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Sen. Orrin Hatch Attacks Pres. Obama For Mentioning God

newsvideoclip — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:20:47 +0000

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is offended that President Barack Obama quoted scripture to make the case for a fairer tax policy.

Speaking to a group of mostly-conservative politicians at the annual National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, the president proved that conservatives do not have a monopoly on using religion to advocate for specific public policies.

“And when I talk about shared responsibility, it’s because I genuinely believe at a time when folks are struggling, at a time when we have enormous deficits, it’s hard for me to ask seniors on a fixed income or young people with student loans or middle class families who can barely pay the bills to shoulder the burden alone,” Obama explained. “And I think to myself, if I am willing to give something up as someone who has been extraordinarily blessed, give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy — I actually think that’s going to make economic sense.”

“But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that for unto whom much is given, much shall be required,” the president added.

Only a few hours later, Hatch, who normally favors co-mingling government and religion, was on the floor of the Senate expressing outrage at the president for using the Bible to make a point.

“Just this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast, the president took what has always been a non-partisan opportunity for national unity and used to promote his political agenda,” Hatch complained. “He suggested to the attendees that Jesus would have supported his latest tax-the-rich schemes. With due respect to the president, he ought to stick to public policy. I think most Americans would agree that the Gospels are concerned with weightier matters than effective tax rates.”

“In 2008, the president declared that his nomination was the world historical moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal,” Hatch recalled.

“Someone needs to remind the president that there was only one person who walked on water, and he did not occupy the Oval Office.”

Hatch, however, has made the case for religion in public policy when it suits his needs.

During a Republican presidential debate in 2000, the senator from Utah declared, “if I had my way, I’d have a silent prayer reflection constitutional amendment that would give kids a moment of silent prayer reflection at the beginning of every school day.”

He has also leaned on the Bible to make the case against gay rights.

“It’s a religious belief to me that homosexuality flies in the face of biblical teachings,” Hatch, who is Mormon, told The Salt Lake Tribune in 1999.

(Source: RawStory.com)

Montage: Ignorance of Republican Politicians

newsvideoclip — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:15:42 +0000

Every four years, as another US presidential election comes around, along comes a new batch of candidates with dodgy foreign policy credentials. Their blunders have inspired endless jokes, but they also discredit America in the eyes of the world.

From Palin’s famous: “You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska,” to Michele Bachmann’s public support for waterboarding, some US politicians demonstrate a lack of basic knowledge of geography and international law.

RT’s correspondent Marina Portnaya reports on just how far this ignorance can spread, and what can be done to curb its tragic outcomes.

(Source: RT.com)

Mitt Romney “I’m Not Concerned With the Very Poor”

newsvideoclip — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:17:51 +0000

Coming off his big win in Florida last night, GOP front-runner Mitt Romney told CNN this morning that helping the poor is not his priority, suggesting that Democrats worry enough about the “plight of the poor.”

Romney said: “I’m not concerned with the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of the America.”

“The challenge right now — we will hear from the Democrat party the plight of the poor. And there’s no question it’s not good being poor. And we have a safety net to help those that are very poor, but campaign is focused is on middle-income Americans. My campaign — you can choose where to focus. You can focus on the rich, that’s not my focus. You can focus on the very poor, that’s not my focus.”

(Source; ThinkProgress.org and CNN)

Newt Gingrich Refuses to Debate Obama if Reporters Moderate

newsvideoclip — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:01:57 +0000

At a campaign stop in Florida today, Newt Gingrich said that if he wins the GOP nomination, he will refuse to debate President Obama if a reporter serves as moderator. Gingrich has prided himself on his debating prowess and his intellect, and virtually every presidential debate is moderated by members of the press, but Gingrich thinks all reporters are secretly Obama shills and he is apparently uncomfortable dealing with them: “As your nominee in the fall, I will not accept debates in which reporters are the moderates, because I will not accept another Obama person in the debate.”

(Source: ThinkProgress.org)

Rep. Michele Bachmann Defends Racist Tea Party

newsvideoclip — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:00:19 +0000

Former Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann on Sunday defended the tea party movement, regardless of its often racist tone and racist signs, saying that it had “been only a force for good.”

“The [Republican] Party has changed so much for the better,” Bachmann told CBS host Bob Schieffer. “The tea party has infused the energy and excitement. And really, it’s bringing the Republican Party back to its basic values, which is limited government, cutting spending, being smart, and making the government more efficient.”

“Has the tea party made compromise a dirty word?” Schieffer wondered. “And is that why Congress can’t seem to get anything done?”

“Not at all!” Bachmann replied. “The tea party has been only a force for good in Washington, D.C., because otherwise we continue to go farther and farther to the left, which is redistribution of wealth. That’s why [President Barack Obama] will be a one-termer, because all he has been about is redistribution of wealth and the rise of socialist principles, and the Tea Party rejects that.”

(Source: RawStory.com and CBS News)

GOP Candidates Tell Woman Who Can’t Afford Health Insurance to Buy It

newsvideoclip — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:02:17 +0000

At last night’s CNN presidential debate in Jacksonville, Florida, the GOP candidates told an unemployed woman, Lynn Frazier, who could not afford health insurance that she should simply buy health insurance via a tax deduction.

Under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) which the Republicans would repeal, Frazier may qualify for temporary insurance in the state’s high-risk pool, which already provides coverage for 3,285 Floridians who can’t find affordable coverage elsewhere. In two years, she’ll be able to pick out a health policy through the state’s Exchange. All private insurers will offer a comprehensive basic set of benefits and allow consumers like Frazier to compare and contrast different plans to find the coverage that works best for them and their family. Insurers won’t be able to deny insurance based on past illness or rescind coverage unexpectedly, as they often do in today’s health market, and Frazier will pay a “community” rate and may even qualify for tax credits to help her afford her premiums and out of pocket cost-sharing expenses.

(Source: CNN and ThinkProgress.org)

Focus on the Family: Providing Birth Control “Violates Religious Faith”

newsvideoclip — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:11:56 +0000

On January 20, 2012, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that most employers will be required to cover contraception in their health plans, along with other preventive services, with no cost-sharing such as co-pays or deductibles.

Houses of worship and other religious nonprofits that primarily employ and serve people of the same faith will be exempt. Religiously-affiliated employers who do not qualify for the exemption and are not currently offering contraceptive coverage may apply for transitional relief for a one-year period to give them time to determine how to comply with the rule. Twenty-eight states already require employers, including most religiously affiliated institutions, to cover contraception in their health plans. The only change is that now they must cover the full cost.

However, CitizenLink.com, the political/news arm of Focus on the Family, spokeswoman Carrie Gordon Earll claimed this ruling will “force religious employers to violate their faith” even though there is no actual bible verse that forbids contraception. Earll also said that the plan would cover “FDA drugs that can cause abortions,” but failed to name exactly which drugs do this.

Earll then claimed that “this is one of the first times, that I can think of, that government was mandating what people of faith can and can’t do in their own entities, in their own organizations as far as their faith.”

Earll apparently believes that “faith” can cover any belief whatsoever, regardless of lack of biblical basis, no matter how illogical, as long as an organization says so.

(Source: Focus on the Family and ThinkProgress.org)

Gov. Jan Brewer Feels “Threatened” By President Obama

newsvideoclip — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:02:41 +0000

After pointing her finger in President Obama’s face, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer later claimed that she “felt a little bit threatened, if you will, in the attitude that he had.”

(Source: Mediaite.com)

Newt Gingrich Claims Adultery Makes Him “More Normal”

newsvideoclip — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:06:34 +0000

In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network this afternoon, Newt Gingrich defended his personal marital history, claiming his multiple affairs “make me more normal than somebody who wanders around seeming perfect” because he can understand “the human condition and challenges of life for normal people.”

(Source: CBN and ThinkProgress.org)

Rick Santorum Will Not Refute Crazy “Birthers”

newsvideoclip — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:40:13 +0000

During a town hall event in Florida yesterday, Rick Santorum refused to correct a woman who told him that President Obama is “an avowed Muslim” and is not a “legal” president. Instead, in an exemplary show of cowardice, Santorum pandered to the woman, saying he agreed with her on some of the things she was saying. This morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, New York Magazine’s John Heilemann asked Santorum why he didn’t show leadership in that instance.

(Source: MSNBC and ThinkProgress.org)

Rick Santorum: Rape Victims Should “Make The Best Out of It”

newsvideoclip — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:24:11 +0000

GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who opposes abortion in all circumstances, explained told CNN’s Piers Morgan that a rape victim should “accept this horribly created” pregnancy because it is “nevertheless a gift in a very broken way” and that, when it comes down to it, a victim just has “to make the best out of a bad situation.”

(Source: ThinkProgress.org and CNN)

Billionaire Warren Buffet Slams Mitt Romney

newsvideoclip — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:56:36 +0000

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett himself was asked about Mitt Romney’s 15% tax rate on Bloomberg News and responded that letting millionaire investors like Romney pay such low taxes is “the wrong policy” because he makes his income by just “shoving around money”:

“He makes his money the same way I make my money. He makes money by moving around big bucks, not by straining his back and going to work cleaning the toilets or whatever it may be. He makes it shoving around money. I make it shoving around money. If you look at the 400 highest incomes in the United States, they average $220 million. Something like 90 of them are effectively unemployed. They have no earned income, and that number has gone up over the years.”

“It’s the wrong policy to have. Nothing wrong about [Romney] doing that. He will not pay more than the law requires. I don’t fault him for that in the least, but I do fault the law that allows him and me, earning enormous sums to pay over all federal taxes at a rate that is about half what the average person in my office pays.”

(Source ThinkProgress.org and Bloomberg.com)