"i used to be one of you"

frank schaeffer, former evangelical, former republican, former hob-nobber with the likes of ronald reagan, gerald ford, and george h.w. bush, takes the republican party to task:

"We've moved to a period where the [Republican party] represents a view of the world which sees everyone who is 'other' – whether that is black, white, Arab, Muslim, a different county, gay – as the enemy. And that's a very dangerous position.

As far as I'm concerned, the greatest miracle – speaking of God, because I'm still a religious person – that's happened in my lifetime is the election of Barack Obama, who I think is in a position to genuinely turn this country around."

schaeffer has sent an open letter to the republican party, expressing his dismay with the direction the party has gone in the last several years, and while much of his rant feels therapeutic, cathartic even, his language and attitude have an unsettling similarity to the anger, name-calling, and vitriol that so often comes from the far-right.