To show how polite the sometimes unruly press has been, it is worth observing that it is probably unprecedented in the history of the United States that a former president has appeared at a major event on behalf of, and paid by, a man who claims that Jesus failed in his mission and with his wife are the "True Parents" of all humankind; who opposes the constitution of the United States; says he is the Messiah; and who has said that his goal is an "automatic theocracy to rule the world."  That is, it would be unprecedented, except for the times that Bush has done it before, and of course, we must not forget Gerald Ford. Prior to the event, James Ridgeway, Washington correspondent for Mother Jones magazine wrote a detailed report on the long time personal and professional relationship between former president Georg Bush, and Rev. Moon, the world's senior theocrat:   He was, however, one of only a handful of journalists such as Talk to Action's Bill Berkowitz, John Gorenfeld and Richard Bartholomew to write about the event.

The media silence is remarkable in light of the way that the multibillion dollar foriegn theocractic empire of Rev. Moon, is about as controversial an entity as exists in mainstream public life -- when people take the time to take a look. The Moon organization, as Congressional investigators in the 70's came to call it, first became notorious as a cult that preyed on young people, dividing biological families -- you know, the families the religious right, the media, and the political parties profess to care about -- so that they could join the True Family, headed by the True Parents, the Moons. This is the same True Family that enjoyed the patronage of World War II-era Japanese facists and accused war criminals. It is the same organization whose leaders and many of its leading members were involved in covert operations against the legislative and exectutive branches of the federal government, according to Congressional invesigations. It is the same True Family that was deeply involved in the infamous "cocaine coup" in Bolivia in the 1980's that swept into power a military junta with close ties to the drug trade. All this and much, much, more.  The Washington Times is a neither a legitimate business or a legitimate non-profit organization. It is subsidized by murky foreign interests, apparently controlled by Moon. Hundreds of millions of dollars have poured into the Timeswhich has never -- and clearly will never -- see a profit.  It does this openly, flagrantly, and in possible violation of American law the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which was passed in the run up to World War II to uncover covert Nazi funding of German American newspapers.  Twenty years ago I detailed how top executives of the The Washington Times were former, perhaps even current Korean intelligence agents. But the press has, with few exceptions, ever inquired very far into the nature of foreign ownership and financing of the Moon organization -- including The Washington Times -- and the implications under American law. That the people around our Theocrat of the Week manage to innoculate the American media against undue curiousity about such things is a marvel to our Distinguished Panel of Judges.

Indeed, The Washington Times itself seems to have been the only major media to cover the "gala" in any detail.

As investigator Larry Zilliox recently reported,  here,well in advance of the event, money for  The Washington Times Foundation, that in turn recently donated $100,000 to the Barbara Bush foundation, comes via the a mysterious entity, the International Peace Foundation, an entity that is not legally incorpoprated in the United States, and whose financing is of mysterious origin.

Moon has a long history of involvements with leading American pols, mostly Republican, mostly conservative.  It is beyond the scope or our Theocrat of the Week announcement to detail all such relationships.  However it is worth noting that Michael S. Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, and now the chairman of the rightwing political action committee, GOPAC, served as a co- master of ceremonies of the gala.  GOPAC describes itself as "the premiere education and training center for Republican candidates and activists across the country. GOPAC identifies, teaches and trains Republicans to run for state and local office."  And former Senator Larry Pressler (R-SD) serves as the only American on the UPF "Presiding Council."  

The involvement of former president Bush provides political cover for many pols and dignitaries in the Moon orbit. (After all, if Bush is involved, how bad could it be?)  Because of this, Steele, and featured conference speakers Robert Knight of the Culture and Media Institute, a subsidiary of the far right Media Research Center,(headed by Brent Bozell), and controversial rightwing author, Dinesh D'Souza will probably suffer no repercussions for their involvement with the Moon organization.

One of Moon's American operatives, Jim Flynn, also spoke at the sesssion with D'Souza and Knight. According to an official report on the event, Flynn said:

"Dr. Knight's organization shows that American society has become a society of confusion. People worry that if faith and religion are allowed in the public arena, they will be forced into a faith that they disagree with, into a religious society which is exclusive."

In the many years I have been following these things, I cannot recall a single person who has ever expressed a worry that the mere public expression of religious views, or religiously informed political and public policy views, will force anyone into a religious society. Even the most anti-religious people I have encountered are not so silly as to think, let along say something like that.  That said, many people, religious or non, are rightfully wary of the theocratic political movements in our midst, including the one headed by Moon. The Moon organization consistently frames the struggle in the united states as between god and no god, believers and non-believers. It's a broader form of manicheanism than the Christian right's version: Christians vs. secularism, or more generically "people of faith" vs. secularism. It is a rediculous assertion, and one easily disproved each time the subject comes up. Nevertheless, it is a frame embraced by some people who ought to know better... but I digress.

Rev. Moon stands out from our past Theocrats of the Week, Roy Moore, Mitt Romney, Wiley Drake, and Frank Page in one important respect:  Each of these, would probably deny that their views and their aims are theocratic, but they are routinely criticized by major and minor public figures; controversies surrounding their activities are routinely reported by media of various sorts -- but when the openly theocratic Moon, gathers 20 former heads of state from around the world in the nation's capital and a former president of the United States, whose family and family controlled interests have recieved millions of dollars from the Moon empire, gives the headline speech -- and there is almost no media coverage and hardly anyone in public life has a critical word to say:  That is a singular acheivement -- and it's why Sun Myung Moon is our Theocrat of the Week.