by VorJack
New York state politics is famously corrupt. For a variety of reasons, Albany remains one of the last bastions of machine politics. This can make arguments very partisan, and now a county executive out in Buffalo has stepped up to show just how easily “partisan” can make the jump to “insane.”
From the The Buffalo News:
… county executive [Chris Collins] referred to French seer Nostradamus’ prediction that the world would experience three Antichrists in conjunction with the Apocalypse, whose origin is the New Testament’s Book of Revelation.
Collins then said it’s generally accepted that the first was Napoleon, the second Hitler, and that he was “pretty sure” the third is [Assembly Speaker Sheldon] Silver, an orthodox Jew from Manhattan.
Frankly, it’s the reference to Nostradamus that pins the meter for me. Bad enough to bring up the anti-christ, but dragging the 16th century occult visionary into the mix pushes things into the “wacky” category.
To be fair, Collins has apologized and tried to explain his little joke:
The county executive said this in the context of Silver as part of Albany’s “three men in a room” budget process, in which the Assembly speaker, the State Senate majority leader and the governor make most budgetary decisions.
The “three men in a room” situation is real enough, which is a product of the machine politics I mentioned above. But to go from “three men in a room” to “three anti-christs” seems to imply that the other two men in the room represent the previous anti-christs. Comparing our hapless Governor Patterson to either Napoleon or Hitler is not so much insulting as laughable.
Screw it, I’m just going to assume that Collins just didn’t think about his joke before he let it slip. But the fact that this joke seemed like a good idea, even at first glance, either shows how partisan things are, or how loony Collins is.
Wasn’t it already determined that Obama is the antichrist. Does antichristness spread around like the flu.
Well, the Bible never mentions a singular “antichrist”, but always “antichrists”, plural.
When Bush was in Office, he was the antichrist…Totally depends on who you talk to. I always thought it was my 5th grade science teacher.
Actually, I have it on good authority that I embody at least the spirit of the antichrist.
And depending on how fundie someone is, they tend to see us all as little antichrists since we don’t see the world their way. Oh, how many times have I been told that?
Even back in bible college (ten years ago now), the very fact that I worked at a coffee shop on Sunday morning proved I was not a real Christian and likely an antichrist. I always responded, “Well, who’s gonna make your coffee?”
They never got the logic that if no one worked on Sundays for them to accuse of being antichristian, they’d have nowhere to congregate and “witness” to a captive audience. And these kids were often my age, not crusty old fundies like you probably imagine.
I’ve been accused of being Satan in an online debate. I don’t remember the specific religious topic we were debating, but the guy clearly didn’t like me disagreeing with him.
Personally, I think its pretty funny. It’s the kind of joke I would make. However, I would have mimed a rimshot or said “ZING” afterwards. Perhaps that was just edited out.
Yeah, never a good idea to start down the road of a joke which includes Hitler, the antichrist and your orthodox Jewish political opponent.
Dumb. Ass.
I don’t know, Hitler the antichrist and a jew walk into a bar…., sound like a good start for a joke.
I live in the Buffalo suburbs and this is just all over the news. Collins is an idiot. It’s not his first slip up, I’m sure it won’t be his last. It was just his worst (best?)