The Exorcist

by tristero

Maybe everyone already knows this, but I didn’t. When he was in college, the governor of Louisiana performed an exorcism on a classmate. This would be hilarious were it not for the fact that Jindal actually believes the exorcism also cured the woman of cancer. People die on account of such stupid beliefs.

I have known many devout Catholics, including priests and nuns. I have never met a single one, however, that performed an exorcism. While I haven’t spoken to all of them about the subject, those I have talked to about exorcism are more embarrassed by the practice than anything else. Sure, they believe in evil spirits, but c’mon, there are limits, seems to be the attitude. (Question, did the Vatican give Jindal, et al, permission to perform the exorcism? I thought you could only “legally” do them after a very careful, official review.)

Once again, I am amazed by the Republican propensity for elevating genuine weirdos into high office. Ashcroft, whose father anointed him with Crisco when he was made Attorney General. Frist, who tortured cats, and despite a medical education, refused to say that AIDS could not be spread by kissing. Santorum, and so many other GOPers who have an obsession with man-dog sex. Evolution deniers. Racists. Homophobic homosexuals. Scalia, who simply can’t read the very clear Declaration of Independence without serious misunderstandings. Twisted New Age flakes like Newt Gingrich, now an elder statesman. Boykin, a general who’s lost his mind, sees Satan hovering over battlefields, in charge of the hunt for bin Laden. A serious contender for the GOP nomination who once released a serial rapist just to get back at Bill Clinton. The current GOP nominee who thought it was funny – ah, ha ha ha! – to sing “Bomb Iran!” to the tune of the Beach Boys’ “Barbara Ann.”

In my America – which includes Greil Marcus’s Old Weird America AND the modern art scene in New York City – it just isn’t that easy to find people as bizarre – and as tawdry – as these. The Republican party is one very, very strange gaggle of geese. I wonder:

Do crazy people flock to the top of the Republican party because like attracts like, or does Republicanism drive perfectly normal people insane?

I think the answer is “yes.”