Mr. Warmth Goes to Texas

Jacquielynn Floyd wonders what happended:

People who were present said the event went swimmingly. Mr. Keillor charmed the audience, they said, then answered questions and signed copies of his book. "He was very well-received," said one Keillor fan who was present. "The crowd adored him, laughing and applauding throughout the hour." So how to explain his blistering tirade against that same crowd a few days later in a syndicated column published Wednesday in the Chicago Tribune?

In his wrap-up, Mr. Keiller makes a direct correlation between the Methodists of Dallas (supporters, he says, of the torture employed against Guantánamo detainees) and Nazi sympathizers who looked blithely away while Hitler's storm troopers dragged their neighbors to their deaths. ...why should they worry? It's only the Jews who are in danger, and the homosexuals and the gypsies. Good God, where to begin?

Simply put, he doesn't like Dallas, or Texas, or what he views as the pervasive political climate here. Fair enough. But why come here in the first place? Why accept a standing ovation from people he contemptuously believes "support torture"? Why sign books for readers he believes are in collusion with fascists?

I can only suppose that Mr. Keillor came to Dallas and found what he was looking for – even if no one else could see it.

Here's Keillor's column from the Chicago Tribune.