I was gonna write some upbeat crapola about the fagulous time I had on Cape Cod and down in Gayhoboth... until I saw a brief snippet of Tammy Faye (Bakker) Mesner from her recent (last night?) appearance on Larry King Live.
She looks like hell. She should. She's been there and back. She's eaten up with cancer and it's literally only a matter of time (and not much of it at that, based on her looks). That picture, by the way, is not a recent one. I think it would be indecent to post a photo of her as she looks now. Tammy's personal defects include, I'm afraid, vanity. And I know she always wants to look her best.
I never thought I'd live to see the day when I'd say something like this, but I think this woman is a sterling example of what it means to actually lead a Good Christian Life. She has nothing but kindness and love and compassion and forgiveness in her soul, despite all the crap that got sent her way via a succession of scheming, conniving, backstabbing men, some of whom she married and some of whom she didn't (oh, Pat Robertson comes to mind, with all of his manipulations to take over the PTL empire when it - and she - fell on hard times).
Tammy Faye accepts - and did even before it was fashionable - LGBT people exactly the way we are AND lets us know that in her humble opinion God loves us just the way we are and there's no need to be fussin' over it.
I think the key to her success was and remains a stubborn insistence on maintaining a childlike innocence in the face of some pretty harsh realities combined with a childlike faith in the loving goodness of a Higher Power whom she chooses to call God.
Ordinarily I have nothing but contempt for and suspicion of televangelists and their ilk. But I will make one exception, for Tammy Faye.
I think I actually love this woman.
I pray that goodness and mercy will follow her all the days of her life.
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HOT FLASH! Check out this video by Max Blumenthal over at the Huffington Post blogsite. He nails chickenhawk Republican college dimwits to the barn doors, left and right.
Tomorrow: Fagulous Times
