachine.com

hey peterr and dan gilgoff
it’s time someone wrote about the mingling of the far right and christianity…

Someone already has. Jim Wallis, “God’s Politics: How the Right gets it Wrong, and the Left doesn’t get it.” Wallis is a Progressive evangelical and a member of the Spiritual Progressives Network.

Bob in HI

dan, if you’re still here-

any mention of joyce meyer in your book?

No mention of Joyce Meyer, but let me know what I should know about her. That’s gonna be it from me. Really enjoyed all the great questions and comments.

any mention of joyce meyer in your book?

Dan Gilgoff @ 17

Good point Peterr. As political as Dobson is at the moment, it’s important to point out that for a long time–though the 1980s and much of the ’90s, Dobson resisted please from many powerful conservative activists to get really involved with the Christian Right. And that’s why he’s so much more powerful than Christian Right leaders like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were/are: he’s not seen by many evangelicals as the standard bearer of the Christian Right. Rather, he’s seen as a trusted family advisor who has helped listeners through some of the most intimate struggles of their lives, like raising children and confronting marital strife.

This is right on, Dan. What you’re talking about is several decades of building credibility and building an audience, before going out on political limbs.

Progressive alternatives such as Sojourners have a much smaller base to build on, and not so much “home penetration.” That right, Dan?

Bob in HI

The problem with this is that they aren’t as progressive on the issues of gays and choice as real progressives are. Therefore they do not garner the support of people like me. There is no true voice of progressive religion. In a way it’s an oxymoron because liberals and progressives are quite ok with people staying out of the bedroom issues. Wallis isn’t really one of us so he couldn’t possibly be our voice. Lerner is too focussed on himself and his own ego for the rest of us so that we don’t look to him for leadership either.

It’s a tough one that will probably never have an answer. But we’re still out there in our own parallel universe fighting the good fight.