Hillary Clinton actually is part of a secretive cult (no joke).

Bread and Circus

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Mon Feb-11-08 01:39 PM
Original message

Hillary Clinton actually is part of a secretive cult (no joke).

Edited on Mon Feb-11-08 01:43 PM by Bread and Circus

First off, I find it really weird that some of the most ardent social liberals on DU who have a very hard time with Obama's religious overtones (a case which is dramatically overblown) considering what Clinton is involved in. For the uninitiated, Clinton is part of "The Fellowship" which is a Senatorial group founded by a Methodist back in the 1930's. It's members include the likes of Brownback, Inhofe, and Santorum. It also includes Clinton as an active member. Please read this:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200611/green-hillary

November 2006 Atlantic Monthly
How Hillary Clinton turned herself into the consummate Washington player

by Joshua Green

Take Two: Hillary's Choice

snip

Of the many realms of power on Capitol Hill, the least understood may be the lawmakers� prayer group. The tradition of private worship in small, informal gatherings is one that stretches back for generations, as does a genuine tendency within them to transcend partisanship, though as with so much that is religiously oriented in Washington, the chief adherents are the more conservative Republicans.

Most of the prayer groups are informally affiliated with a secretive Christian organization called the Fellowship, established in the 1930s by a Methodist evangelist named Abraham Vereide, whose great hope was to preach the word of Jesus to political and business leaders throughout the world. Vereide believed that the best way to change the powerful was through discreet personal ministry, and over his lifetime he succeeded to a remarkable degree. The first Senate prayer group met over breakfast in 1943; a decade later one of its members, Senator Frank Carlson, persuaded Dwight Eisenhower to host a Presidential Prayer Breakfast, which has become a tradition.

"Everything I do carries political risk because nobody gets the scrutiny that I get," Hillary Clinton told me, finally.

"It's not like I have any margin for error whatsoever. I don't. Everybody else does, and I don't. And that's fine. That's just who I am, and that's what I live with."

Though it still sponsors what is now called the National Prayer Breakfast, the Fellowship scrupulously avoids publicity, as Vereide insisted it must. �If you want to help people, Jesus said, you don�t do your alms in public,� Douglas Coe, the group�s leader since the late 1960s, said in a rare interview several years ago.

Today, on Capitol Hill, as the old avenues of bipartisanship have gradually been blocked off by hardening ideology, the prayer groups have become cherished sanctuaries for their members�providing respite, however brief, from the cacophony of political Washington. Speaking about a group is strongly discouraged, and what transpires at meetings is strictly off the record. As a result, the groups provide an intimate setting in which members can share their faith without fear of being judged. �Once you take off the cloak of politics and look into a person�s soul, you find that you can establish a relationship that is enduring and deep and doesn�t let politics get in the way,� one longtime participant explained to me. �If you�re going to be consistent with the teachings of Jesus, it�s about forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace.� Many who come, he said, are surprised to wind up forming close friendships with colleagues who in any other setting would be considered political enemies.

You�re not supposed to think about lofty spiritual affairs in terms so temporal as their political importance. But among the prayer groups, one holds special status: a tight-knit gathering of about a dozen senators which still meets every Wednesday morning for prayer and discussion, led by Douglas Coe himself. Each week, someone starts the meeting by giving personal testimony, secure in the support of the audience. Once, Senator Dan Coats stood before the group and sang �Jesus Loves Me, This I Know.�

The roster of regular participants has included such notable conservative names as Brownback, Santorum, Nickles, Enzi, and Inhofe. Then, in 2001, just after the new class of senators was sworn in, another name was added to the list: Hillary Rodham Clinton.

One spring Wednesday, a few months into the term, Senator Sam Brownback�s turn came to lead the group, and he rose intending to talk about a recent cancer scare. But as he stood before his colleagues Brownback spotted Clinton, and was overcome with the impulse to change the subject of his testimony. �I came here today prepared to share about this experience in my life that has caused great suffering, the result of which has deepened my faith,� Brownback said, according to someone who watched the scene unfold. �But I�m overcome now with only one thought.� He confessed to having hated Clinton and having said derogatory things about her. Through God, he now recognized his sin. Then he turned to her and asked, �Mrs. Clinton, will you forgive me?� Clinton replied that she would, and that she appreciated the apology.

�It was an extraordinary moment,� the member told me.

This repentance fostered an unlikely relationship that has yielded political bounty. Clinton and Brownback went on to cosponsor one measure protecting refugees fleeing sexual abuse, and another to study the effects on children of violent video games and television shows. �That morning helped make our working relationship,� Brownback told me recently. �It brought me close to someone I did not ever imagine I would become close to.� Since then, Clinton has teamed up on legislation with many members of the prayer group.

end snip (much, much more at link, it's an 11 page article)

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A few things:

1.) Hillary Rodham Clinton is part of a secretive cult, by definition.
2.) This cult includes the likes of Brownback, Inhofe, Santorum - "enemies" of the socially liberal left.
3.) Clinton prays with these types in an intimate religious setting regularly and it seems to influence her political alliances and even her policy efforts.

So, what were you all saying about forming alliances with the Right Wing, not to mention the Fundamentalist Religious Right Wing?

Come on GLBT DU'ers, you should be the most vocal about this.

*Couple this with Clinton's stance on Iraq (meaning she won't set a deadline (read COMMITMENT) to leave Iraq) and it's no wonder why Bush favors her over Obama.