I wasn’t planning on writing about U.S. Senate candidate from Texas James Talarico again, but he provides a rich trove of zesty rhetorical morsels that practically beg for wider exposure.
First up is the social media video circulating this week in which Talarico shares one of his “favorite poems,” which he claimed was written by the 14th Century Persian Islamic mystic Hafiz. Here’s the puerile poem about God that Talarico recited in his characteristic low “T” way:
Every child has known God,
Not the God of names,
Not the God of don’ts,
Not the God who ever does anything weird,
But the God who only knows four words
And keeps repeating them, saying:
“Come dance with me.”
Come dance with me.’
Weirdly, when Talarico recited the poem, he omitted the line about God never doing weird stuff. Maybe Talarico omitted that because he’s a member of the party that loves doing weird stuff—stuff to which the God of the Old and New Testament says “don’t.”
The god Talarico serves is wholly different from the God he claims to serve. Talarico claims to be a Christian—that is a servant and follower of Jesus Christ. But a true Christian, as opposed to an apostate or heretic, serves the God of the Bible, who is a God of names, don’ts, and dos.
God incarnate, Jesus Christ, did not say “Come dance with me.” He said, “repent, and believe in the gospel.” He said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Jesus also said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” And Christians know that the narrow gate and hard way that leads to life includes many “don’ts.”
Coincidentally, at such a time as this when Democrats are courting the Muslim vote, one of Talarico’s favorite poems is one written by a Muslim mystic.
There’s one teensy problem, at least for Talarico. The poem he quoted was written, not by a 14th Century Muslim mystic, but by Baby Boomer and former hippie Daniel Ladinsky who hails from the lovely but far less exotic Show-Me state. Talarico’s fave poem was written, not in Persia in the 14th Century, but in Missouri in the very late 20th Century.
A swing and a miss for little Jimmy. And to think he could have quoted John Milton, John Donne, or Gerard Manley Hopkins. Maybe he or his handlers figured the Muslim voters wouldn’t be impressed by those poets.
For a member of the party that desperately wants to build an impregnable wall of separation between politics and religion, seminarian Talarico sure cites his heterodox Christian faith a lot.
Talarico has had some terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days as he’s been asked to account for his own words. Lefty talking head Jessica Tarlov asked him about his 2020 X post about racism in which he said,
White skin gives me and very white American immunity from the [racism] virus. But we spread it wherever we go—through our words, our actions, and our systems. We don’t have to be showing symptoms—like a white hood or a Confederate flag—to be contagious.
Normal, decent people of any skin color can see the blinding racism blazing forth in all its ugliness from those words. Imagine what a little white child would think to read those words from a senator.
Talarico’s response to Tarlov was as troubling as his X comment:
I think an important thing to recognize with all the attacks that are coming from MAGA toward our movement right now, all of them depend on taking these things out of context. All of them depend on cutting some of the quotes before they end or cutting them at the beginning to kind of paint them in the worst possible light.
And so, in that case, it was a tweet that was part of a larger thread about how we all have a responsibility to combat racism.
And so, would I word it differently? Would I use a different metaphor? Maybe. But I still believe that racism is wrong, and I still believe that we all have a responsibility to combat it. And I think it’s telling when some people are triggered by that.
And so, I, of course, looking back at some of these old statements from years ago, would maybe word them differently or communicate them differently. But the values that I hold are still the same.
To summarize Talarico’s response:
- When Americans raise concerns about his own X comment, they are, in his view, “attacking” him. Talk about being “triggered.”
- Talarico asserts that his X comment was taken out of context—a mysterious context he did not provide even as he implied it would mitigate the offensiveness of his words.
- Talarico tepidly suggests that “maybe” today he would word his epithet differently before he hurled it—maybe.
- Talarico believes it’s “telling” if anyone finds objectionable his clearly racist comment. In other words, objections to his allegation that all whites are racist in word and deed is a sure sign of hidden dubious character or ulterior motives.
- Most troubling, Talarico admits that while he might use different wording today (when he’s running for the U.S. Senate), his values about white skinned people and their racism remain the same.
It’s good for Texans to know all this before they elect weaselly Talarico. It’s good for all of America to know how racist and phony Talarico is because you know the Senate is but a steppingstone for him.
Here’s an idea: let’s let Talarico go dance with his pretend god while the grownups run the state.