Re: “holier-than-thou”:

I think you’re running up against culturally-widespread bigotry, there, delivered to the average non-evangelical person almost intravenously by Hollywood stereotypes.

We know that Hollywood fills its screens with bad stereotype characters “straight from central casting,” as they say: The evil CEO with the fantastic sculpted haircut. The hardworking hero scientist whose warnings are ignored by uncomprehending others. The rural southerner who’s an unreconstructed racist, carries a shotgun, and is lacking a few teeth. The gruff police-chief who’s always riding the hero detective. The psychopathic high-ranking military officer with the ramrod-straight spine. The conscience-hero lower-ranked officer who’s willing to disobey orders pursuing some matter of justice or compassion. The liberal Christian clergyman who barely can be said to believe the tenets of Christianity, but is a sympathetic character by showing compassion and wisdom. The telegenic-but-cheesy slick evangelist revival-preacher type who preaches conservative morals but is having an affair.

Now, these stereotypes and stories are absorbed over our lifetimes. They are, for our culture, what campfire stories were for ancient human tribal nomads; or what instruction by the village elders were for more-settled communities. They help persons construct their worldview, filling in details about the world for topics where personal experience is lacking.

Max Boot is not, himself, an evangelical. He doesn’t appear to be married to one. He may not know many of them, either. His sole contacts with Christians may be with liberal Christians of the mainline denominations. His sole contacts with religious Jews are likely to be of the liberal wing of American Reformed Judaism: “Cheeseburger Reformed,” as a semi-religious Jewish family friend of mine calls them.

I suspect that his total exposure to actual American evangelical Christianity is small. And I expect that some of the phraseology and emotionalism found there would be extremely off-putting for someone with his cultural background and set of friends.

Given all this, why does Boot call Ted Cruz “holier-than-thou?”

Easy: Ted Cruz is known to be an Evangelical Christian. He has somewhat greasy-looking hair. His eyes and mouth turn downward at the corners, such that even when he is trying to speak inspiringly, he almost always seems on the verge of breaking into weeping. He wears a nice conservative suit.

He is the perfect actor to cast for the role of a “telegenic-but-cheesy slick evangelist revival-preacher type who preaches conservative morals but is having an affair.”

Even his wife looks reminiscent of the type of actress one casts for the wife of such a character: The way she does her hair, the way her mouth is shaped. She looks like a more recent-vintage and younger incarnation of Tammy Faye Bakker.

I think Boot hears what Ted Cruz supports/opposes politically, and is immediately primed to indulge in negative stereotypes about Evangelicals.

Then, he sees Cruz and his wife on the screen, and all those stereotypes are immediately “confirmed”: The guy just looks like it.

So Boot immediately has a gut reaction of revulsion. All the Hollywood plotlines involving that kind of person immediately “inform” — if that’s the word — Boot’s opinion about Cruz.

Now a person who grew up in a good Southern Baptist Church, with friends there, would not be susceptible to this kind of propaganda. Even if that person had later become a Catholic or a Zen Buddhist, that person’s earlier wide exposure would prevent the Hollywood stereotype from dominating his emotional associations with Evangelical Protestants.

But not so, with Boot (and many other folks). For them, the Hollywood Stereotype is their main source of information. The outcome is easily foreseen!

Funny on Palin, I like her policies & bio — but hate the acoustic sound of her voice; also hate Hillary’s voice. Obama’s voice is great, with terrible policies. While “the GOP priestly caste” has a nice ring, I think focusing on GOPe is better labeling at this point. And the GOPe opposition to Palin was terrible, as well as the acceptance of sleazeball lies.

To those who “don’t like Trump” — notice how few are willing to fully quote a 240 char (max) tweet. Most who claim not to like him aren’t reading his tweets. If they are listening to his speeches (I don’t), it shouldn’t be a surprise that they are repetitious — the rock star model is an excellent analogy.

People want the experience of hearing it from the guy they’re supporting.

The guy they’re supporting — not the guy who’s doing the policies they like. (or in Hillary’s many $200k totally repetitious and mostly dishonest speeches, the policies of the woman they support.)

Being NeverHillary, I can honestly say that had Hillary been elected and gotten the non-court results which Trump has gotten, I’d still oppose Hillary on the SCOTUS & the culture war, but be far less unhappy about the economics. I did believe then there were zero chances of her doing as well as Trump is doing — tho the “tax cut” magic wand was equally available, it was emotionally unthinkable to the Dems.

I also knew the USSR was economically doomed, tho not when it would reform or fail. I actually expected more of Venezuela type total ruin than Gorbachev’s fairly soft crash landing.

The fact that pro-life conservatives are secretly (and illegally?) banned from being hired by top colleges, yet open socialists are celebrated, causes me to support getting the gov’t out of support for education/ indoctrination.

On-line colleges & certificates need to be promoted.

K-12 vouchers for more parental influence and involvement need to be promoted.

Sexual promiscuity, leading to children being born outside of marriage, needs to be identified honestly as socially negative behavior.

If shaming folks who are Reps is OK because they’re Reps, shaming folk getting gov’t welfare who are having sex outside of marriage will be coming back into fashion, maybe.

For a conservative is living in the Acella corridor and working in the big media complex akin to being under interrogation and torture in that everyone has a breaking point? Ask “Winston Smith.”

Why do Bret Stephens, Max Boot, Jennifer Rubin, John Podhoretz, David Frum, Erick Erickson, Patrick Frey, Mona Charen, Kevin Williamson, Ross Douthat, Jeff Flake, Bob Corker etc etc get a pass because of of an inconsequential invitation that Wm. Kristol sent nine years ago?

That betrayal, along with the Establishment’s treatment of the Tea Party movement, convinced me that they were not actually conservatives any more.

I would have been happy with Cruz, much less so with any of the others (reduced to a Low Energy Jeb or Crooked Hillary, the choice would still have to be Republican), but, since Trump won the nomination, it had to be him — and I am since quite happy with what he is doing.

I am sorry that we will not have a Palin presidency on account of the sleazy slime-slinging of her the MSM and the Dems performed. She is a woman of proven courage, physical, moral, and political. I think she would have made a good president, far better than any Dem since…um, give me a minute, I’ll think of one.

The last Democrat I felt able to vote for was Henry “Scoop” Jackson. There are no more like him.

Humans are a creature of their class, upbringing, tradition, and tribe. Through all the rationalizations, they will still Obey the Authority.

The idea that the US President knows everything that is classified should have been one of the first things Americans gave up after receiving the revelation of the DS.

There are personality cults, and Americans have plenty of them. It is perhaps just too embarrassing to recognize in a country known for nationalistic pride in individual freedom and independence.

One thing I know MBoot is not allowed to think about or write about is how HRC and other Leftists are connected to underground crime and various other pedo like activities. That’s gentlemanly enough for Boot, that should be enough for the rest of America they believe. This aristocratic fetish with honorable appearances while behind closed doors they are selling sex slaves and engaging in moral degradation and debauchery… is very normal. Even an exceptional country is not immune.