Transcript: Barnes On Bush(and Religious Right)

CBSNEWS.com ^ | Sept. 8, 2004

[SwinneySwitch]

BEN BARNES:
I think the country is probably more divided today then it's been since the Civil War. I certainly was not alive, although some people probably think I was alive at the conclusion of the Civil War. So I wasn't there firsthand.

But I believe that this country is very severely divided. Families are divided. Friends are divided. Communities are divided. Churches, schools. It's not healthy.

I have a letter in my possession from my grandfather who wrote to my uncle who was on Iwo Jima. And in the first paragraph, he talks about the crops are in the ground. We've had ground rain. He's trying to write a kind of letter to cheer my uncle up. But he says in the next paragraph that, "I'm very concerned about the fact that the religious right in this country--" and he talked about a person that was on the radio that was talking about the religion and politics had to mix. And that we should get involved because God was telling us to do this. And God was telling us to do that.

And I'm like-- my grandfather in 1943 speculated that he was very concerned because he thought it was very important in this country to keep the separation between church and state. And I believe that very strongly also.

[shrinkermd]

It is not the "religious right" that bothers the RATS, but the fact that most people believe there is such as thing as moral certainty. Post modernism, liberals and the left all nuance everything.

Barnes was hand picked by LBJ to be the next Senator or Governor of Texas and then President. Unfortunately Barnes had no sense of moral certainty and got caught with his other post modern Texas RAT brethern in a fraud. His political career ended and he has been resentful since --after all what is a psychopath to do if he cannot enter public service?

[HitmanLV]

Is the Joe you mention Joe Lieberman?

He has such a dandy press office. He was one of the few Dems who voted against the partial birth abortion ban, for example. He isn't nearly as moral as he would like folks to think.

[NYCVirago]

Can you do it for me, NYCV? I need to take off for home. Also Ben's uncle must have been Japanese. The marines didn't land on Iwo Jima until 1945!

I sent powerlineblog.com an email, and a summary of what's wrong with the letter, including the Iwo Jima reference and the "religious right" comment.

[boop]

Yup. The "religious right" is a disparaging term, coined by the leftwing media in the 80's at the earliest. It was obviously intended to scare people about Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Before that, the liberal media talked about the "Moral Majority" being a threat. In 1945, even the most liberal democrat would have all but gone ballistic over someone proposing gay marriage, flag burning, abortion, or even a presidential candidate attacking the CIC during wartime. Even the most out to lunch far left liberals would have rejected such "preposterous" ideas. In 2004, any liberal who DOESN'T support these things is a "rightwing kook".

But of course it is only the republicans who have "turned right" over the past 40 years. The democrats are "mainstream", like Kerry.

[NYCVirago]

Check this out.

[xkaydet65]

No it wasn't used in 1945. The guy his grandfather probably heard was Father Coughlin. Coughlin was a Catholic priest whose Detroit Church was burned by the Klan. He was a supporter of FDR and the New Deal until he became convinced of its godless communist direction, He saw international Jewry as the force behind Communism. He was against entry into WWII, but like other isolationists he became irrelevant after Pearl Harbor.

If Barnes grandfather was a Texas Democrat he would have been a segregationist and he would hardly have been the type to separate religion and politics since they were linked in the South.

It is doubtful that Father Coughlin would have been listened to by many southern whites as he was a crusading Catholic and I find it hard to believe he could have found a radio station in the south to give him airtime.

This is just more making it up as you go along. Like Clinton remembering burning black churches in Arkansas when it never happened there. These people must believe that we're all mindless to fall for this nonsense. Maybe they're right about enough to give them the White House.

[okie01]

I don't believe it. I very seriously doubt the phrase "religious right" had ever been used prior to the 80s, 70s at the earliest. He is lying about this letter.

Ben Barnes has got a lot of Dick Gephart in him.

And even more of Bill Clinton.

If his lips are moving...

[Restorer]

In the 1940s hardly anybody was worried about the influence of religion in politics, especially in the South, where if they had thought about they would have wanted more religious influence.

In 1943, there were a lot more important things to worry about.

[okokie]

RELIGIOUS RIGHT
gees what's up with these people- definitely not the language in the 40's

[razorback-bert]

ground rain?

First time, I have ever heard of suchathing and I thought I was good on Southern sayings.

[okie01]

I simply cannot imagine somebody on Iwo Jima writing to the folks back home about the "religious right".

But Ben simply lies so much he can't keep his stories straight. He got GWB a spot in the TANG when he was Lt. Governor. But GWB joined the TANG in 1968 and ol' Ben wasn't Lt. Gov. until 1969.

As in this story, Ben's grandfather is writing to his uncle on Iwo Jima in 1943. But we didn't land on Iwo Jima until 1945.

Ol' Ben never lets the facts get in the way of a good story. Especially one that grinds a political axe...

[free thinker 03]

....religious right......
WOW. Is Lucy Ramerez that old?

[SwinneySwitch]

Thanks, NYCV.

[Humidston]

I don't believe him. Ben Barnes has proved he's a liar so I refuse to believe anything he claims to have in his possession. Period.

....Not to mention he's a pond slug.