Obviously, the reason why Franklin Graham used his national television appearances on Easter Sunday to promote Birtherism is because President Obama has not invited him to the White House for lunch. Really.
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Obviously, the reason why Franklin Graham used his national television appearances on Easter Sunday to promote Birtherism is because President Obama has not invited him to the White House for lunch. Really.
Your snark overestimates the intellect of Franklin Graham.
Franklin Graham is an idiot. The chances that he’s getting pissy on national television just because Obama didn’t invite him to lunch are at least 50%. He’s a blibbering idiot, a moron of the highest degree. Presuming he can hold a rational motive greater than pique is a presumption entirely without merit.
One of the motivators for the Clinton impeachment was perportedly, that Newt was POed that Bill made him ride in the back of the plane. Some people never leave
high school.
I think that was the reputed motive for one of the government shutdowns, not the impeachment, but your point stands.
President Obama: “ My latest negotiations with Speaker of the House, John Boehner, regarding the seating arrangement on Air Force 1 for our upcoming Summit in Europe, while far reaching and quite intense, concluded successfully and, I am happy to report, on a bi-partisan basis. Only when both sides are willing to negotiate in good faith, give as well as take, can progress be made in reaching the hopes and aspirations laid out for us by our founders.
When the talks began our two sides were far apart, but as I stated many times in my campaign, only when you are willing to comprise can good things be accomplished for the American people.
At the beginning I offered Speaker Boehner the most prestigious seats, right behind the pilot’s cabin, and right next to the service galley. He countered by insisting he be seated right in the flight crew’s compartment, preferably in the first officer’s seat, and that I should fly on the helicopter, Marine 1. Sensing that Mr. Boehner was not aware that that I was captain of the debating team at Occidental College and fully versed in the pernicious , Peruvian, Judas Kiss gambit, I immediately offered up my check-mate, winning proposal.
By drawing a line in the sand, and showing my determination, he was caught off guard, and appeared disoriented as he accepted my final offer: I would NOT be humiliated by flying on the helicopter, AF 1, but I would fly right there on Jet, Air Force 1 (albeit, as a replacement flight attendant) and John, as a face-saving gesture, agreed to give up his first officer seat request for the one right next to it, the Captain’s chair.
And that, my fellow Americans, with unity, compromise, and good faith, is the way your President will lead you to a somewhat prosperous and almost optimistic tomorrow.
Thought experiment:
Imagine a huge segment of the population having a different skin color than yours, rallies around the idea that you aren’t a US citizen. And they spend enormous amounts of energy and money denying you your birthright. In effect shouting that you are illegitimate. How pissed off would you be? How pissed off ought you to be?
I am glad to see someone on the right almost call this for what it is…
And who would have thought it would be Brewer of AZ?
That goes far but not far enough. This is, and always has been about racism. Whitey-righty can’t abide the fact that he’s got a black President. And as much as Obama disappoints, winning in 2012 will be the biggest most delicious smack down of Whitey-righty ever.
I’m looking forward to it…
I honestly think this is the most interesting part: “Moments later, he contended that the government has undermined the traditional church function of assisting the poor because it took this mission “away from the church, and…had more money to give and more programs to give, and pretty soon, the churches just backed off.” I could be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure that Baptists like Graham utterly reject the notion that one can be saved by one’s own meritorious acts. So if this is a traditional role of the church as Graham conceives the church, it is an appurtenant role and one entirely secondary to that of spreading the Gospel so that people can affirm that Jesus is their Lord and Savior, thereby being born anew and attaining paradise.
Aside from that the statement implies that relieving suffering is the exclusive “turf” of the Church, and that the churches backed off out of pride. Alternatively it implies that the government’s involvement in poor relief was more successful than that of the churches, if they backed off from a lack of deserving recipients. Either way, I don’t think Graham intends those two implications.
But mostly it is surprising theologically for the emphasis Graham places on the church as an institution. While Franklin Graham here has done a poor job of preaching the Word, and has seriously undermined the centrality of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, he has done a surprisingly decent job at showing why the Catholic policy of priestly celibacy isn’t necessarily a bad idea.