DANA MILBANK & THE MORMONS

                    GLENN BECK IN HIS STUDY

Dana Milbank used to be a favorite pundit of mine. Then he got into some scuffle with Keith Olbermann and kind of faded away.

I recall that Mr. Milbank had taken a definite turn to the right and I was not amused at reading some column he wrote.

Wiki talks about this MSNBC scuffle and something called Mouth Piece Theater. He and his buddy got into trouble using the ‘b’ word with reference to Secretary Clinton.

Anyway, whether Dana has indeed moved to the right or back to the left, he is in the attack mode against beckerhead. And he wrote a rather interesting piece about Beck, Hatch and the Morman Church. But he did so thoughtfully and provides some real insights into this bullshit claim of Beck’s concerning our Constitution.

Now in a clip with Howard Kurtz which I found at Mediamatters, Milbank is cross examined at length by Howard. And Dana stood up to it rather well.

I mean he has done his homework on Beck. He recites the number of times that Hitler is referred to on beckerhead’s TV and radio shows. And he refers to the number of times that the word ‘fascist’ was used. Really well argued case for finding that Beck is not just out of his fucking mind but that he is inciting others to violence.

Kurtz does not wish to breach his ‘neutrality’ in all of this since Howard is a prick anyway. (By the way he is leaving the Washington Post after 29 years and moving to The Daily Beast of all places)

(Milbank tells Howard Kurtz why Beck is dangerous.http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201010030006)

I bring all this up because I am beginning to be a fan of Milbank again and because he brings to me something of an epiphany.

Dana recites some history concerning the Morman Church. Before I begin, we must all remember that Harry Reid is a Morman, that there are fine and upstanding liberal Mormans, and that we should not deride a religion no matter what rituals they have that involve underwear and such.

The phrase is often attributed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church. Smith is believed to have said in 1840 that when the Constitution hangs by a thread, elders of the Mormon Church will step in -- on the proverbial white horse -- to save the country.

When the Constitution of the United States hangs, as it were, upon a single thread, they will have to call for the 'Mormon' Elders to save it from utter destruction; and they will step forth and do it," Brigham Young, Smith's successor as head of the church, wrote in 1855.

Was it just a coincidence in wording, or was Beck, a 1999 Mormon convert, speaking in coded language about the need to fulfill the Mormon prophecy? A conversation on Beck's radio show ten days earlier would seem to rule out coincidence. Beck was interviewing Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, also a Mormon, when he said: "I heard Barack Obama talk about the Constitution and I thought, we are at the point or we are very near the point where our Constitution is hanging by a thread."

"Well, let me tell you something," Hatch responded. "I believe the Constitution is hanging by a thread."

Days after Beck's Fox show started in January 2009, he had Hatch on, and again prompted him: "I believe our Constitution hangs by a thread."

…

Before the Mormons went west, Smith traveled to Washington seeking help for his oppressed followers and received nothing but frustration. Rather than turning on the government, however, "They considered themselves the last Real Americans, the legitimate heirs of the pilgrims and Founding Fathers," Pat Bagley wrote in the Salt Lake Tribune. "And, they believed, the very survival of the Constitution depended on the Saints. From Smith on, LDS leaders prophesied the Constitution would one day hang by a thread, only to be saved by Mormons."

…

.. there is a Beckian twist in his version of the prophecy. Unlike the church leaders' versions, Beck's vision carries the possibility of a bloody end. On the night of Feb. 24, 2009, Beck outlined this prospect for his viewers. People who "don't trust the government," he said, would "see the government as violating the Constitution, and they will see themselves as defenders of the Constitution. Not a good mix. Then they take matters into their own hands."

It was Glenn Beck in a nutshell: White Horse Prophecy meets horsemen of the apocalypse.

 I find some real insight in this essay.

This country was at war with the Mormons for some period of time.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_pioneers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints

For one thing, polygamy was not favored by most Americans. 

On the other hand, to just dismiss an entire religion with millions of members is stupid.

I mean, there are many Protestant church goers who believe to this day that the Roman Catholic Church is a cult. Of course it was 2000 years ago.

The only point I am making here is that when Dana Milbank comes after you, he comes armed.