Bipartisanship in action: Rev. Moon annointed Messiah

[Via Keiran Healy.]

According to John Gorenfeld of the Gadflyer. elected officials of both parties convened in the Dirksen senate office complex to anoint the Rev. Sun Myung Moon as the Messiah. The ceremony was conducted with decorum befitting such an august occasion: Burger King crown, flowing robes, Rent-a-Rabbi-n'-shofar, the works... See Gorenfeld's article Moon Over Washington for photos of the event culled from Moon's own website. An excerpt follows:

[...] Cut to the ritual. Eyes downcast, a man identified as Congressman Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.) is bringing a crown, atop a velvety purple cushion, to a figure who stands waiting austerely with his wife. Now Moon is wearing robes that Louis XIV would have appreciated. All of this has quickly been spliced into a promo reel by Moon's movement, which implies to its followers that the U.S. Congress itself has crowned the Washington Times owner.

But Section 9 of the Constitution forbids giving out titles of nobility, setting a certain tone that might have made the Congressional hosts shy about celebrating the coronation on their websites. They included conservatives, the traditional fans of Moon's newspaper: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA.), Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah), Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) and Republican strategy god Charlie Black, whose PR firm represents Ahmed Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress. But there were also liberal House Democrats like Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) and Davis. Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.) later told the Memphis Flyer that he'd been erroneously listed on the program, but had never heard of the event, which was sponsored by the Washington Times Foundation. [...]

The Messiah ceremony is my second-favorite Moon anecdote, my favorite being the Holy Juice scandal, which Gorenfeld broke on his blog back in February.