The Rapture didn't happen last weekend. No big surprise; what was surprising to me was that the fairly wide-spread Family Radio network was the sponsor of the meme. We don't have an outlet in our area of Michigan, but I recall them in Kentucky; they weren't my cup a tea and a bit... reactionary... but not that out of character for a modern Christian radio outfit. In other words, they didn't scream "Cult-like nutcase."
There's a cottage industry in dispensational circles of playing up the closeness of the End Times, and some people get tipped over the edge into declaring a date, even though the Bible cautions against such stuff. It's not too far from one old pastor-emeritus of mine being 80% sure the Rapture was coming this year to being 100% sure and slapping a date on it.
{Update 3PM-Check this out-when you get lolcatted, you've really jumped the shark}
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Speaking of cups of tea and Tea Parties, Herman Cain through his hat in the ring last Saturday in Atlanta. I was in town, but up in Sandy Springs teaching an MBA class. Cain is looking like a very viable option, getting an impressive (given the lack of exposure) 8% showing in the last Gallup poll.
What I've seen of him speaking on YouTube reminds me of Glenn Beck when he's on his meds (;-) and talking about American exceptionalism; that's a good thing, for Beck does have a very thoughtful side when he's not off in tin-foil-hat territory. So does Cain, who does an interesting cross of black Baptist preacher and free-market, God and Country patriotism.
Someone is going to be the favorite child of the Tea Party, and Michele Bachmann is methadone for Sarah Palin fans and enemies alike; Bachmann gets a lot of the same condescension from the media that Palin gets but also strikes a positive cord with quite a few voters.
Cain's business background will give him some inroads with more conventional conservatives as well; that and a stint on the KC Fed gives him some gravitas with the establishment wing of the party (but the Fed stint loses some TP street cred in more libertarian quarters). Yes, we haven't seen someone get elected president as their first elected post since Eisenhower, but there's no rule against it.
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Speaking of Palin, she's doing a book tour. Is that a prelude to a presidential run? Well, memory goes back to Colin Powell's book tour in 1995; he opted against running when it became clear that he was a notch too RINOey to get nominated despite his Desert Storm chops.
Palin is far from being a RINO; in fact, she might be off on the other end of the spectrum. She's unconventional and gives more establishment folks their own "fire in the belly." However, she speaks to Joe Sixpack in a way few politicians do. This book tour will let her get in touch with her peeps.
A Palin run short-circuits Bachmann and Cain, for she'd claim that segment of the vote quickly. She has negatives out the wazoo, but I think a large part of that is the ditzy Tina Fey version of Palin rather than the real person; given a real campaign where the issues and candidates are less filtered, I think she'll whittle those down... at least that's what I think will happen.
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