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 President Obama is not just a racial trailblazer, but some say a religious pioneer as well. No president has ever shared his type of Christianity, historians say. Some say he may revive a form of Christianity that once dominated America.
October 21st, 2012
06:59 AM ET
The Gospel according to ObamaBy John Blake, CNN President Barack Obama was sharing a pulpit one day with a conservative Christian leader when a revealing exchange took place. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, a conservative Christian who has taken public stands against abortion and same-sex marriage, had joined Obama for an AIDS summit. They were speaking before a conservative megachurch filled with white evangelicals. When Brownback rose to speak, he joked that he had joined Obama earlier at an NAACP meeting where Obama was treated like Elvis and he was virtually ignored. Turning to Obama, a smiling Brownback said, “Welcome to my house!” The audience exploded with laughter and applause. Obama rose, walked before the congregation and then declared: “There is one thing I have to say, Sam. This is my house, too. This is God’s house.” Historians may remember Obama as the nation’s first black president, but he’s also a religious pioneer. He’s not only changed people’s perception of who can be president, some scholars and pastors say, but he’s also expanding the definition of who can be a Christian by challenging the religious right’s domination of the national stage. When Obama invoked Jesus to support same-sex marriage, framed health care as a moral imperative to care for “the least of these,’’ and once urged people to read their Bible but just not literally, he was invoking another Christian tradition that once dominated American public life so much that it gave the nation its first megachurches, historians say. “Barack Obama has referred to his faith more times than most presidents ever have, but for many it’s the wrong kind of faith,” says Jim Wallis, head of Sojourners, an evangelical activist group based in Washington that focuses on poverty and social justice issues. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter “It is not the faith of the religious right. It’s about things that they don’t talk about. It’s about how the Bible is full of God’s clear instruction to care for the poor.” Some see a 'different' kind of Christian Obama is a progressive Christian who blends the emotional fire of the African-American church, the ecumenical outlook of contemporary Protestantism, and the activism of the Social Gospel, a late 19th-century movement whose leaders faulted American churches for focusing too much on personal salvation while ignoring the conditions that led to pervasive poverty. No other president has shared the hybrid faith that Obama displays, says Diana Butler Bass, a historian and author of “Christianity after Religion.” “The kind of faith that Obama articulates is not the sort of Christianity that’s understood by the media or by a large swath of Christians in the U.S.,” says Bass, a progressive Christian. “He’s a different kind of Christian, and the media and the public awareness needs to reawaken to that fact.” Some Christians, however, still see Obama as the “other.” He doesn’t act or talk like other Christians, says the Rev. Gary Cass, a conservative Christian president of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. “I just don’t see or hear in his accounts the kind of things that I’ve heard as a minister for over 25 years coming from the mouths of people who have genuinely converted to Christianity,” says Cass, pastor of Christ Church in San Diego. Cass says he’s never heard Obama say he’s “born-again.” There’s no emotional conversion story to hang onto. Obama talks about his faith and attends church, but Cass says that doesn’t mean he’s a Christian. “Joining a church doesn’t mean you’re a Christian. “You can put me in the garage, but that doesn’t turn me into a car.” The origins of Obama’s faith The suspicion about Obama’s faith may seem odd at first because he’s written and spoken so much about his spiritual evolution in his two autobiographies, “Dreams of my Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.” Other books, like “The Faith of Obama” by Stephen Mansfield, also explore Obama’s beliefs.  The 1925 “Monkey” trial of John Scopes, a high school biology teacher who taught evolution, drove fundamentalists underground, some say. Mansfield says Obama is the first president who wasn’t raised in a Christian home. Obama’s mother was an atheist and his grandparents were religious skeptics (Obama’s family has challenged the description of his mother as an atheist. Obama called her “the most spiritually awakened” person he’d ever known, and his sister called their mother an agnostic). CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories Mansfield called Obama’s boyhood a “religious swirl. He was exposed to Catholicism, Islam, and strains of Hinduism and Buddhism while growing up in Indonesia during the 1960s. “In our household, the Bible, the Koran and the Bhagavad Gita sat on the shelf alongside books of Greek and Norse and African mythology,” Obama said in Mansfield’s book. “On Easter or Christmas Day, my mother might drag me to church, just as she dragged me to the Buddhist temple, the Chinese New Year celebration, the Shinto shrine, and ancient Hawaiian burial sites.” Obama became a Christian while he was a community organizer in Chicago. He joined a predominantly black United Church of Christ. The UCC became the first mainline Protestant denomination to officially support same-sex marriage in 2005. Obama’s faith showed many of the elements of a liberal Protestant church: an emphasis on the separation of church and state, religious tolerance and the refusal to embrace a literal reading of the Bible. In a 2006 speech before a Sojourners meeting, Obama talked about his approach to the Bible: “Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount – a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application?” When many people think of Obama’s religious experience in Chicago, though, they cite his exposure to the angry sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and “black liberation theology,” a movement that emerged in the late 1960s and blended the Social Gospel with the black power movement. Bass, the church historian, says another black pastor shaped Obama’s theology more: the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He attended liberal Protestant seminaries where he learned about the Social Gospel’s concern for the entire person, soul and body.  Obama has reached out to evangelical leaders like Rick Warren, seen here praying at Obama’s inauguration, but many still doubt his faith. King once wrote that “any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them …is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.” But King and the black church also fused the Social Gospel with an emotional fervor missing from white Protestant churches, Bass says. Other presidents like Franklin Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were influenced by the Social Gospel, but they weren’t shaped by the black church. “This is the first time we’re hearing the Social Gospel from the perspective of the black church from the Oval Office. It makes it warmer, more emotive, more communal," Bass says. "There is less fear of linking the Social Gospel with the stories of the Bible, especially the stories of Exodus and Jesus’ healings.” The emphasis on community uplift - not individual attainment - may strike some Americans as socialist. But the emphasis on community is part of King’s “Beloved Community,” Bass says. King once wrote that all people are caught up in an “inescapable network of mutuality… I can never be what I ought to be until you are allowed to be what you ought to be.” “When I listen to Obama, I don’t hear communism, I hear the Beloved Community,” Bass says. “But a lot of white Americans don’t hear that because they never sat in those churches and heard it over and over again. It’s the whole theology that motivated MLK and the civil rights movement.” Obama is not a Christian, some think For some, Obama’s actions in the Oval Office seem to contradict Christianity. Jesus was nonviolent. Obama has ramped up drone attacks in Afghanistan that have not only removed terrorists, but killed civilians. The Bible talks about the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman. Obama invoked Jesus when he came out in support of same-sex marriage. “The thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule," Obama told ABC News during his announcement. Jesus talked about helping the poor. But he never said anything about creating a massive health care law that taxed the rich to help the poor, some Christians argue. But Wallis of Sojourners says Obama’s push for health care was a supreme example of Christian faith. A situation where 50 million Americans don’t have health insurance is “a fundamental Christian problem,” Wallis says. “Health is such a Gospel issue. Jesus was involved in healing all the time, and to have some people excluded from health care because they lack wealth is a fundamental Christian contradiction.” Wallis has been one of the most persistent defenders of Obama’s faith. But no matter how much Scripture he and others cite, doubts about Obama’s faith have followed him throughout his political career. Focus on the Family founder James Dobson once said that Obama distorted the traditional understanding of the Bible “to fit his own world, his own confused theology.” The Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, publicly questioned Obama’s faith, then later apologized. Conservative Christian books and websites are filled with stories of Obama allegedly trying to suppress the nation’s Christian heritage. The Rev. Steven Andrew, author of “Making a Strong Nation,” says Obama is trying to change the national motto from “In God we Trust” to “Out of Many, One,” and he’s ordered the Pentagon to remove biblical verses from its daily report. “That’s the most serious thing someone can do to a nation, trying to separate a nation from God,” he says. “He seems to be trying to change the Christian laws our Founding Fathers made.” Andrew says Obama is actually an enemy of Christianity. In his book, Andrew argues that the Founding Fathers were Christians who created a “covenant Christian nation” and calls for a “national repentance.” “I think he’s an anti-Christ,” Andrew says. Cass, of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, says Obama’s emphasis on helping the poor through social justice isn’t Christianity. Christians who talk about “social justice” are often practicing “warmed-over Marxism,” Cass says. “Do I believe in caring for the poor and oppressed? Yes. But you don’t do it along the lines of communistic redistributing.” Obama’s support of same-sex marriage and abortion rights also disqualifies him from being a Christian, Cass says. “It’s the most pro-abortion administration in the history of America. On every social issue – the sanctity of life and of marriage between men and women – Obama is on the wrong side of every moral issue,” he says. He says a progressive Christian is a contradiction. “No Christian says I believe in Jesus Christ and I reject the Bible,” Cass says. “These progressives who say they’re Christians are liars. They’re using Christianity as a guise to advance their own agenda.” Cass says he doesn’t know what Obama believes. “He’s conflicted,” Cass says. “He has Muslim sympathies from his upbringing." How progressive Christianity lost the public square There was a time when Obama’s brand of Christianity would have been understood by millions of Americans, historians say.  Obama along with first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Malia and Sasha leave church after attending a Sunday prayer service. The Social Gospel and progressive Protestantism dominated the American religious square from the end of the 19th century up to the 1960s. At times, the traditions blended together so seamlessly that it was hard to tell the difference. The Social Gospel rose out of the excesses of the Gilded Age in the 1880s, when urban poverty spread across America as immigrants crammed into filthy slums to work long hours in unsafe conditions. Walter Rauschenbusch, a Baptist pastor in a New York slum, urged the church to take “social sins” as seriously as they took individual vices. Churches began feeding the poor and fighting against other social ills. “The notion that religious people should be about feeding the poor and helping the homeless is a carryover of the Social Gospel,” says Charles Kammer, a religion professor at Wooster College in Ohio. The Social Gospel was adopted by many Protestant churches in the late 19th and early 20th century, says Bass, the church historian. Some of the Social Gospel churches grew popular because they provided the poor with everything from English classes to sewing instructions and basketball leagues. “The first American megachurches were liberal, Social Gospel urban churches,” Bass says. The Social Gospel, though, sparked a backlash from a group of pastors during World War I. They were called fundamentalists. They published a pamphlet listing the “fundamentals of the faith:” Biblical inerrancy, the virgin birth, Adam and Eve. But the fundamentalists lost the battle for public opinion during the “Scopes Monkey Trial” in 1925. John Scopes, a high school science teacher, was tried for violating a Tennessee law that prohibited the teaching of evolution. Though Scopes lost, fundamentalist Christians were mocked in the press as “anti-intellectual rubes,” and a number of states suspended pending legislation that would have made teaching evolution illegal, says David Felten, author of “Living the Questions: The Wisdom of Progressive Christianity.” The trial drove fundamentalists underground where they created a subculture, their own media networks, seminaries and megachurches, he says. That subculture thrives today, Felten says, and has infiltrated the political arena. It has created an “alternative intellectual universe” that denies science, rational thought – and any beliefs that violate their definition of being a Christian, Felten says. “They have millions of adherents who believe in a literal six day creation and a literal Adam and Eve – so it’s not a stretch to believe that President Obama is a Kenyan-born secret Muslim bent on destroying the country,” Felten says. Progressive Christians eventually lost the messaging wars to this fundamentalist subculture, Bass says. Their nuanced view of faith couldn’t compete with the “spiritual triumphalism” of conservatives. “If you get up and say we’re right and we have the truth, then you have a powerful public message,” she says. “They have a theological advantage in the public discourse. It’s comforting to have things clear, to have things black and white.” The result today is that the Protestant tradition that shapes much of Obama’s Christianity is fading from public view. The share of Protestant Christians in the United States has dropped below 50% of the population, according to a recent survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. White mainline Protestants make up only 15% of the nation’s population, the survey revealed. The study also found that the fastest growing "religious group" in the country is people who are not affiliated with any religion. Another generation of Christians, though, may bring a new version of progressive Christianity back. The lines between younger conservative Christians and progressives are blurring, says Marcia Pally, author of “The New Evangelicals: Expanding the Vision of the Common Good.” Pally spent six years traveling across America to interview evangelicals. She says her research revealed that more than 60% of young evangelicals support more governmental programs to aid the needy, as well as more emphasis on economic justice and environmental protection issues. “What’s interesting is that these values, associated with Obama and the black Protestant tradition are now also the values of a growing number of white evangelicals,” she says. Her perspective suggests that Obama’s faith may be treated by history in two ways: He could be seen as the last embodiment of a progressive version of Christianity that went obsolete. Or he could be seen as a leader who helped resurrect a dying brand of Christianity for a new generation. soundoff (8,626 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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God help us!
Read the book, The Gospel of Barack Hussein Obama According to Mark
John P. Tarver
Bilial-Your power ended at Calvary. Now you are only a dusty old loser fallen angel.
Keep saying your prayers as you cower in fear little man. Whats vthat smell?
It is your colostomy bag.
If anyone would know for sure, its you.
If you are people sincere in your concern for the debt, and aren't just engaging in partisan sniping, you need to read 'The Fiscal Legacy of George W. Bush', by Bruce Bartlett.
Bruce Bartlett was a senior economic adviser to Presidents Reagan and Bush (1), and to Congressman Ron Paul as well.
The article is accurate and concise.
People lie; numbers don't.
If you want to understand our current debt situation, this is the article you need to read.
George Bush is gone.
That's the thing about credit cards, Tarver... When it comes to trillions of dollars, the bills remain long after the point of purchase.
But do please continue to make your dodges of the actual data completely obvious.
The actuall relaxation of controls for the real estate markets was done under Clinton by his Secretary of Treasury Robert Rubin. When Republicans tried to undo the worst of the harm before the crash it was Barney Franks who blocked them. I never claimed Bush was anything other than a chimp, but Obama is GW's third term.
The real estate market was controlled? LOL really?
John P. Tarver
Lucifer-If you are so smart why doe cross burners worship Ba'al and why do the Lilith's sit Kabolla? Why is your fallen name Bilial? (the worthless one)
Ooooh... check out the big brain on Tarver! Just for that you will burn in hell for all eternity smartass. You see, I work for your christ, and I can have any pathetic soul I ask for, no matter how much sphincter kissing you do. What thats smell? Why its Tarver on fire.
Exactly.
John Tarver has been trolling this comment section with misinformation for more than a day. He tells blatant lies – repeatedly – and never responds to efforts to correct the record. His is an inveterate liar.
Mitt Romney is NOT a CHRISTIAN. Wonder why there was no Saddleback Church town hall this year? No one wants people to learn what Mormonism is all about!
He does NOT believe in the Christian understanding of Christ the Savior. He REJECTS the Apostle's Creed. He does NOT believe in the Holy Trinity. He is NOT A CHRISTIAN AT ALL.
Bilial-Your power ended at Calvary. Now you are only a dusty old loser fallen angel.
@John
You sir are nuttier than squirrel sh!t.
@Lucifer
Excellent counter troll.
If Barry is truly a Christian, then the Ayatollah is the Pope.
Pretty mean insult there NoPinko ... to the Ayatollah that is 😉
Scott
Mitt Romney is NOT a CHRISTIAN. Wonder why there was no Saddleback Church town hall this year? No one wants people to learn what Mormonism is all about!
He does NOT believe in the Christian understanding of Christ the Savior. He REJECTS the Apostle's Creed. He does NOT believe in the Holy Trinity. He is NOT A CHRISTIAN AT ALL.
He is a man that has gotten rich by shipping American jobs to China. Repeatedly. This isn't some tactic from his distant past, he does it ALL THE TIME. Texas Instruments (now Sensata) made record profits last year, but... Not enough for Mitt.... STILL going to ship the plant to China next year, along with another 170+ American jobs.
The communist islamo moslim USURPER is NOT a CHRIStian in ANY sense of the word. PERIOD!
an islamic communist huh? how does that work then?
Mitt Romney is NOT a CHRISTIAN. Wonder why there was no Saddleback Church town hall this year? No one wants people to learn what Mormonism is all about!
He does NOT believe in the Christian understanding of Christ the Savior. He REJECTS the Apostle's Creed. He does NOT believe in the Holy Trinity. He is NOT A CHRISTIAN AT ALL.
He is a man that has gotten rich by shipping American jobs to China. Repeatedly. This isn't some tactic from his distant past, he does it ALL THE TIME. Texas Instruments (now Sensata) made record profits last year, but... Not enough for Mitt.... STILL going to ship the plant to China next year, along with another 170+ American jobs.
Compton-Why is your only friend a loser fallen angel?
Who cares what religion Obama is?! He's been an awesome president, who has proven that he's a great leader, as well as cared for his fellow man. He has proven to be WAY more Christian than most of you hate-mongering, racist, religious-right Christian freaks. Stop questioning the faith of someone else and start focusing on your own faith.
People who believe Obama has been an awsome President should vote for him.
Trying to portray Obama as a Christian is futile backpedaling ..he is beyond doubt a Muslim. (see youtube video: 'obama the muslim his own words' ) Obama is mocking the Holy Bible and Jesus .(."Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount – a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application?”) ...he went on to say afterward ("Y'all ain't been reading your Bible.") Well I've been reading mine. There is a big difference between reading it and understanding it ..Obama doesn't understand that you can't kill innocent civilians and not have to answer to God. Aside from that, it's against the 1st Commandment to have any other God ..any real Christian knows that!
(“In our household, the Bible, the Koran and the Bhagavad Gita sat on the shelf alongside books of Greek and Norse and African mythology,”)
Your god is an effin' hypocrite. Remember that little flood he supposedly caused to kill every human being on the planet?
I guess the rule is". "Do as I say not as I do
You believe in fairy tales and myths as fact. You are obviously certifiably insane.
"Obama is mocking the Holy Bible and Jesus .(."Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount – a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application?)"
How in any way, shape or form is that mocking the bible or jesus? seriously?
What he is quite rightly saying is that if government followed the sermon on the mount, the defence dept would not be able to operate. Do you disagree with that statement?
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."
"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:"
"Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison."
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
Mitt Romney is NOT a CHRISTIAN. Wonder why there was no Saddleback Church town hall this year? No one wants people to learn what Mormonism is all about!
He does NOT believe in the Christian understanding of Christ the Savior. He REJECTS the Apostle's Creed. He does NOT believe in the Holy Trinity. He is NOT A CHRISTIAN AT ALL.
..to cedar rapids: ..The Devil quoted the Bible to Jesus also.
..to Just call me lucifer: ..I try not to post to atheists .."Shun profane and vain babblings for they will increase unto more ungodlyness."
"to cedar rapids: ..The Devil quoted the Bible to Jesus also."
thats nice and all but has what exactly to do with the comment obama was making? do you, or do you not, agree that if the dept of def had to live strictly by the sermon on the mount they would not be able to function? Is he wrong in the statement? and again, how is that statement mocking anything?
All this article does is show to the world that your average Americans are really, really stupid.
Amen.
Lucifer-If you are so smart why doe cross burners worship Ba'al and why do the Lilith's sit Kabolla? Why is your fallen name Bilial? (the worthless one)
How come everytime someone disagrees with Obama or makes even the slightest point/disagreement with the president people assume they are voting for Romney and are a "radical Republican"? No candidate is perfect, some "appear" to be better then others, but this idolatry of Obama by the left has gotten out of control. Liberals talk a big game about tolerance, but since 2008 this clearly has not been the case. The majority of Democrats (especially the younger ones) truly believe that if someone is Republican they must be either stupid, misinformed, brainwashed, a religious fanatic, a racist or some kind of greedy millionare. Although the GOP has forgotten and strayed far from its roots, the fact remains that there is absolutely nothing "radical" about endorsing true conservatism. Small government vs Big government; the bottom line in the differences between both parties. I really hope that the GOP catches up on domestic issues and realizes that religion needs to stay out of politics, because I and many others believe that Small government where the majority of power is left to the states is the superior form of government, and there is nothing wrong with that. 1
you posted this earlier, and as i pointed out then you are just as guilty of sweeping statements, with the 'majority of democrats' claim, that you are moaning about.
There are also enough right wingers that label liberals as godless, marxist, lazy scroungers as to make your one sided statement very disingenuous.
I admit I did post it earlier but only because I wanted to see some responses to the comment but I have know idea where it was in this sea of posts. So I thought Id repost and get some different responses....thanks for being on alert though.
*no
I understand. With so many comments coming thick and fast its easy to lose track.
Most of America's youth are indoctrinated by NEA to believe Republcans are many things; may of which are the historical property of the Democratic Party. These are the same folks that teach evolution as a means to species, a notional hypothesis that is false. Both the geological record and Dr. Gould's work disprove evolution as a means to species; but prove quite the opposite.
I am an athiest conservative, but thanks for the semi relevant post.
Athiests became an obstruction to the advancement of science in America through through NEA. In China there is no god to oppose, so they can advance science.
Why is it that government has GROWN under every Republican administration over the last fifty years? Conservatives are nothing but useful idiots to the rich.
You said that very eloquently and I couldn't agree more.
"These are the same folks that teach evolution as a means to species, a notional hypothesis that is false. Both the geological record and Dr. Gould's work disprove evolution as a means to species; but prove quite the opposite"
uh huh, okay then.
Bilial-Reagan reduced Federal employment by 8% and Romnney has promised a 10% RIF when elected.
so you mean romney has promised to make 200,000 people unemployed? yay....thats a yay right? isnt that right?
Cedar-removing 200,000 overpaid parasites will create a boost to the private economy similar to the 20 years of prosperity Ronald Reagan creatd with a similar reduction in force. Federal civil servants are paid more than double their private sector counterparts and this seems unfair to those who produce a net revenue increase to Government and fill the economy with jobs.
It's because Republicans have acted stupid since the mid-90's.
How many of them have been Global Warming Deniers? Anti Evolution? Come up with the most outrageous stupid statements, and lie like the devils themselves? Why do you think so many people think Obama is a Muslim. That is not an accident. That is based on Republicanism. How about lying to get into a war? How about accusing anyone who questioned that war of being a traitor? THOSE activities crossed lines that Eisenhower, or Teddy R, or other decent Republicans would never have crossed, including George Romney. MITT however, embraces it because in Republican land, you have to embrace stupid to get past the stupid Republicans. You know this is the truth.
"Cedar-removing 200,000 overpaid parasites"
people with jobs are parasites now?
Besides, Reagan ran on a balanced budget platform. Months after he took office the economy was in a recession, and by time he left office taxes on the middle class were WAY UP including mine, and the deficit TRIPLED. there was no war! THAT is how Reagan dealt with it. Spend. Bush Sr raised taxes, remember? Clinton did also, but balanced the budget. Bush, bless his heart, lowered taxes and you can see how great it all turned out with Junior at the helm.
Republicans are NOT small government policymakers, they are small government talkers. Every single time. EVERY SINGLE TIME. The ONLY President who shrunk the government in decades as been OBAMA! The huge deficit is because of not just increased spending, but lower tax receipts because the economy was horrible under Bush. Also, Bush kept the wars off the books, remembers? And, we are spending crazy amounts of money on health care. So the only President who tackles that is, OBAMA. Using a plan from the Heritage Foundation no less.
Why oh why do conservatives NOT LIKE THIS GUY?
@Tarver
Yeah.... ahhhh....no. You're a liar. Believe me, I respect that about conservative christians.
According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which tracks the number of employees per year, the data shows that the “conservatives” for small government are really just big government conservatives.
President Carter.
On December 31st 1976 (Not Carter’s term yet), total nonmilitary personnel was 2,883,000. By December 31st 1980 the end of his term (minus a month), the total in nonmilitary personnel was 2,875,000.
Federal government nonmilitary employees shrunk by 8,000 employees under Carter.
Ronald Reagan
On January 21st, 1981, President Reagan started with 2,875,000 nonmilitary federal employees.
By the end of Reagan’s terms the total number of nonmilitary federal employees was 3,113,000. That is an INCREASE of 238,000
George H.W. Bush.
On January 20th, 1989, total federal nonmilitary employment was 3,113,000
by the end of his only term, President George H.W. Bush had 3,083,000 federal nonmilitary employees on the books. That is a REDUCTION of 30,000 employees.
Bill Clinton
President Bill Clinton came into office with 3,083,000 and by the END of his TWO TERMS he reduced the number of Federal employees to 2,703,000. That is a reduction of 380,000 federal employees.
That funny taste in your mouth is a combination of demon seed and humble pie. Get used to it... its served every Wednesday where your soul is going.
The bottom line is that CNN shouldn't be posting one-sided articles. How about an article discussing Romney's religious beliefs? The Mormon Church is not a "Christian" church...
Athiests are already attacking Mormon for not being the Christians the Athiests hate.
Jannae,
There is an article like that running right now on these blogs (and there have been many others recently):
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/21/atheist-billboard-attacks-romneys-faith-but-mormons-say-its-misleading/
Have a blast...
Johnny....we do not hate Christians. We are wary of their influence in secular law.
Admittedly, we do feel some of them are fools
He is to smart to be a Christian. I suspect he is a closet atheist, or agnostic at worse.
@coli...
nope
typo "too smart"
@coli....
nope
Beauty...now it's up to you to determine who is a Christian and who isn't?? When did you become God?
Last week
Middle school must be out for the day.
Obama’s moral positions are anti-Bible and anti-Christ
Hey Hunter, I'm an atheist, HUNT ME... LOL As for the whole Obama thing being Anti-Christ.. bull Sh it! Obama is a pragmatic man who has used religon to his benefit, to become President and garner support. The man is a genius!
How about some proof? Start by naming some...
Amen!
Who cares what he believes or whether he believes at all? He could save a house full of burning orphans and somebody would make a stink about it. If you don't like the way this country is ran, then shut up, take some political classes and run for president. I am so sick of hearing people moan and complain yet, they do nothing about it. I read a very good statement the other day, "It is much better to lead then follow." Call me a radical and I'll embrace it because, at least I'm doing something about it!
Spoken list a true narcissist.
what are you saying AH? telling people to stop moaning like a bitch and try help themselves is being narcissist? you really need classes in "Basic comprehension 101"
Atheist Hunter is a troll... you can tell by the pablum comments he can't even defend.
Totally disagree with this article. Whether you like him ot not. He never talks about religion unless he is pressured to do so!
Yeah, cause he can't keep it straight, my Muslim faith, oops!
To Sam Stone Shine your own shoes you illiterate moron. You are probably another welfare case. Enjoing your new phone and goverment cheese? Go join the church of I hate whitie with your Muslim friend. You are all trash
you need help
is that meant to be a display of christian love Beauty? if so, i hate to tell you this, but you are doing it wrong.
“No Christian says I believe in Jesus Christ and I reject the Bible,” Cass says" Right because everyone knows that Jesus came back from the dead again to put his seal of approval on the BIBLE a book written by MEN to control other MEN.
@coll...
nope
Let me correct myself...many people earning over $250,000 support Obama. That is, the intelligent ones who want to help fix this broken economy caused by Bush.
GW inherited an economy in Recession and markets in freefall, but he turned the economy around in 6 months.
Still blaming Bush. Stupid. 4 years and the economy is worse. Open your eyes
The economy isn't worse. Are you blind?
If you are people sincere in your concern for the debt, and aren't just engaging in partisan sniping, you need to read 'The Fiscal Legacy of George W. Bush', by Bruce Bartlett.
Bruce Bartlett was a senior economic adviser to Presidents Reagan and Bush (1), and to Congressman Ron Paul as well.
The article is accurate and concise.
People lie; numbers don't.
If you want to understand our current debt situation, this is the article you need to read.
John Tarver that is baloney. There was no recession when GW took over.
@beauty: take a look at the un-employment level during clinton's era vs bush jr.
now compare that average compared to what obama has accomplished in lowering the national average of un-employment.
i remember great days under the clinton admin where the employees, not the employers had the power to choose where they worked and how much they would be paid just due to the shear amount of work out there. in four years and two wars later bush jr. sank the economy into the ground by paying more attention to his fantasy war that bush sr didn't finish against sadam.
i was in iraq THERE WERE NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. it was all a lie. obama got osama and got us out of iraq, he dropped the unemployement rate and worked hard to keep families out of being homeless, he called the banks out on their shady foreclosure practices and attempted to place standards on wall street again to reduce risk of another fiscal collapse.
obama has made the corrct moves for america since he has been in office, however republicans from day one only shouted " LET'S MAKE HIM A ONE TERM PRESIDENT." and " FILABUSTER" they refused to work with the man. i couldn't care less about what fantasy god he prays to as long as i can feed my family and give my children a good education i say let obama do the job america highered him for.
To Primework You are so stupid it is scary. You are one of those morons who voted for the Muslim in the first place. Go get a job. I am almost sure you can say "You want fries with that". Again maybe not Enjoy your welfare and your new phone. You are certainly no Christian. Thank GOD
neither are you.
Wow. I guess Primewonk really got under your tender hide, huh, Beauty?
You've got gall calling anyone else "stupid."
Tom-Not for the civil service segment of the 47%, but Romney has promised a 10% reduction in force for Federal civil service; more than dear old Ronald Reagan's 8% RIF.