First, a prayer offered by Republican congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota at last week's so-called prayercast sponsored by conservative groups opposed to a government takeover of health care.
After the prayer, a spot quiz --
BACHMANN: Lord, as leaders of our country, Lord, I pray as a stand-in for myself, I pray as a stand-in for others, Lord, who may not have looked to you and all your ways, Father, as leaders. Father, we want to represent you in the way that we should and so, Lord, I ask for forgiveness for that and our own country ... Lord, we know that we have failed and we haven't done as we should. And so that's why now, Lord, we ask for your forgiveness and we repent and we turn from that. And we say, oh Lord, we deserve your wrath but would you yet get our nation mercy. We ask for your mercy, we cry out to you, oh God. This is our moment and this is our time. Lord, we are at the end of ourselves and now we need you.
Now the quiz, consisting of a single question but with more than one possible answer. Bachmann's prayer is about --
a) forgiveness
b) repentance
c) mercy
d) power
Correct answer: A, B and/or C, at least to my ears. Unless you're Rachel Maddow of MSNBC, who would check off "d".
Here is Maddow's commentary during her cable show Dec. 17 on what Bachmann said, preceded by Maddow also disparaging Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. (click here for audio) --
DeMINT: We cannot fall for this idea that we need to keep our faith in a closet and let the country go its own secular way.
MADDOW: Sen. DeMint not falling for that old separation of church and state canard, even as Congressman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, another participant in last night's event, prays in this case for power.
BACHMANN: (as transcribed above)
MADDOW (parroting Bachmann): 'We are at the end of ourselves and now we need you.'And now (pause), I'm not sure what we need. But we have had a bit of a revelation about some of the less well-known opposition to health reform. (An apparent reference to the Rev. Lou Engle, a staunch opponent of same-sex marriage who also took part in the prayercast).
No wonder so many Christians don't trust liberals anywhere near their religion.
Once was the time when a political observer based his or her analysis on what a figure of scrutiny actually said, as opposed to what said observer wanted to hear.
I'm reminded of the old Robin Williams' joke about subway shooter Bernie Goetz, who upon being given a Rorschach test said every inkblot reminded him of Oprah Winfrey.
Even when the subject has nothing to do with power, liberals like Maddow can't help but conjure it. They know little of faith, but plenty about worship.
