Total disagreement among conservatives on the budget deal continues

At a website called Washington Rebel , TL Davis rips apart the budget deal, saying that John Boehner “is not qualified to polish the spittoons in the basement of the Capitol Building, much less participate in a negotiation between Harry Reid, Barack Obama and the Republican Congress.”

By the way, who is that dude in the masthead with the blue painted face? Who does this guy think he is—an American, or a savage in ancient Britain?

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Clayton R. writes:

You asked who the dude was on the masthead. Well, i didn’t look up the actor’s name, but that’s a picture from the movie Braveheart. He’s an Irishman fighting alongside the Scots against the English.

Michael S. writes:

You wrote:

“By the way, who is that dude in the masthead with the blue painted face? Who does this guy think he is—an American, or a savage in ancient Britain?”

I recognized the image on the masthead as a character from the Mel Gibson movie “Braveheart,” an Irishman who joins the Scottish rebels against the oppressive English.

LA replies:

Thanks for the information, but this still doesn’t explain what he is doing in the masthead of an American conservative website. We are not pre-Christian savages who paint our faces blue.

Van Wijk writes:

You wrote: “We are not pre-Christian savages who paint our faces blue.”

Pastor Terry Jones keeps a framed poster from the movie “Braveheart” in his office. He says it provides him with spiritual sustenance. Perhaps you could write the good pastor an email upbraiding him for this decision, since, according to you, it’s unacceptable for true conservatives to be inspired by “pre-Christian savages.” Who does he think he is, anyway?

LA replies:

William Wallace (1270—1307) was a Catholic Christian.

By contrast, the blue-painted man in the Washington Rebel masthead is an image from Britain’s pre-Christian, pre-Roman past. The British themselves have always referred to the blue-painted people in their ancient past as savages. Why are you so touchy in defense of blue-painted savages, and what do such savages have to do with America or conservatism? Maybe you’re into tattoos and scarification as well?

Also, the blue-painted man from Ireland in the movie Braveheart is an anachronism. The custom of painting one’s face and body blue existed among pagan, pre-Christian Celtic peoples. In the late 13th century Ireland had been Catholic for eight hundred years.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 10, 2011 08:40 AM | Send