Saying liberals "hate America" is soo 2010. Fired Up Missouri reports that Missouri Representative Todd Akin, R-Wildwood, in a conversation with Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, said that "at the heart of liberalism really is a hatred for God and a belief that government should replace God." To read and hear the full statement visit righwingwatch.org
Akin and Perkins were discussing NBC's cutting the phrase "under God" out of the pledge of allegiance during coverage of the U.S. Open. Why did NBC do it? Who cares. I'm more interested to know if Rep. Akin really believes that liberals hate God?
We expect this sort of incendiary rhetoric from talk show hosts and Internet blowhards (like me?), but as the pressure has built on the right to push the envelope, it has become increasingly common for conservative members of congress to make such statements. These devisive rhetoric statements are beneath the dignity of our elected officials. Liberals have long been accused of being anti-religious and wanting to "take God out of the public square", but there a big difference between being non-religious and 'hating God.'
Rep. Akin is challenging democrat Senator Claire McCaskill, who is up for reelection in 2012. It's hard to imagine Sen McCaskill saying something this inflammatory. If she were to say, for example, that "conservatives hate poor people" one would hear the howls of protest from miles away. Fox news would be playing the tape over and over, as would BigGovernment and other conservative blogs. There would be demands that she apologise and resign. But when a conservative drops a verbal bomb like Akin did, the liberal press is silent? Why?
Maybe they are afraid of being accused of being liberal. More likely they just cant keep up with all the enflamatory rhetoric. Or maybe such statements are so common now from the right that they are no longer newsworthy.
At any rate, the "liberals hate God" statement raises the bar for conservative politicians. What's next, "liberals are on league with the devil"? Ironically, the man who wants to replace Akin when he leaves his congressional seat, Ed Martin, has already gone there. In 2009 Martin said of Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan "she does the devil's work".
Akin and Perkins were discussing NBC's cutting the phrase "under God" out of the pledge of allegiance during coverage of the U.S. Open. Why did NBC do it? Who cares. I'm more interested to know if Rep. Akin really believes that liberals hate God?
We expect this sort of incendiary rhetoric from talk show hosts and Internet blowhards (like me?), but as the pressure has built on the right to push the envelope, it has become increasingly common for conservative members of congress to make such statements. These devisive rhetoric statements are beneath the dignity of our elected officials. Liberals have long been accused of being anti-religious and wanting to "take God out of the public square", but there a big difference between being non-religious and 'hating God.'
Rep. Akin is challenging democrat Senator Claire McCaskill, who is up for reelection in 2012. It's hard to imagine Sen McCaskill saying something this inflammatory. If she were to say, for example, that "conservatives hate poor people" one would hear the howls of protest from miles away. Fox news would be playing the tape over and over, as would BigGovernment and other conservative blogs. There would be demands that she apologise and resign. But when a conservative drops a verbal bomb like Akin did, the liberal press is silent? Why?
Maybe they are afraid of being accused of being liberal. More likely they just cant keep up with all the enflamatory rhetoric. Or maybe such statements are so common now from the right that they are no longer newsworthy.
At any rate, the "liberals hate God" statement raises the bar for conservative politicians. What's next, "liberals are on league with the devil"? Ironically, the man who wants to replace Akin when he leaves his congressional seat, Ed Martin, has already gone there. In 2009 Martin said of Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan "she does the devil's work".