When He’s Right He’s Right

Moral Clarity, Courage Needed, Bush Aide Says:

President Bush’s chief political adviser told graduates of Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University on Saturday to judge leaders on the basis of character.

America needs people who have “the moral clarity and courage to do what’s right, regardless of consequence, fashion or fad,'”Karl Rove said.

“You either have values ingrained in your heart and soul that will not change with the wind, or you don’t,” he said.

He’s right. This is their message and it’s on the money. Of course they are faking it in every possible way with their vacuous brand name in a suit prancing around on aircraft carriers and such. But that’s because they only pretend to have “values” when what they really have are political instincts. They are not the same thing.

If either party could give them the real thing instead of an ersatz, superficial rendering of smarmy religiosity, they would gain the support of a large majority of this country. You have to give Rove credit. He has done a lot with what he has to work with. Sexual priggishness, vengeance and racism are very difficult concepts upon which to build a positice values argument, but they’ve managed to create the illusion that they have “moral clarity” by garbing their narrow vision in religious and patriotic terms — and because we have failed to stand up for our universal values of liberty, justice and equality. They win by default.