GOP turns up the Christianity in last ditch effort to fight health care reform
Three Democratic Congressmen eat brunch prior to a scheduled Sunday vote on health care reform (Image via Wikipedia)
With a vote pending Sunday afternoon for health care reform legislation in the House of Representatives, Republican efforts to stymie the bill by turning up the fear factor on issues like abortion, ‘government takeover’, and deficits have been turned back (if not routed). So what is the GOP’s leftover tool from their rusty old shed in the backyard?
God-talk.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, the nearly treasonous Republican wingnut from Minnesota who is likely to be re-districted out of Congress after the 2010 Census is completed, actually went and laid it right out there.
I am abhorred that Pro-life democrats are asked to vote on a pro-abortion mandate this Sunday, the Sabbath. This is the Easter season for Christians, a period of time called lent. Speaker Pelosi is demanding pro-life Democrats profane the Sabbath with a vote that will force all Americans to pay for other people’s abortions. This is a first in American history and a new low for Speaker Pelosi and President Obama.
‘Profaning the Sabbath.’ Looks like Bachmann didn’t give up batshit for lent. The Congresswoman is literally claiming to be holier than her Democratic colleagues in Congress. Of course, America is not a Christian nation, and while some Americans choose to abstain from all worldly activities in favor of worship on the first day of each week, many don’t. And that’s why some of us work, whether it’s on the Internet, in restaurants, or in Congress. Guys like Andrew Breitbart, a lapsed Jew who is publishing Bachmann’s ravings approvingly as his featured blog post, are showing outright that even the least religious conservatives are happy to cynically exploit the religiosity of some Republican voters to pursue their psychotic state-of-nature-seeking political agendas.
One would hope that Bachmann would be alone in trying to out-Jesus the Democrats, but she may not even be the worst of it. You’ve got Glenn Beck and Rep. Steve King calling it an affront to God (see Rick Ungar). And then there’s some of the conservative movement’s greatest intellectuals taking us even further down the rabbit hole.
Take Peggy Noonan, the former Reagan speechwriter who knows very carefully how to choose her words to send signals to the batshit segment of the conservative electorate. Referring to the sneaky ‘deem and pass’ parliamentary trick that the Democratic majority is using in the House to pass the Senate’s health care reform bill without actually voting on it, she writes the following in the Wall Street Journal:
Tunku Varadarajan in the Daily Beast cleverly notes that it sounds like “demon pass,” which it does. Maybe that’s the juncture we’re at
Leave it to old line Reagan Republicans to resort to associating our fairly elected Democratic president with Satan in order to criticize the White House’s pursuit of the policy agenda it ran on. It’s sort of like back in 2008 when word started circulating virally that there was a variety of evidence that Obama was in fact the anti-Christ. At the New York Sun, we actually had to attach an addendum to a Ken Blackwell column published on our website noting that the former Ohio Secretary of State and Republican thought leader had not actually made the case that candidate Obama signaled the coming of the end times.
But now instead of anonymous and mysterious forces circulating a hoax e-mail, you’ve got a former Reagan speech writer seeing us at a demonic juncture, and National Review wingnuts like Jim Geraghty calling the vote the ‘markup of the beast’ in their daily newsletters. These people aren’t outliers. They are conservative thought leaders. And associating President Obama with one religion’s concept of evil is the best thought they’ve got to offer.
Well, if there’s anything President Obama and Democrats can fall back on, it’s knowing that once their opposition has pulled Jesus into the argument, it probably means they’ve lost it conclusively once and for all. Meanwhile, if some Congressional Republicans are really so afraid of a demonic era in our politics, they should stay in church Sunday, and let the Democrats pass this bill if they’ve got the votes.
Post Your Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment
T/S Members
Log in with your True/Slant account.
Crowley/LaVey 2012!
Mr. Roston,
It is said that patriotism is last refuge of the scoundrel. This is wrong, it is clearly religion.
Wow. I would have said Wall Street, but I’m further left than most.
In response to another comment. See in context »It isn’t about health care anymore…it is about defending the Constitution….they are defending the constitution from the tyranny of america’s first Black president…
p.s. Pelsoi is pray for st joseph to intercede on her corrupt behalf
“Nancy Pelosi, self-named ardent Catholic, claims today that she is praying for St. Joseph’s intercession for passage of the healthcare bill this weekend.”
You remain a racist. You just can’t stand seeing a black man in the White House. That is all.
In response to another comment. See in context »Looks like you can’t stand Christians…..don’t forget your Obamacare ID card when you leave home, I know will will carry one….because free men WON”T
In response to another comment. See in context »Face the truth…the first Black President is an idiot, and an obsessive idiot at that….
In response to another comment. See in context »You know, Michael, sooner or later, you’re going to have to put the Pet Troll to sleep.
In response to another comment. See in context »Brother Andy,
But whoever has the world’s goods, and beholds his brother in need, and shuts up his compassion from him, how could the love of God abide in him? (1 John 3:17)
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
–Matthew 9:35
Do Christians support this:
June 17, 2009|Lisa Girion LA Times
Blue Cross praised employees who dropped sick policyholders, lawmaker says
Workers received high marks on performance reviews after policies were rescinded, documents show. The health insurer denies the practice is a factor in evaluations.
Executives of three of the nation’s largest health insurers told federal lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that they would continue canceling medical coverage for some sick policyholders, despite withering criticism from Republican and Democratic members of Congress who decried the practice as unfair and abusive.
The hearing on the controversial action known as rescission, which has left thousands of Americans burdened with costly medical bills despite paying insurance premiums, began a day after President Obama outlined his proposals for revamping the nation’s healthcare system.
No Christian can possibly support a system that turns away the sick and ignores millions of others who are in need. Brother Andy in your heart you cannot support money changers who deny care.
Those who support the evils of ignoring the needy do it at their own peril.
Luke 16:19-25. “Now there was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs would come and lick his sores.
Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.’
But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony…’”
I wrote last year about the GOP’s reluctance to invoke the Lord’s name when it comes to the health care issue. After all, if Jesus were working in the system Republicans are defending, he’d have had to leave Lazarus dead — death is a pre-existing condition.
My entire post is here: http://dogeatery.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/gop-drops-christian-values-when-it-comes-to-health-care-reform/
thekingofcheap,
Excellent post. It is curious that both parties avoided the religious/moral argument. It would seem this is a no brainer for Christians.
In response to another comment. See in context »Well, let’s see–most Americans are Christians. And most Americans support health care reform.
Coincidence?
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] And, of course, once he went all diety on health care, she had to put her 2¢ in, too. From TRUE/SLANT: With a vote pending Sunday afternoon for health care reform legislation in the House of [...]
I am abhorred….
Bachmann’s right: she is abhorred. I abhor her for several reasons, including her foolish conversion of a transitive verb into an intransitive verb.
Almost forgot: The Terri Schiavo Act (For the relief of the parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo) was passed by the US House and Senate on Sunday March 20, 2005. It passed the Senate unanimously, 3-0.
Well, I DID give up batshit for lent. So I haven’t listened to a single thing out of Bachman’s mouth.
[...] to pass, as I noted, raving birther Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in Virginia was one of the first Republican electeds to promise a lawsuit against the health care bill. And our Bill Dupray offered one of the grounds [...]
Bachmann is no rocket science, and so I expect things like “lent” from her. But I also expect her critics to be smarter–i.e., to know that “Lent” is a proper noun and, therefore, capitalized.
Bachmann’s poor grammar should remain hers. That’s my view, anyway.