Sure, former Vice President Dick Cheney and conservative radio hosts Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin are pretty awesome. God-like, even. But actually comparing them to Jesus, as one prominent conservative blogger did Thursday, might be going just a bit too far.
In a post about those on the right who criticize Cheney, Limbaugh, Levin and other conservative leaders, Erick Erickson, the editor-in-chief of Red State, wrote:
Peter, under pressure and fear, denied Christ not just once, but three times. Peter, though, feared death. The strain on Peter was great. The rest of us, though, typically fear the opinions of others.
There are those who like it when we feel guilty for associating with someone. More troubling, in the conservative movement and in the greater right-of-center coalition, there are many, many fellow traveller who would rather spend their time throwing their own under the bus than fighting the left...
The incidents of late with Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Dick Cheney, and others is why I raise this. Putting it bluntly, were these guys on the left, their fellow leftists would at best be cheering them on and at worst silently nodding along. There wouldn't be any on that side rushing to the nearest microphone to condemn them...
As an aside, perhaps an even greater bother are the high minded types on our side who condemn any level of aggressive activism because it is icky, mean, or beneath us. There is a war going on. We fight. Suck it up.
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23 reminds us. We are all apt to say something or do something on occasion we may later regret. Those who deny this are the ones we should not listen to. That there are those on the right willing to ignore this for personal gain by pushing aside faithful warriors in the fight for freedom should make us all cringe. That we ourselves are sometimes apt to do it should make us shudder...
Peter denied Christ three times. Our goal should be to not deny Christ and also to not deny the valuable members of our own movement. Embracing them does not mean we embrace every word and every deed. But it should likewise mean we don’t race to the nearest microphone to condemn our own when they do something indiscrete (sic). The people we should shun are the ones who are quick to throw the rest of us out for daring to stand up for our friends.
The vultures in our mist are typically the ones squawking loudest about other conservatives instead of the leftists out to destroy the country.
(Hat-tip to Ben Smith.)
All I know is that Limbaugh himself better be careful about taking up this comparison himself. If he's not, he could end up the target of his fellow radio talkers -- he may inspire fear in the hearts of Republican elected officials, and he may even be comparable to Jesus Christ, but that still doesn't get him anywhere close to John Lennon's level.
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