The religious Right came together at Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition's 2 day conference in Washington DC.
No surprise there, the religious right IS the republican party, they go hand in hand, now more than ever with the rising of the teabaggers.. Just look at the candidates trying to earn the vote by being all "Christian", we have Michelle Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty who opened and closed his part of the 2 day event with biblical quotes. His top 4 commonsense principals for the nation are to turn toward God, protect the unborn, support traditional marriage, and keep America secure. Now you say what does that have to do with bringing our country back from the brink of disaster? Well, the religious believe if we do all those things then God will bless America and we will prosper. YES, they really do believe that, I have them in my own family as I'm sure some of you do too....
The conservatives say they make up 60% of the country, so therefore we could have Michelle Bachmann as POTUS , Or Sarah Palin as I'm starting to believe...
What about Mormons Mitt Romney and John Huntsman? Could they win the nomination? Nah, those 60% conservatives are not gonna put a cult like Mormonism in the White House. Those silly tales of magic underwear seem to turn off the evangelicals.....
Have you ever wondered why Romney isn't a Democrat? With his knowledge of finance, plus his stance on health care, gun control, legalized abortion, and gay marriage....what's he doing in the republiscum party? All the flip flopping though destroys his believability, he could be a contender for the dems but no, he can't be trusted.......
Michelle Bachmann likes to boast about home schooling her 5 kids and her foster parenting skills, but is she presidential material you ask ? No, no way in hell, I even have to wonder what kind of smarts her 5 kids have.....
If the country was nervous about putting Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office, they can't possibly think Bachmann could fill the role...could they? Well, the religious Right doesn't care about brain power, as long as you claim to be a born again Christian that is good enough for them, afterall it is God who chooses our leaders.....this is why it is possible the country could turn to a Sarah Palin type.....remember, they chose GW Bush because of his Christian claims. Surely not because they thought he was smart....
In 2010, Republicans campaigned on Tea Party
themes of economic austerity and small government, but they’re using
their power to step up intrusions into the private lives of American
women.
The republicans are frauds. They don't know how to grow the economy, they don't know how to put Americans to work in living wage jobs, in fact they don't even care about those things. What they do care about is murdered fetuses and low taxes, THAT'S ALL....
Ralph Reed, who once headed Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition, wants to
lure fundamentalist churches and church-goers into a political machine
that elects favored candidates. And he and his cronies don’t mind
bending the law to do so.
Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn warned churches not to enlist in Reed’s partisan schemes.
“This kind of mixture of religion and politics,” he said, “is a grave danger to American public life.”
RFK Jr. compared Trump to Hitler and praised descriptions of his supporters
as ‘Nazis’
-
* By Andrew Kaczynski, CNN *
* Thu November 21, 2024 *
* NEW on RFK Jr: In audio we uncovered from his radio show he read and
praised a description...
6 hours ago
28 comments:
What about Mormons Mitt Romney and John Huntsman? Could they win the nomination? Nah, those 60% conservatives are not gonna put a cult like Mormonism in the White House.
This is probably true, to the Republican party's great misfortune. Either of these two would have a much better chance of winning the general election than the crew of nutjobs, lightweights, and theocrats more favored by the Christian Right. But they're disqualified by religion.
As an atheist I'm not bothered by the "cult" as such. Magic underwear, God living on another planet, or ancient Israelites migrating to America are not inherently more crazy concepts than a virgin birth, a dead man returning to life, or a talking snake persuading a woman made from a rib to eat the fruit of a magic tree. I'm not so concerned with what a candidate's religion is, as with whether he's likely to use the power of the state to enforce its taboos on everybody. Romney's record shows he can probably be trusted not to do that. Palin, Bachmann, Santorum? Anything but.
The thought of Romney switching parties has occurred to me. If he doesn't get the election, it wouldn't surprise me to see him do it, after the election -- especially if it's clearly anti-Mormon prejudice that defeats him.
Oh, and a study by the Barna group a few years ago broke down the US adult population at about 30% serious Christians, 60% "Christian in name only", and 10% atheist/agnostic (other religions are tiny in numbers). That 30% must include at least some Catholics, so fundamentalists are no more than 20% or 25% -- certainly not 60%.
you really think Romneyy would switch parties?
If the GOP governors over stepping is any proof a GOP president would do the same in 2012 and beyond if they won the election, possibly,especially with a GOP senate majority. The thought is frightening....just look at WI and Florida, just to name 2.....
Even given that Romney is ObamaLight on social issues it is unlikely he will switch parties.
Just an observation of an atheist conservative.
You pretty much laid it out with respect to religious mysticism Infidel753.
Is it just me, or is there some corporate media guided perception that there are no progressive Christians?
All Christians are not Bible thumping fundies. I have several friends who both go to church and vote for Democrats.
yes Dave, of course there are Christians in the Democratic party but I like to talk about certain religious righties cuz they are so far out of the norm.
Somebody was saying on FB the progressives aren't conspiracy theorists like the wingnuts, and I say progressive/liberal Christians seem to be more sane. Now I'm not lumping all religious righties as wackos, just the fringe righties.
in fact I have a family member who says a liberal can't be a true Christian because of the abortion issue. So it comes from the deluded right wingers, liberals are heathens!
A heathen of integrity coupled with a modicum of rationality and objective thought wins out over either right or left leaning mystics every time.
Just sayin!
You can't be a true Christian, if you willingly cut help to the poor, the sick, children, and others who have basic needs.
Are we, should we, be our brothers keepers?
One need not be religious, to want to live in a society, that reaches for the best, for all that live within the society they are responsible for.
Of course RN is not only Atheist, but could care less about the people in our society. An anti- American position, that far to many agree with.
Maybe they should renounce their citizenship, since their ideology has so little in common with American ideals.
I'm with you Dubya, kinda, my family on both sides are christians and democrats. My mom's side consists of hardcore catholics, and I mean hardcore, and my dad's side used to be Baptists and Church of Christ (kind of a back and forth type of deal, depending on what the church was in the small town they lived in), but they all converted to the Lutheran church when my dad's oldest sister married a German-American guy, and they all started going to his church. None of them agree with abortion, but agree they can't morally take that choice away from anyone else, and they all value the importance of separation of church and state. A lot of the other church going folk I know have such a hard time keeping god out of the reasoning behind why certain laws and regulations are right and wrong. For example, homosexual marriage is wrong because it's in the bible, and my reply is always, that we have the freedom to practice the religion of our choosing here in the US, and my religion, Maryism, says that it is not wrong. And they follow up with something like, "well how do we know that murder is wrong? Without god you wouldn't know that murder is bad."...And my response is usually something consisting of "behavioral science" plus regular science and something that contains the verbiage, "I have a brain...," plus the socialization theory...etc...
you really think Romneyy would switch parties?
If he is rejected as the Republican nominee and it's clear that anti-Mormon prejudice is the reason, then yes, I think it's quite possible. There's something about being the target of hatred for the group you belong to that makes people very angry.
In fact, I'll say more than that. If Romney is rejected as the Republican nominee in an orgy of ugly fundamentalist Mormon-bashing in the Republican primaries, I wonder if it might cause the Mormon community as a whole to re-consider its loyalty to the party. Remember, the most solidly Republican-voting area in the US isn't the South, it's the "Mormon belt" consisting of Utah and areas north and south thereof.
But being the target of prejudice is really, really effective at turning people off. Notice how blacks and Hispanics overwhelmingly vote Democrat, even if many of them are religious and share the fundies' dislike of gays and abortion. Because of the racism emanating from the most troglodytic part of the Republican base, most people in those groups can't stomach voting for them, even if they agree with Republican positions in a few areas. A bad enough trashing of Mormonism in the course of defeating Romney might turn off a lot of Mormons in the same way. Let's wait and see.
It would be a shocker to see the Jesusistanis put aside their Osama-like hatreds lone enough to consider someone who wears magic underwear to be a viable candidate.
That's the problem with the Rushpubliscum Party. It is controlled by a few rich guys and a few more mindless bigots, who happen to be the useful idiots of the rich guys. No one with sense is going to make it to the top without either catastrophe or heavy game-rigging.
Damn is the religious right DUMB, (as a box of rocks)
Ralphy was half of the "christian coalition scam" that Reed and Robertson used to bilk tens millions out of before allowing the people they left holding that giant turd to declare bankruptcy.
That was before Reed was the supposed "christian" front-man Abramoff used to bilk Native Americans out of million more.
I guess to righty fundies, bilking people outa millions is exactly what Jebus would do, if he was real that is. They keep accepting Ralphy back into the fold so he can bilk them all in new latest scam, he is fronting for, and the not so intellectual crowd just flocks to Ralphy for the latest gi-me some money cause Jebus said so scam.
In some ways the fraud from Wasilla must be sooooo jealous how much Ralphy has bilked outa the dumb as a box of rocks crowd, she is trying to scam now a days.
Infidel, Sue, et al, here's a great article on whether the country can/will elect a Mormon...
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/06/06/can_a_mormon_become_president__110098.html
I for one do not think a Republican can win the GOP nomination with the current religious situation. I find it interesting that on the social issues, Romney is right there with the GOP, at least in his personal life.
As one of those "more liberal" Christians, I will tell you that there is not a lot of real acceptance of folks like me, and I spend my life serving and helping others.
Maybe I make them look bad.
Sue, your points are well taken and laid out regarding the fundamentalist view, but I would caution that there really are lots of sane GOP Christian folks who are not reflexively right wing, they just want to see a balanced budget.
Plenty of people on the right who i know would happily support Obama if he laid out a plan to balance the budget and limit federal largesse and spending.
Rick Santorum has announced he is running for President, today. Another right wing crack pot; with no ideas to solve our problems, except of course, to cut taxes.
He had plenty to say about how bad President Obama was doing. I don't understand why the right thinks he's doing so bad? He has done what they would have done - kept the Bush tax cuts.
All these right wing crack pots are like RN. They have nothing but insults. They have no solutions. They don't even speak to the important issues.
I guess we will have an election about abortion, creationism, of course the free loaders on government programs, bla, bla, bla.
What will Republicans do about jobs, the economy, the debt? NOTHING.
They will bitch about Obama, and promise to cut your taxes.
They will push more abortion laws, kill off the programs that have served millions of Americans well for generations, in short - destroy the government, which has been their stated goal for decades.
Good by America. Hello ?
To them government is supposed to do nothing but build the military and weapons for that military to use. They will have to pick another country to invade. McCain wanted to bomb Iran. I wonder who Santorum, Palin, Bachmann, etc. wants to start a war with?
Dave M: "I would caution that there really are lots of sane GOP Christian folks who are not reflexively right wing..."
Correct. And there are a lot of Christian lefties as well who agree with the fundamental goals of the Democratic Party--to care about those with the least amount of wealth and power.
My niece is a liberal and devoted Christian who belongs to a congregation with ties to the United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist Association, and American Baptist Churches. She also is a director of community relations and volunteers for Heifer International.
So one can be a Christian and a liberal Democrat.
Just recently she told me about the courage her pastor had in announcing that he would welcome gay and lesbians with open arms to his congregation and even perform marriages. About a quarter of the congregates left the church, but the majority supported his decision.
Boy and Howdy, do I have a radical idea! I propose we pass a law allowing free worship, to anyone, in the church,synagogue,mosque or home of their choice.
practicing religion in......
bars
pizza parlors
ball parks
dance halls
bookstores
coffee shops
tattoo parlors
clothing retail stores
whore houses
bait shops
grocery stores
bakeries
banks
antique store
feed & grain stores
legislative groups
.....should be seriously frowned upon...... you know.... I think a group of guys thought of this before.
Lots to chew on here. Maybe it's proselytizing that irks you Jimm. In which case I whole-heartedly agree.
Dave, I agree with you too. There is no way a republican can win the GOP nomination with the current religious situation. They should just be good guys and not run anyone in 2012. It would be a lovely gesture of reconciliation and surely strengthen the emergence of a strong third party. So you know a lot of Rockefeller republicans who would whole-heartedly support Obama if not for his reckless spending? Don't make me laugh. If he had erased the national debt and put every able-bodied American back to work inside of one year, there would still be a little teensy black rock of gut-level hatred in their hearts for Obama right behind where they keep their throne for Jesus Christ. Wake up. They are lying. Obama was applying the Balm of Gilead to a wounded nation.
And I agree with Tom. How could a republican pretend to be christian and advocate ending unemployment insurance benifits? Not care about the uninsured? Eliminate programs that give the poor a hand up? It's not as easy as one might think to prove that Jesus wants us all to be bleeding heart liberals. He told the rich young ruler to sell his wordly goods. But that was because wealth was his idol. Of course there is the story of the good Samaritan who cared for a dying man. Probably the clearest example is in Matthew 25 when the disciples asked,"Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?" But if you really read the gospels and teachings of Christ you start to get that he wasn't all about the accumulation of wealth and enlightened self-interest. Don't even get me started on so-called christian voting guides. Why not just eliminate the lip service to American Independent Party and libertarians and say Jesus advocates a staight republican ticket? California's guru of voting guides gave Darrel Issa a two thumbs up for supporting christian values.
Lastly Romney. Yep, republicans are mostly about opportunism. They can get over their hatred of Mormons just like they got over their hatred of Jews, whom they used to call so affectionately, "the chosen people." Christ killers anyone?
Dave M, yes I know there are sane republicans who are Christians. I'm really talking here about the fringe who claim to be Christian but are not and their works prove that.
Liberal Christians are treated as if they are fools by the conservatives. They don't believe you can be both.
I'm mainly talking here about those GOP candidates who are using Christianity to get the religious rights vote, just like GW Bush did.
I don't know what platform the GOP has to run on if not Christianity.
love your last comment Tom, we think alike for sure!
Like I said, to get the voters to come out for these wacky fringe righties running to destroy America, all they have to do is say "GOD" and the congregations will flock to the polls to vote for ANY GOPper just to beat the liberal Obama.
//Maybe it's proselytizing that irks you Jimm.//
oh, absolutely! I really have NO problems with the devoutly religious who practice their faith with kindness and respect to all. None.
But there seems to be a complete lack of separation of Church and State these days. The concept of "if you are not a Christian, you are not a Patriot... you are not a citizen... you do not care about the country."
Bullshit. Politicians should not pander to a specific group. They represent ALL of us.
exactly right Jim! The Christian right believes this country is in big trouble because of the liberals. Who are the candidates saying the gays have destroyed us and because of them God has turned his back on America? Santorum, Bachmann?? It was bad enough with W and his "Gods Army" shit, now we have all these evangelicals saying God told them to run. I don't know, it worries me....
Clearly they don't know what it means to be president of the USA, their top priority is not the American citizens and the health of our country.
I appreciate all the thought provoking comments, thanks every one!
Geez it's been awhile! I'm grateful to you Sue for catching me up on all the crazy sh#t that's going on. I need to fill my cup and sit in front of your page for a while...
My mormon in-laws are all devoted followers of none other than the "lovely altruistic" Mrs. Ayn Rand. Don't let their friendliness fool you. Mormons are all about their capitalist business ventures. Things like Zions bank, Mariott Hotels, etc...and they all tithe to the church...Don't count on Romney switching.
More Reich-wing talking points; 2) I saw Mitt Romney on CNN tonight. He was asked yet again to explain his "conversion" on abortion rights....and yet again he looked like an absolutely disingenuous/slippery lunk-head....I don't know, folks, I'm actually starting to feel sorry for the guy - for him to flat-out want to be President THAT desperately.............3) I have a question for House Majority leader, Eric Cantor: "Dude, have you ever heard of videotape (or whatever it is that they refer to it now)? It's like, come on here, fella'. Less than two years ago you were saying that it was up to the people of Nevada as to whether or not they wanted to keep John Ensign in office (you do remember saying that, right?). And now you're saying just the opposite with this Weiner guy. Do you have ANY idea how brazenly partisan that that makes you look right now? You want my advice here? Ignore Weiner and concentrate on your own frigging repairs. I mean, seriously/Christ, why don't you just wrap this up in a bow and HAND IT to Rachel Maddow?"
I saw that segment on the Rachael Maddow show last night. Not only did Cantor say that it was up to Ensign's constituents to decide if he should leave the senate, but Cantor said the same thing about Vitter, who solicited a prostitute (isn't that illegal?).
In the case of the two GOP senators, Mr. Cantor did NOT demand their resignations. He said he would pray (or someone would) for their families.
Yes, it is partisan and hypocritical, and it's how our political system works. And it stinks.
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