is a must read. Sarah Poisoner oops Posner is a progressive atheist that wrote the article posted below. Lets put it this way, Sarah is no
that's for sure. I will try to break it down in short-form and I'll use
text as the opposing view to make it clear as to what my thoughts are as trivial as they may be.
can't get any more hateful, destructive, and just plain old off the deep end with lies and innuendos. They just keep them coming time and time again, each with over the top, off the wall, garbage. Enjoy.
When appealing to Christian conservatives, Republican presidential candidates sometimes use phrases, rhetoric and imagery that are
unknown to voters unfamiliar either with the religious meaning of such language or where they fit in the
mythology of the "Christian nation." Thus candidates can signal sympathy with religious conservatives without making overt appeals that might alienate more secular voters.
Such phrases have become popularly known as "dog whistles," a reference to the high-pitched devices that emit sounds inaudible to humans but attention-grabbing for canines.
The candidates for the GOP's 2012 nomination have used dog-whistle phrases in previous debates and may again in the debate tonight at the Reagan Library. Here is guide to what to listen for and what these phrases mean:
How can anything be " appealing" to voters that is considered " unknown" ? Posner then goes on to use the phrase "mythology of the Christian nation" . From someone that is supposed to have a high degree of education to use such phrase leaves me to wonder. The "nation" is around 80% Christian that would not classify that as a "myth" to me.
"Tip of the spear" Campaigning in Iowa last month, and in the Fox News debate just before the state GOP's straw poll, Rep. Michele Bachmann repeatedly portrayed herself as the
"tip of the spear" in fighting against administration initiatives like "Obamacare."
This military term, when adopted by evangelicals, is used to depict someone being on the front lines of a cosmic or spiritual battle. Brian Kaylor, author of "Presidential Campaign Rhetoric in an Age of Confessional Politics," a news site run by the Baptist Center for Ethics, compared Bachmann's "tip of the spear" reference to George W. Bush's 2003 use of a classic hymn "to talk about the 'power, wonder-working-power' of the American people."
The "tip of the spear" phrase, Kaylor says, is especially popular among
"evangelical home schoolers." "These subtle references may strike others as unusual -- if noticed at all -- but demonstrate a level of familiarity with evangelical voters that many politicians are unable to fake." Bachmann's use of this dog whistle -- and her mobilization of the home-schooling movement -- helps explain her Iowa straw poll victory, according to Kaylor.
I have a problem believing that ANY candidate would use phrases that only, and admittedly by the Author, would be known only by the "Military" and/or " Evangelical home schoolers" , I mean after all, these are the votes that are in the bag, so to speak anyway so there is not a need to use code words to get attention or gather votes from the constituents that will be voting in their favor in the end.
"Shining City on the Hill" At the Labor Day debate in South Carolina, moderator Rep. Steve King questioned the five candidates present about whether they believed, as Ronald Reagan did, that the United States of America is a "shining city on the hill."
Bachmann demonstrated her familiarity with Reagan's rhetoric and its biblical and historical context when she replied, "Those comments actually come from the Book of Matthew. And those comments were also given in a sermon by John Winthrop when he was on the Arbella, with some of the early Pilgrims in 1630."
Bachmann was familiar with the original origin in which the phrase was quoted from, and the problem is?
Reagan's use of the Winthrop sermon throughout his 1980 campaign was an expression of "his belief that God had divinely created and blessed America and that America's founders -- as he did -- trusted in God to lead the new nation," says Kaylor in his book.
This is where the Author begins to demonstrate her divine ability of mind reading.
Reagan, much like Bachmann and Rick Perry do in 2011, analogized his presidential campaign to a religious revival and portrayed himself as being on a spiritual mission. "With this framing," Kaylor writes, "his political campaign became a religious crusade designed to keep America following in God's will."
See above.
The "shining city on the hill" phrase evokes two essential elements of the religious right's "Christian nation" mythology: American exceptionalism and the need for revival. God ordained America as the exceptional nation designed to carry out his will, and a revival is necessary because America has been headed down a sinful path as a result of secularism, abortion, gay rights and other offenses against "biblical truth."
More mind reading. Notice the disdain in this paragraph. The United States of this America has always been exceptional. Any great American will have the same sentiment. We will as great Americans never utter the words ""for the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my Country"
The candidate who invokes "the shining city on a hill" is not just signaling admiration for Reagan but a shared ideology of
America's founding with religious right figures like David Barton who contend that
the separation of church and state is a "myth" and that
America's founders intended to create "a Christian nation."
Again, more and more attempts at mind reading, I'd have figured by now that the author would realize that she is not very good at mind reading. The authors attempt to lump our founding fathers in with the likes of David Barton would be funny if it was not so offensive.
"Endowed by our Creator" This language from the Declaration of Independence has been
quoted by Bachmann and Newt Gingrich to affirm their view that God, not the government, confers the rights
guaranteed in the Constitution.
I know it gets old to hear or read something over and over again and again but what can we say? More mind reading. How does Posner know what these people are thinking, much less to say that when either of them or anyone else for that matter, says, ""Endowed by our Creator" couldn't mean anything other than "to affirm their view that God not the government, confers the rights guaranteed in the Constitution" ? The word "God" is not written anywhere in the Constitution in anyway shape or form and the Declaration of Independence only mentions "natures God" though it does mention the word "Creator", which can be determined by the reader in many forms of their choice.
The Constitution, in this view, is not just a historical document but an articulation of
God's vision for America, which includes a divinely required limitation on the activities of the federal government. In describing the Constitution at the South Carolina debate,
Bachmann used the word "sacred," suggesting it was actually ordained by God. With this language,
the speaker is effectively suggesting that American rights originate in Christian doctrine.
Hmmmmm? The Constitution in who's view? How did it all of a sudden become "God's vision for America" ? Bachmann used the word "sacred" . For an experienced author/journalist Posner should brush up on her vocabulary or might we think that she is trying to take the word "sacred" out of context and put a spin on it? The word "sacred" has many meanings and one to include the meaning " highly valued and important" .
Dred Scott When George W. Bush said in a 2004 debate that he would not appoint Supreme Court justices who would agree with the Court's 1857 Dred Scott decision, many observers were baffled. Wasn't Dred Scott, which held that slave owners could treat their slaves as property even in states and territories that prohibited slavery, and that denied the citizenship of freed slaves, tossed into the dustbin of history by the Civil War and passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments? It turned out that for anti-choice activists,
Dred Scott is a subtle way of referring to Roe v. Wade: a decision also made by "activist judges" that denied the full personhood of fetuses.
WOW! Posner is now comparing Dred Scott to abortion? Now this is a very, very long stretch even for the extreme leftist Posner.
This usage persists. In South Carolina on Monday, Robert George, Princeton University professor and architect of the religious right manifesto
the Manhattan Declaration, invoked Dred Scott. In questioning Herman Cain, George declared that Abraham Lincoln had to confront the decision, which, in his words, "usurped the authority of the elected representatives of the people," just like Roe v. Wade is said to today. If Dred Scott comes up in tonight's GOP debate, it will be a way for the candidate to signal not only opposition to Roe but antipathy to "activist judges."
This is just crazy, it makes absolutely no sense at all. I understand the spin that Posner is trying to project here but it's so far out there I don't think that this one even needs any critical thinking to rebut. The Manhattan Declaration projects the sanctity of human life, the historical definition of marriage, and religious freedom, among other noteworthy human values. Posner depicts this as a bad thing? 
