Posted on 01/07/2014 10:36:55 AM PST by Sgt_Schultze
The tea party wing of the Republican Party has an entire inventory of myths that it cherishes even though the facts to the contrary are readily available. Here is a partial list.
Thirty percent of conservative Republicans believe that the president is a Muslim, and the percentage is increasing. This myth expands despite his well-documented membership in the United Church of Christ for decades. And of course being a Muslim, or a Buddhist, or an atheist does not disqualify anyone from any public office. It’s in Article VI, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution. You could look it up.
A person not a natural-born citizen cannot be elected president of the United States. The current president was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. His birth certificate says so. Two contemporaneous birth announcements in Honolulu newspapers say so. But still there are Republican candidates who are afraid to acknowledge this proven fact for fear of being “primaried” this year. On the other hand the “birthers,” as they are called, have no problem with the candidacy of Sen. Ted Cruz, who was admittedly born in Canada and whose father was not an American citizen at the time.
An argument can be made that this passage in the Constitution has outlived its usefulness. There is little danger of an English nobleman or royal winning our presidency, which was the fear of the founding fathers. But while it is the law, it must be applied equally to President Obama, who was born in the U.S., and to Cruz, who wasn’t.
There is the faux scandal caused by IRS employees applying the letter of the law with respect to nonprofit organizations filing under Section 501(c). The Republicans complained that organizations with Republican names were being unfairly singled out. In fact organizations with Democratic-sounding names were also being scrutinized. By screening for likely violators, the IRS was just doing its job. Political organizations have no right to 501(c) status, period.
The myths perpetrated about the Affordable Care Act are beyond belief. For example, some Republicans call the ACA socialism. But was Romneycare socialism? If so, why did the Republicans nominate him for president? The ACA is directly modeled on Romneycare.
And finally, we have the trumped up Benghazi scandal. Initially the administration stated that the U.S. Consulate (in reality a CIA outpost) was attacked by Muslims upset by a video that derided the Muslim religion. Susan Rice expressed this view in a series of interviews. The right-wing chest thumpers insisted on an investigation to expose the alleged coverup. Finally The New York Times conducted extensive interviews in Libya. Its report found that the faction that attacked the consulate was not affiliated with al-Qaida but was a faction that had received U.S. support.
Further, at least part of the motivation for the attack was indeed the insulting video. Nevertheless, Rice had to withdraw her candidacy to be named as our next Secretary of State. There was a time where politics stopped at the water’s edge. No more.
The various myths propagated by the extreme right wing have done real harm. Good public servants have resigned. Rice was denied a high post because she repeated talking points that were essentially accurate. The IRS is now apparently afraid to enforce the law as it is written. And Republican politicians of every persuasion are afraid to acknowledge the known facts about the president’s birthplace and his religious affiliation.
The American people deserve better from the Republican Party. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Bernard Baruch and others have stated in essence, every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.
John Culleton writes from Eldersburg. His column appears every second Tuesday. Email him at cct@wexfordpress.com.
The fact the the paper disabled comments to his article should give this clueless writer a clue!
Well since you asked, yes.
Nothing new there, of course that wouldn't disqualify him but it would qualify him as a liar. Nothing new there either.
The author of this clap trap is a moron (nothing new there either.)
The “United Church of Christ” denomination to which The Current Occupant now squatting in the Oval Orifice, once claimed membership, is probably more of a branch of the Black Nation of Islam, than any representation of Christianity. Black liberation theology is a strange mishmash of claims on “social justice”, quotations from the Koran, and outright Marxism. Whatever “Christian” principles remain are pretty thoroughly disguised or reinterpreted to fit the other doctrines.
Shhhh, we're not supposed to mention that.
Delusional, and to think people like him are running
our government. The IRS was just doing it’s job.....
These are the kind of morons who will gladly shove
others into the camps.
ACA is not socialism. It’s fascism.
The IRS targeting conservative groups is O.K. because a handful of supposedly liberal groups were hassled, too. Apparently two wrongs making a right. Besides, the columnist states, no one ...repeat...no one has a right to 501k status. Got it?
What else? Oh, yeah. The president is not a Muslim because he attended Reverend Wright's 'church' for 20 years. The 'church' where Obama never heard Wright make any racist remarks. Right. In addition, so what if Obama was a Muslim? That doesn't disqualify him to be president! The writer arrogantly states that "you can look it up" (in the constitution).
What else? Obama was born in Hawaii and has a birth certificate to prove it, so there! Besides, Ted Cruz was born in Canada so he can't be president. Take that, TEA party people!
Finally, what the columnist, John Culleton, must have assumed was his coup de grâce to conservative critics of Obama, he states that ObamaCare was based on Mitt Romney's health care insurance plan in Massachusetts and the GOP nominated Romney for president last year so conservatives are hypocrites for criticizing the UNaffordable Care Act. He states this likely knowing full well that TEA party voters were against Romney's nomination and many stayed home on election day rather than vote for Romney. RomneyCare was nowhere near as intrusive as Obamacare and it's 2700 pages of ever-changing rules and regulations that is failing badly.
This liberal columnist, Cullington, is writing for those who already buy into the liberal BS and just want to read justifications for hating conservatives and calling us liars and delusional, etc. Classic, easily refuted leftist rubbish.
You said...
“The fact the the paper disabled comments to his article should give this clueless writer a clue!”
That is actually the part I find most fascinating. Obamatrons have created a bubble world for themselves and inside that bubble, they have created an alternative reality. I have no doubt the comments section was disabled in order to protect the writer’s alternative universe
“Thirty percent of conservative Republicans believe that the president is a Muslim, and the percentage is increasing. This myth expands despite his well-documented membership in the United Church of Christ for decades. And of course being a Muslim, or a Buddhist, or an atheist does not disqualify anyone from any public office. It’s in Article VI, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution. You could look it up.”
I dont believe for a second that 30% of tea partiers think Obozo is a muslim. I certainly dont nor does anyone I know, however he WAS a muslim as a child and is certainly symathetic towards them.
I also dont know or ever heard of anyone who has stated that Obama is ineligible to be President due to being a muslim or any other religion. Pure straw man argument.
The biggest MYTH is that this writer stated anything factual.
My take on O being a muslim is as follows…. if he ain’t one he sure acts as if he is
Obama condemns himself in his cheap suit doubletalk words:
GG:
What do you believe?
OBAMA:
I am a Christian.
So, I have a deep faith. So I draw from the Christian faith.
On the other hand, I was born in Hawaii where obviously there are a lot of Eastern influences.
I lived in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, between the ages of six and 10.
My father was from Kenya, and although he was probably most accurately labeled an agnostic, his father was Muslim.
And I’d say, probably, intellectually I’ve drawn as much from Judaism as any other faith.
So, I’m rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people. That there are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and there’s an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived.
And so, part of my project in life was probably to spend the first 40 years of my life figuring out what I did believe – I’m 42 now – and it’s not that I had it all completely worked out, but I’m spending a lot of time now trying to apply what I believe and trying to live up to those values.
GG:
Have you always been a Christian?
OBAMA:
I was raised more by my mother and my mother was Christian.
GG:
Any particular flavor?
OBAMA:
No.
My grandparents who were from small towns in Kansas. My grandmother was Methodist. My grandfather was Baptist. This was at a time when I think the Methodists felt slightly superior to the Baptists. And by the time I was born, they were, I think, my grandparents had joined a Universalist church.
So, my mother, who I think had as much influence on my values as anybody, was not someone who wore her religion on her sleeve. We’d go to church for Easter. She wasn’t a church lady.
As I said, we moved to Indonesia. She remarried an Indonesian who wasn’t particularly, he wasn’t a practicing Muslim. I went to a Catholic school in a Muslim country. So I was studying the Bible and catechisms by day, and at night you’d hear the prayer call.
So I don’t think as a child we were, or I had a structured religious education. But my mother was deeply spiritual person, and would spend a lot of time talking about values and give me books about the world’s religions, and talk to me about them. And I think always, her view always was that underlying these religions were a common set of beliefs about how you treat other people and how you aspire to act, not just for yourself but also for the greater good.
And, so that, I think, was what I carried with me through college. I probably didn’t get started getting active in church activities until I moved to Chicago.
The way I came to Chicago in 1985 was that I was interested in community organizing and I was inspired by the Civil Rights movement. And the idea that ordinary people could do extraordinary things. And there was a group of churches out on the South Side of Chicago that had come together to form an organization to try to deal with the devastation of steel plants that had closed. And didn’t have much money, but felt that if they formed an organization and hired somebody to organize them to work on issues that affected their community, that it would strengthen the church and also strengthen the community.
[blah blah blah]
So that, one of the churches I met, or one of the churches that I became involved in was Trinity United Church of Christ. And the pastor there, Jeremiah Wright, became a good friend. So I joined that church and committed myself to Christ in that church.
GG:
Did you actually go up for an altar call?
OBAMA:
Yes. Absolutely.
It was a daytime service, during a daytime service. And it was a powerful moment. Because, ti was powerful for me because it not only confirmed my faith, it not only gave shape to my faith, but I think, also, allowed me to connect the work I had been pursuing with my faith.
GG:
How long ago?
OBAMA:
16, 17 years ago
1987 or 88
GG:
So you got yourself born again?
OBAMA:
Yeah, although I don’t, I retain from my childhood and my experiences growing up a suspicion of dogma. And I’m not somebody who is always comfortable with language that implies I’ve got a monopoly on the truth, or that my faith is automatically transferable to others.
I’m a big believer in tolerance. I think that religion at it’s best comes with a big dose of doubt. I’m suspicious of too much certainty in the pursuit of understanding just because I think people are limited in their understanding.
I think that, particularly as somebody who’s now in the public realm and is a student of what brings people together and what drives them apart, there’s an enormous amount of damage done around the world in the name of religion and certainty.
[snip]
GG:
Do you pray often?
OBAMA:
Uh, yeah, I guess I do.
Its’ not formal, me getting on my knees. I think I have an ongoing conversation with God. I think throughout the day, I’m constantly asking myself questions about what I’m doing, why am I doing it.
[blah blah blah]
[snip]
GG:
Who’s Jesus to you?
(He laughs nervously)
OBAMA:
Right.
Jesus is an historical figure for me, and he’s also a bridge between God and man, in the Christian faith, and one that I think is powerful precisely because he serves as that means of us reaching something higher.
And he’s also a wonderful teacher. I think it’s important for all of us, of whatever faith, to have teachers in the flesh and also teachers in history.
[snip]
GG:
The conversation stopper, when you say you’re a Christian and leave it at that.
OBAMA:
Where do you move forward with that?
This is something that I’m sure I’d have serious debates with my fellow Christians about. I think that the difficult thing about any religion, including Christianity, is that at some level there is a call to evangelize and prostelytize. There’s the belief, certainly in some quarters, that people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior that they’re going to hell.
GG
You don’t believe that?
OBAMA:
I find it hard to believe that my God would consign four-fifths of the world to hell.
I can’t imagine that my God would allow some little Hindu kid in India who never interacts with the Christian faith to somehow burn for all eternity.
That’s just not part of my religious makeup.
Part of the reason I think it’s always difficult for public figures to talk about this is that the nature of politics is that you want to have everybody like you and project the best possible traits onto you. Often times that’s by being as vague as possible, or appealing to the lowest common denominators. The more specific and detailed you are on issues as personal and fundamental as your faith, the more potentially dangerous it is.
SOURCE: http://cathleenfalsani.com/obama-on-faith-the-exclusive-interview/
The author forgot one:
We also believe King Obozo is an incompetent, arrogant, lying, socialist bumbler who couldn’t find his own skinny arse with both hands even if Valarie Jarrett gave him a map, a flashlight and 2 pages of written directions.
A long time ago, my pastor at the time (have since moved away) did a series on “Are your a convicted Christian”. The premis was, is there enough evidence in your life to convict you of being a Christian. Conversly, is there enough evidence of other activities or extinuating circumstance to the contrary?
If one applies that concept to Obama, I would say that he is a muslim.
That 0bamacare is socialism is not refuted by the fact that Romneycare is socialism. Both are socialism.
The author's views on Benghazi are a disgrace to anyone who is remotely acquainted with the sequence of events on the ground. Rice's (and Hillary's) statements that the attackers were a street mob were false. That it was motivated by a video is false. That help was within range but forbidden to come is true, and we still don't know who was responsible. That four men died is true, and we still don't know why. Whether it was al Qaeda or some other splinter group is irrelevant. It was a deliberate terrorist attack on our embassy that was misrepresented, covered up, and stonewalled by the people responsible for telling the American people the truth, and the persons responsible have not (need I repeat it?) been punished.
Whether 0bama is a practicing Muslim is irrelevant. His consistent policy biased in their direction is not irrelevant. What Jeremiah Wright preaches is not Christianity, but that also is irrelevant. Personally I believe 0bama's religion is socialism.
Keep the author's name handy. It's good to know where the propaganda is coming from.
I know I shouldn't ask, but how is this even logical? How is it a myth or fallacy? How is this even an indictment of the Tea Party?
Is Romneycare socialism? In certain important ways, yes, it is.
If so, why did the Republicans nominate him for president? Because conservatives don't control the Republican Party and, in addition, the field of candidates was very weak.
The ACA is directly modeled on Romneycare. No it wasn't. It goes much, much further toward Socialism.
For example, almost no significant similarities between suckass Romneycare and way-more-suckier Obamacare beyond the individual mandate. They are completely different in a million ways. Besides, even if they were similar, those powers not specifically granted to the federal government are reserved by the people and the states. So, if they morons in Mass wanted Romneycare, there is no constitutional provision preventing them from instituting that. The 10th Amendment prohibits the federal government from the same.
Each one of these boilerplate "facts" are just as easily taken apart, but that won't stop simpletons from repeating them. And they'll all get that Rachel Maddow smug face, as if they just proved something by repeating them.
True. But fascism is a sub-set of socialism.
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