Mar 14 2008
When Religious Guidance Influences A Candidate
Let’s take a trip down memory lane regarding the left and George Bush’s religion background:
Like a born-again Mr. Magoo, Bush seems to have blundered through his first gubernatorial campaign making naive mistakes that he somehow turned to his advantage. While giving an interview to Ken Herman of the Houston Post, Bush casually reflected on a family argument in which he and his mother had differed over a point of religious doctrine: Did a person need to accept Christ as his savior in order to go to heaven? To resolve this question, the Bushes decided to make a quick after-dinner phone call to the Rev. Billy Graham. (Do they call William Safire to settle their Scrabble disputes?) Graham sided with Barbara Bush: Since there was no way of knowing what happened in the afterworld, it was best just to live your life well here on earth and have faith in God. A moderate, fair-minded response—but, as Bush confided to Herman, he still believed that salvation must be a prerequisite for eternal life. Unable to believe his luck, Herman printed this scoop, to great public outcry: Apparently the Muslims, Jews, and nonbelievers of Bush’s constituency were perplexed to learn that their prospective governor had just condemned them to eternal damnation. Bush never apologized or recanted; he simply avoided the subject, and yet still managed to take the state in a landslide.
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Herein lies one of the most illuminating lessons of The Jesus Factor: If you have the conservative Christian vote in an American election, you can dispense with almost everyone else.
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During a televised debate in the 1999 presidential primary in Iowa, the three Republican contenders, Steve Forbes, Alan Keyes, and George Bush, were asked what “political philosopher or thinker” had most influenced them and why. Forbes cited John Locke; Keyes, the Founding Fathers; and Bush, “Christ, because he changed my heart.” In the clip of this moment that appears in The Jesus Factor, Bush’s sincerity is evident; unfortunately, so is his intellectual poverty and lack of historical referents.
The left has been muck-raking Bush’s religion and those religious figures around him for years. So let’s now look at the religious tone surrounding Barack Obama:
In a sermon delivered at Howard University, Barack Obama’s longtime minister, friend and adviser blamed America for starting the AIDS virus, training professional killers, importing drugs and creating a racist society that would never elect a black candidate president.
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We’ve got more black men in prison than there are in college,” he began. “Racism is alive and well. Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run. No black man will ever be considered for president, no matter how hard you run Jesse [Jackson] and no black woman can ever be considered for anything outside what she can give with her body.”
Mr. Wright thundered on: “America is still the No. 1 killer in the world. . . . We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns, and the training of professional killers . . . We bombed Cambodia, Iraq and Nicaragua, killing women and children while trying to get public opinion turned against Castro and Ghadhafi . . . We put [Nelson] Mandela in prison and supported apartheid the whole 27 years he was there. We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God.”
Bush’s religious views evolve around the evangelical concepts of salvation, responsibility and doing well by your fellow man. Obama’s hate filled religious environment is a totally different animal – at its core anti-American in every way one can conceive. The comparisons are fair – and damning. Our leaders do bring their religious context to the job. Bush tried to bring faith based organizations back into the mainstream and available to federal funds to do service to our nation. One can only imagine what Obama might do. It is plausible his goals would be to promote the anti-American, anti-white goals that seem to underpin his beliefs. And that is something to concern America after we have spent decades trying to end racial strife and paranoia.
George Bush’s religion?? This is a joke right?? Bush’s religion is about as credible as his statements concerning front line troops in Afghanistan:
apparently forgetting the lengths he went to to avoid serving on the front lines in Vietnam.
George Bush: the “Christian” who makes fun of a woman he is executing. I’m sure Jesus will remember that . . .
Romney’s religion was an issue. Huckabee’s religion was an issue. McCain’s religion will be an issue. It is appropriate that a persons core convictions and beliefs are explored as they will be an indicator of how they will respond when an emergency comes about and they do not have much time to think things through.
Example: Nuclear Missiles inbound
Do I launch a counter attack immediately to save some ability to fight tomorrow because the USA is worth fighting for or do I sit back and think maybe I should find out why they are attacking me because the USA is mostly wrong. You got five minutes…. maybe at best
Or, say, what a person does when he/she has been warned of an impending attack on the US:
Example: a memo saying “Osama bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside United States” – just one of 30+ such warnings given in daily briefings.
Hmmmmmm, do I do anything or continue my vacation in Crawford-the-armpit-of-the-universe-Texas??
Condi, honey – can you pop me open ‘nuther near beer?? There’s a Rangers game on!
SoothSayer,
Who are you to question or judge President Bush’s beliefs or religion? Do you know him personally that you can make such mean spirited comments? If you are not family, friend, or associated with this man in any other form or would know how he lives his life and his personal relationship with GOD, then I suggest you stop defaming his name. Lastly, perhaps you may want to find that love of Jesus our President publicly speaks about as to amend the hate you seem to harbor in your heart.
Sooty……what will you do when Bush does not rule your world? Maybe volunteer to fly fighters? Naw…..you wouldn’t be that chicken-spirited.
Anyone seeing Mr Wright being plastered all over the MSM? The Silence. They will cover it as a one day wonder, only when they are forced. Then can’t we all move on? They will.
You can NOT sit in a church for 20 years and not agree with your preacher. Otherwise, you would have walked out…………many years before. How do you sit and listen to someone say “God Damn America” and not quit that place?
You really have to watch and listen to him say it to believe it. O’Reilly did the best coverage to date last night. He ran enough of it so that no one can say that it was taken out of context. This was the biggest RACIST, ANTI-AMERICAN rant I have ever heard.
Obama based his book on this man.
If you want to know people, observe their actions, not their words. I KNOW how George W. Bush lives his life: he lied to get us into war in Iraq, he is personally responsible for the deaths of 500,000+ Iraqis and 4,000 US soldiers. He executed 150 people in Texas, not very indicative of any love for Jesus, who was himself the victim of state-sponsored murder.
Allow me to quote noted Republican AND Christian Gary Bauer, a conservative American politician notable for his ties to several evangelical Christian groups, on your Mr. Bush:
Michael Gershon’s transcript with Hugh Hewitt disproves Soothsayer.
Soothsayer has not been proved to be correct with his posts for a long time.
Now we know why Michele Obama is ashamed of her country. If a rabble rousing radical” Ellmer Gantry” gets his congregation all riled up every week, like this guy does, it’s no wonder those who listen to his “sermons” hate their country, hate all white people, and feel like they are being persecuted regardless of how affluent they have become. I have never discriminated against anyone because of their color, but my sons were denied beginner jobs in high paying tech fields because employers were “under a mandate by the federal government to hire a minority.” In the past 30 years, since the less than most qualified have been getting preference over the most qualified, our country’s competitive edge has gone down the drain. You can’t compete with countries that put their best and brightest in charge when you relegate your best and brightest to menial jobs like carpet cleaning, pet care, truck driving, and garbage handling.
Since the Obama’s have regularly subjected themselves to the hateful indoctrination of this demigod, and apparently at least the wife has bought into it, has anyone given any thought to just who Obama would appoint to be in charge of agencies regulating us? Since whites are blamed for black criminal behavior, could we expect blanket amnesty for all blacks in prison? Would law enforcement be ordered to look the other way when blacks commit crimes gainst whites, such as the two recent murders of white college girls by blacks? Is it possible that whites would once again be forced to put sheets over their heads and get justice in the night as they did during Reconstruction after the Civil War? The KKK was created because there was a dire need for it., but just like labor unions and the civil rights movement, it did not go out of business once the problem was solved. Once they realized that by banding together they all had the power they all began to abuse it.
I fear an Obama as president almost as much as I would fear the Taliban if it were to take over. I don’t think there would be a dime’s worth of difference between them.
Soothsayer,
It is very easy to spout falsities, but much harder to cite sources. Please cite your sources for every claim you have just made. Oh, and please use scholarly sources. You do know what scholarly sources are right?
Soothie:
You are such a hypocrite.
I wonder if Soothie sings God Damn America……..
Obama signs God Damn America, that’s the important part.
These are Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s words, not Obama’s. Obama just issued a statement condemning and denouncing these comments. Here is the link – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barack-obama/on-my-faith-and-my-church_b_91623.html
Here is the key part of his statement:
“Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it’s on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.”
McCain, on the otherhand, gladly accepted the endorsement of John Hagee, who is as anti-catholic as you get. Hagee has written extensively in negative ways about the Catholic Church, “calling it ‘The Great Whore,’ an ‘apostate church,’ the ‘anti-Christ,’ and a ‘false cult system.'” http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/02/28/mccain_endorsement_angers_cath.html. McCain has yet to condemn or denounce Hagee’s comments or his endorsement.
So AJ, why aren’t you criticizing McCain about the folks he is associated with?
FOX has been running with this some today. They just got a statement from Obama’s camp that says he does not endorse those statements.
Took this off S&L from NYT 4/30/07
“If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me,†Mr. Wright said with a shrug. “I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.â€
Conman
Could it be because McCain did not sit and listen to him for 20 years?
McCain should shut up about taking Obama at his word.
I sure do not. Racist Wright did not just become that way when Obama happened to miss a service. It’s not an accident when Wright gives Farrahkan an award and travels with him.
Twenty Years of it.
Owl,
Wow – so now you are acknowledging that Obama has been a Christianhis whole life? Funny, I thought you all said he was a Muslim set on taking over our country and killing all of the Christians. You folks need to keep your stories straight.
As CJ mentioned in reference to Soothsayer, bald statements without citation to sources is nothing more than your opinion. Where’s your proof that Wright has been making these kinds of statements regualrly in his sermons for 20 years? Obama’s specifically stated that he did not use this kind of rehtoric in his sermons, but rather preached the gospel of Jesus. So unless you have some source to back up your ridiculous claim, your accusation is hollow. Also, your suggestion that every member of a church congregation is assumed to agree with and accept EVERYTHING the priest/pastor says or believes in is ludicrous. It is pretty obvious you are not a regular church-goer, so maybe you shouldn’t weigh in on something that you have no personal experience with.
So what about McCain? Why is it not relevant that he happily accepted the endorsement of a religious leader whom regulalrly preaches hatred agaisnt fellow Christians? Somebody please explain why you all are not complete hypocrits.
Whew!
Conman,
Why does a candidate need to comment on the views of all his supporters? That’s potentially millions of comments. And quite different from commenting on the views of his mentor.
Sooth,
How does your military experience compare with GWB’s? And can you fly military jets?
So 911 is Bush’s fault? That’s choice! Can’t you even find a little blame for Clinton and Jamie Gorlick?
Your dripping- at- the- mouth jealousy of Bush even extends to his “hell hole” in Texas. Interesting.
Speaking about NAFTA…there are some grumblings up in Canada. Some winner in some Canadian election vowed to open up free trade to Asia while cutting back on free trade IF the democratic candidate ends up winning in November.
USA will no longer be the largest exporter of Canadian oil, water, electricity, and lumber.
Wright marred Michelle and Barack and baptized their kids. Did Hagee marry McCain and baptize their kids? Did McCain attend Hagee’s church for twenty years?
I’m sure we will find all kinds of speeches Wright made over twenty years AND that all of his speeches will be very similar to this “God Damn America” speech. Why? Because of what he believes (and what was stated on his home page of the church website.
What hypocrits!!
Macker
I agree fully with your opinion of supporter comments unless their is a specific endorsement of them by the candidate.
This election cycle we are being fed way to much in the way of guilt by association fluff from all directions and it is just a waste of time and energy.
Does anybody have a clue of when the MSM and the candidates are going to start discussing the issues related to the job these candidates are running for?
Now that’s a ‘change’ even I could go for.