Posted on 12/27/2010 12:09:36 PM PST by Syncro
By Noel Sheppard | December 22, 2010 | 00:33
Lawrence O'Donnell on Tuesday made a federal case out of Ann Coulter's quite accurate claim that liberals give less to charity than conservatives.
"The Last Word" host might have raised this issue to draw attention to a charity he's supporting (video follows with partial transcript and commentary):
O’Donnell then played a clip from last Thursday’s “Colbert Report” in which the host went after O’Reilly for his comments concerning Christ and charity. After the clip, O’Donnell continued:
O’DONNELL: Of course, there was no chance of Colbert going unanswered on the “O’Reilly Factor” where Bill turned for theological guidance to, who else, Ann Coulter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANN COULTER: No, the fundamental problem is liberals think sending a check to the IRS constitutes charity. That is not charity. Christians understand that which is why when you say Americans are the most generous people on earth --
(CROSSTALK)
BILL O'REILLY: Yes.
COULTER: No conservatives are.
O'REILLY: Well, Americans in total.
(CROSSTALK)
COULTER: As has been demonstrated time and time again. Liberals are the least charitable with their money. Conservatives and especially Christians the most charitable and you know Nancy Pelosi considers it charitable giving --
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: All right, let me just define what you're saying --
COULTER: -- to contribute to the San Francisco ballet whereas Christians are actually giving to poor people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O’DONNELL: Liberals are the least charitable with their money. Really, Ann? Consider the response of this program’s audience, which surely has some liberals in it, to my plea for donations to the K.I.N.D. Fund, Kids In Need of Desks. Last week I announced this unique partnership between MSNBC and UNICEF to raise money for desks for school children in Africa who now sit on dirt floors or cement floors. The desks we are supplying to these schools are made in Malawi. So the contributions to buy a desk also helps stimulate the Malawi economy, provide jobs for the workers who will make those desks and enable them to feed their families.
The response to my announcement as I reported last night has been more than we could have ever reasonably expected. As of last night, UNICEF had processed over $600,000 in contributions to the K.I.N.D. Fund, and in the last 24 hours, we’ve raised even more. So far, UNICEF has processed contributions in the amount of $727,991.
O’Donnell then discussed how the charity works, and where donors can go to contribute. He eventually came back to Coulter:
O’DONNELL: So Ann, I’m not going to fight with you about who is more charitable. I’m going to allow the astonishing kindness and generosity of my audience to serve as the response to your statement, “Liberals are the least charitable with their money.” And I beg you, Ann, to now show us just how charitable conservatives can be with their money. $48 a desk, $720 for a classroom. Come on, Ann, you can afford a classroom. And hey, if you can get Rush involved, he can buy desks for every kid in Malawi. And Ann, that e-mail that you just got from UNICEF, that’s not spam. I just bought you a desk for Christmas. Merry Christmas, Ann.
Quite possibly O'Donnell didn't want to fight about who is more charitable because he knows that studies have shown conservatives to be far more giving than liberals. He might even have been aware of the book Coulter referred to in Monday's "Factor" segment detailing the facts.
Never met O’Donnell, but stepped in something similar once.
At least we know that Creepy Liar O’Donnell reads Ann Coulter. Olberdork probably does, too.
BTW, I’m against desks in classrooms. They lead to back problems later in life. Sitting on the floor is much more natural for the human body.
A real tizzy over nothing. Liberals must be really sensitive if they get upset about who gives more in charity. Who cares? Nobody is supposed to know how much they give anyway. My wife and I refuse to take the donation deduction on our taxes because the Bible says you should not brag about generosity. So why say anything. Just keep doing what you are doing and who cares what people donate. It is so funny how people get themselves worked up about things.
The problem is that they give other people's money.
ML/NJ
I’m sure glad I did not give to his charity. He just branded everyone who did a “liberal.”
Right. To their own liberal agenda charities like the ACLU for starters. How about the local food bank for one?
Exactly. And you can see it even in his own example. He’s taking credit for all that money, even though it was given to the charity by other people.
One thing you must understand is that a "liberal's" entire belief system is centered around trying to affirm the lie that "all people are basically good" - themselves in particular.
By taking certain positions on issues, libs self-affirm that they themselves are "good people", and further, they are morally superior to others who "don't care" about the issue.
I guarantee you this O'Donnell guy is doing this charity for this very reason - self-affirmation of moral superiority.
When you're "a good person", you see, you have no need of a Savior. And anyone telling them they do is attacking their core sense of self worth.
That's the heart, the core of liberalism.
Liberals also create phony "charities" in order to get the public to fund their leftist, totalitarian dreams. They also infiltrate and take over legitimate charity organizations then twist the original mission of the organization to support leftist goals; not mention looting many of them in process.
"O'Donnell has not a leg to stand on but some weaselly anecdote about desks for kids?? Now there's a world-shaking cause I must say. What Haiti needs most--desks."Right and they are made in Haiti.
Probably cost the "charity" about $1,000 per desk and most of them go to the gov officials that sell them on the black market.
If a group really wants to get desks to the schools, they should be Made In America and taken directly to the schools by The Queen of The World's Downtrodden Michelle Obama.
Or some other publicity seeker.
The truth hurts. The liberal line is that liberals are compassionate and caring and all that. Whereas conservatives are evil, and uncaring about the poor.
When the facts conflict with the liberal party line on an issue, you end up with silly debates like this one. The liberals can’t bring themselves to admit that conservatives contribute more, because it conflicts with their world view.
Also, it irritates liberals that churches and religious oriented organizations do so much charitable work.
“What Haiti needs most—desks.”
If they were big enough to sleep in or edible, I’d agree with his stupid charity. Leave it to a liberal to organize a “desk lift” to starving, disease ravaged countries.
O’Donnell can complain all he wants, but FACTS are stubborn things, and there have been several studies done of this over the years, which back up Ann Coulter’s contention.
Self-described socialist: charitable with other people’s money. O’Donnell has the charity of Mao Tse Tung, Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot. And don’t you forget it either, or you will be sent to a re-education camp or shot and buried in a mass grave.
Arthur Brooks, “Who Really Cares,” proved this beyond question. The more conservative you are, and the more religious you are, the more you donate not only money but time to causes.
When lieberals are not being charitable by getting the govt to donate our taxes to their favorite causes, they are being charitable by ordering conservatives to donate their income to the lieberals favorite causes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.