The Password For Today Is "Oogedy-boogedy"

Lot of fallout from the Kathleen Parker article yesterday, which I wrote about here.

Especially this part:

To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh.

While unsure about what it means, many on the right have taken offense with "oogedy-boogedy". 

Over at NRO's The Corner, Jonah Goldberg, having delivered what he believed to be a smack-down of Parker (you can determine for yourself), writes:

What aspects of the Christian Right amount to oogedy-boogedyism? I take oogedy-boogedy to be a perjorative reference to absurd superstition and irrational nonsense. So where has the GOP embraced to its detriment oogedy-boogedyism? With the possible exception of some variants of creationism (which is hardly a major issue at the national level in the GOP, as much as some on the left and a few on the right try to make it one), I'm at a loss as to what Kathleen is referring to. Opposition to abortion? Opposition to gay marriage? Euthanasia? Support for prayer in school?

Far be it for me to guess what Kathleen Parker meant by the "oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP", but my guess is as good as Jonah's.  And I don't think it was a reference to the religious aspect of their beliefs (since Parker already mentioned that), but the fear-mongering.

As in "Oogedy-boogedy! They're coming to get you!" -- with "they" being the homosexual cabal, or the immigrant hordes, or whatever suits the particular purpose of the religious right on any particular day.  Kevin Drum neatly sums it up nicely:

There will always be plenty of votes for a culturally conservative party. That’s not the problem. The problem is the venomous, spittle-flecked, hardcore cultural conservatism that’s become the public face of the evangelical wing of the GOP. It’s the wing that doesn’t just support more stringent immigration laws, but that turns the issue into a hate fest against La Raza, losing 3 million Latino votes in the process. It’s the wing that isn’t just a little skittish about gay marriage, but that turns homophobia into a virtual litmus test, losing 6 million young voters in the process. It’s the wing that isn’t just religious, but that treats belief as a precondition to righteousness, losing 2 million secular voters in the process. It’s the wing that isn’t just nostalgic for old traditions, but that fetishizes the heartland as the only real America, losing 7 million urban voters in the process. It’s the wing that goes into a legislative frenzy over Terry Schiavo but six months later can barely rouse itself into more than a yawn over the destruction of New Orleans.

Now, the GOP didn’t lose all those votes solely because of their embrace of cultural victimhood. It was a Democratic year, after all, and the economy worked against them too. Still, exit polls suggest they had already lost most of this ground by 2006, and the economy had nothing to do with it back then. Conservative gains after 9/11 may have masked the problem for a while, but fundamentally these are voters who saw the Republican Party turn into a party of rabid identity politics and turned away in disgust. It’s probably cost them (so far) about 10 million votes, and in an era where 53-47 is considered a big victory, that’s a helluva deficit to make up elsewhere.

A party that merely wants to move more slowly and more deliberately than liberals in the cultural sphere wouldn’t have lost all those votes. But the real-life GOP, a party whose primary association in much of the public mind is with revulsion toward gays, immigrants, urban elites, and the non-churchgoing, did. That’s oogedy-boogedy.

And, as if on cue, a case-in-point reveals itself, courtesy of the religious right organization, America Family Association and their DVD "They're Coming to Your Town":

Residents of the small Arkansas town of Eureka Springs noticed the homosexual community was growing. But they felt no threat. They went about their business as usual. Then, one day, they woke up to discover that their beloved Eureka Springs, a community which was known far and wide as a center for Christian entertainment--had changed. The City Council had been taken over by a small group of homosexual activists.

The Eureka Springs they knew is gone. It is now a national hub for homosexuals. Eureka Springs is becoming the San Francisco of Arkansas. The story of how this happened is told in the new AFA DVD “They’re Coming To Your Town.”

One of the first actions of the homosexual controlled City Council was to offer a “registry” where homosexuals could register their unofficial “marriage.” City Council member Joyce Zeller said the city will now be promoted, not as a Christian resort, but a city “selling peace, relaxation, history and sex.”

AFA’s “They’re Coming ToYour Town” documents the story of how and why this happened. And how homosexual activists plan to do the same in other towns.

That's oogedy-boogedy.

That said, you do kind of have to admire the graphic they use (see above) -- a town going up in gay flames.

UPDATE:  Oh, lookie! I found a promotional video for the DVD.

Anyway, I took a gander at the Eureka Springs website, expecting to find it strewn with pictures of leather-clad men in tights and gay bars, and well, I don't know what exactly, but that kind of thing.  I mean, now that the gay cabal has taken over and all.

But no.  It actually looked kind of nice.  With all kinds of festivals.

Including this one.

Well, I guess the gay zombie hordes haven't spread their gay all over that little town yet.

But they WILL!

OOGEDY-BOOGEDY!

BELATED THOUGHT:  A cynic might say that AFA uses oogedy-boogedy to sell their DVD at $24.95.  But that doesn't have a ring of truth, does it?

UPDATE:  John Cole has a list of particulars

UPDATE:  Publius has a different take on "oogedy-boogedy", arguing that it represents liberals' fear of social conservatism, and not the reverse, as I argue.  Interesting reading and thoughtful discussion in the comments.