Crazy is the new normal

Meet Bill Sali (R-ID). He's a first-term representative, unabashedly right-wing, and apparently embodies all of the qualities that the republican party values, because the GOP freshman class (all 13 of them) voted him as their class president.

Well Bill seems to believe that, like any good Christian zealot, his religion can (and should) beat up your religion any day. What other reason could one attribute to a quote like this:

"We have not only a Hindu prayer being offered in the Senate, we have a Muslim member of the House of Representatives now, Keith Ellison from Minnesota. Those are changes -- and they are not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers," asserts Sali.

Sali says America was built on Christian principles that were derived from scripture. He also says the only way the United States has been allowed to exist in a world that is so hostile to Christian principles is through "the protective hand of God."

According to Congressman Sali, the only way the U.S. can continue to survive is under that protective hand of God. He states when a Hindu prayer is offered, "that's a different god" and that it "creates problems for the longevity of this country."

I guess that's one way to look at the diversity of religion in America. Or you could look at it in a rational way, like the way Barack Obama did when he was a guest of Pat Robertson's on the 700 Club:

For my friends on the right, I think it would be helpful to remember the critical role that the separation of church and state has played in preserving not only our democracy but also our religious practice. Folks tend to forget that during our founding, it wasn’t the atheists or the civil libertarians who were the most effective champions of the First Amendment…. It was the forbearers of Evangelicals who were the most adamant about not mingling government with religious, because they didn’t want state-sponsored religion hindering their ability to practice their faith as they understood it. Given this fact, I think that the right might worry a bit more about the dangers of sectarianism.

Whatever we once were, we’re no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of non-believers. We should acknowledge this and realize that when we’re formulating policies from the state house to the Senate floor to the White House, we’ve got to work to translate our reasoning into values that are accessible to every one of our citizens, not just members of our own faith community.

(of course, Robertson villified Obama's position and called him dangerous. Good for him, you can't get that kind of anti-endorsement just anywhere.)

This is what the republican party has become. Embrace it, love it, own it. It's all you baby, and it fits like a glove.