Michele Bachmann and the End of Days

By Michael J.W. Stickings

A while back, it seemed to many of us that Michele Bachmann, surging in the polls and looking more and more like a viable contender for the Republican presidential nomination, was walking back some of her more extreme views, trying to appear less crazy than her (completely justified) reputation and, with extremists in the grassroots on board, trying to appeal more broadly across the party, including to the more moderate establishment, if not quite to independents.

Well, while she did indeed walk back a bit, she also launched full-throttle into the crazy, including by signing that bigoted (and utterly ridiculous) anti-gay, anti-porn pledge and by pushing the generally anti-science agenda of the GOP, particularly so-called "intelligent design."

All of which is nothing new for Bachmann. She has a long record of extremism, particularly with respect to her fundamentalist, theocratic Christianity. And the evidence just keeps piling up. Here's Think Progress:

Slate's Dave Weigel has reported an audio recording of Bachmann praying for the notoriously anti-gay ministry You Can Run But You Can't Hide, run by the radical preacher Bradlee Dean. Bachmann offered the prayer in 2006 (though the recording was uploaded in 2008). In it, Bachmann predicts, "We are in the last days," and says, "The harvest is at hand" — a Biblical allusion to the Rapture when some believe God will take saved Christians from the earth and leave the non-believers to face several years of torment and tribulation before the second coming of Christ.

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As Weigel noted, it's not terribly surprising that Bachmann is among those evangelical Christians who believe the end of the world is imminent. But it's still disconcerting that someone campaigning to lead America into the future believes that its days are numbered and millions of its citizens are doomed. Bachmann has toned down her religious rhetoric considerably since hitting the campaign trail.

Also jarring is Bachmann's belief that "nothing is more important than" converting people before the world ends. As she weighs in on critical debates like whether or not to let the U.S. default on its obligations, it's troubling that Bachmann is rooting for the apocalypse.

Disconcerting and troubling indeed. To say the least. Which is yet another reason why, viable contender or not, she shouldn't be let anywhere near the White House.

Ever. (Which may not be a long time, actually, not with the Rapture at hand. Right?)

Apocalypse fer sure

By Capt. Fogg

Well folks, here it is again. The doomsday circus is back in town and guess what's happening in the big top in less than three days - that's right, it's the rapture and we're all gonna die screaming! OK, maybe some of y'all are actually Holy Smoke Church members and won't have to sit here through the tectonic shimmy, the lakes of fire and all the other rides while Jesus, like some Mexican wrestler with a gruesome mask is gonna kick some infidel ass, but not yours, Mr. camo pants. You get to go to the magic kingdom. You'll have to leave the truck behind, of course.

Yes, May 21, 2011 is right around the corner and Doomsday, as it has been countless times before, is almost here. For perhaps the first time however, these prophets have recognized that there are a dozen time zones and so Saturday at 6:00 PM, starting at the International Date Line out in the pacific, the apocalypse will march across the planet at a thousand miles per hour - boy can those horses move! That means we'll get to watch it all on TV as that Titanium robot, or whatever Jesus comes dressed as these days. kicks hell out of Asia and moves on toward Europe. That will give a lot of people her in God's own US of A enough time to convert and yes, you can do it on line through Paypal.

Not me though, It's going to be months before the planet is cleansed of disbelief and animal life and since the righteous will no longer be here, I get to grab their trailers and second hand pickup trucks and ATVs and firearms and stuff and me and the other heretics can shoot guns and barbeque like Ted Nugent. It's gonna be a hell of a party -- as long as the beer don't run out before that lake of fire thing.

Anyway, the Rapture should hit the fan at my house at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time according to God's infallible plan and I'll be watching it all unfold from poolside and I'll have plenty of ice on hand. Perhaps I'll live-blog the whole thing. Stay tuned.

(Cross-posted from Human Voices.)