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May 15, 2007
Falwell
Tucker has just called Falwell "bold" for the 9-11 comments.
Look, we lefties have a hard job today. If we look into our heart of hearts, we don't feel grief for his death. That's just the truth of it. He peddled intolerance and hatred, cloaking in a cross. He blamed Americans for 9-11. He blamed gays for Katrina (but God left the French Quarter alone, Jerry!). He was callus in that face of AIDS. To the right, it's standing on principal. To the left, it lacks compassion.
I'm thinking of his death as a turning point in this country. The right-wing Moral Majority he claimed to speak for has gone in a different direction from him: look at Rick Warren. I don't agree with him, but he's damn different from Falwell and he has a message so much closer to Jesus. Falwell represented the old, Warren represents the new. The new, even if we don't agree with it, is sooo much better than the old. It has compassion, it speaks of poverty, it lives in the now. There's room for agreement. Room for working together on certain issues like poverty.
Falwell represented a certain portion of the country and they are there, in great numbers, but they are not a majority. (I'm speaking to you, Joe Scarborough.) He didn't even represent a majority in the conservative movement. (More like 30-45%, I'd say.) He was powerful, but he was marginalized, too... and MSM has to take a breath from their extreme eulogy to say so.
Powerful and marginalized... people, right and left, just didn't buy into the words that were coming out of his mouth anymore.
Posted by emily at May 15, 2007 4:16 PM