I enjoy reading the section of comments that follows most news stories found on the internet. Sometimes, there is a poignant comment posted before the conversation degrades into a name calling session between “big government liberals” and “bible thumping bigots”. I stay out of the fray, reserving my comments for my own blog, but I delight at the fighting the same way the Romans must have felt watching gladiators kill each other for sport.
This morning, I was drinking my coffee and enjoying the online bickering when I realized I had begun to see a term that was growing in popularity. People were referring to the president as “Obammy”. I’m smart enough to understand this play on words between “Obama” and “mammy”, but not smart enough to understand what is meant by the word. So, I started researching the word to determine what was meant. Strangely, though I found dozens of examples of this word being used, I couldn’t find any resource that explained the origination or the meaning of this term.
It was then that I came across a very interesting web site that explained the origin of the fictional character “mammy”. The page was one of a collection of pages that discussed racism – particularly images of racism. And the more I read, the more fascinated I became. You see, this web site was created by a black man who had been collecting racist images since his childhood. And what was fascinating is that he hated his own collection. But somehow, he knew it was important to create it.
By the time he had reached adulthood and began raising his own children, his basement was full of these racist images and he sometimes found his children playing with them. It was then that he realized he needed to remove this collection from his home and put them on display in a museum, where people could come to learn how these racist stereotypes came to exist. And so, the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorobilia was created.
As I read, I began to wonder, if we could take a poll of all the people who freely used the term, “Obammy”, how many of them would say that they identified themselves closely with the Tea Party? Assuming that number is relatively high, why then, would anyone want to willingly associate themselves with a political party who would also welcome these people?
Read about the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorobilia
Friday, February 17, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Rick, please shut up. You sound like a moron!
The following is an exact transcript of Rick Santorum’s speech after winning the Republican primary in three states the other night. The remarks in red are the responses that my inner voice was screaming while I watched his speech.
Wow! Conservatism is alive and well in Missouri and Minnesota.
Conservatives? In Missouri? Wow! How surprising! I was pretty sure that the liberals would come out in droves to vote in the Republican primary. Oh, wait.
Thank you all so very, very much. It is great to be here. I just can't thank the people of Missouri; we doubled them up here and in Minnesota.
Um, you doubled them? Huh?
I want to also thank -- I have to always thank -- first off, let me just thank God for giving us the grace to be able to persevere through the -- through the dog days, and blessing us and blessing our family.
Perservere through the dog days? You mean the hottest days of the summer, when the Romans would typically sacrifice a brown dog to appease the rage of the god, Sirius? Those dog days? Isn’t this February? Does anyone know what the hell is he talking about?
My wife, Karen, here, what a rock. I mean, what a rock through these last few weeks. We have had -- we have had more drama than any family really needs. And -- and she has just been an amazing rock and a great blessing to me. And I just want to thank you in particular, my sweet, for all you've done. Thank you.
Frankly, your wife is not a rock, she’s a saint. I mean, she saw you there in that sexy sweater vest, and she slept with you anyway – more than once! Now that’s what I call taking one for the team! Millions of American women owe her a debt of gratitude. What’s the name of her web site? She’s the one who deserves the contributions.
I want to thank my kids, the two who are here, Elizabeth and John, and all the kids listening at home, I'll be home in a couple of days. It's been a while.
Why is he thanking the children? Did he make the kids lick envelopes? Is that legal? Oh well, thanks, kids!
And I just -- I just want a particular little note to my Bella, who I know is watching me and looking at her daddy. So I love you, sweetie. Thank you so much for getting healthy.
Aww.
Your votes today were not just heard loud and wide across the states of Missouri and Minnesota, but they were heard loud and louder all across this country, and particularly in a place that I suspect may be in Massachusetts.
Who is in Massachusetts? Mitt Romney is in Colorado tonight. What is he talking about?
They were heard particularly loud tonight. Tonight was not just a victory for us, but tonight was a victory for the voices of our party, conservatives and Tea Party people, who are out there every single day in the vineyards building the conservative movement in this country, building the base of the Republican Party, and building a voice for freedom in this land.
Vineyards? What vineyards? Why is the Tea Party in the vineyards? Are they chasing away illegal immigrants? I think all you Tea Party people should really get out of the vineyards now. This is not the appropriate place to build a voice for freedom in this land. Go back to writing letters to the editor and doing the crossword puzzle.
Thank you.
You are welcome.
There's probably another person who maybe -- maybe is listening to your cheers here tonight, also, and that might be at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. You better start listening to the voice of the people. But then again, I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't listening. Why would you think he would be listening now? Has he ever listened to the voice of America before?
He does listen. It is you who are not listening. According to the latest poll data, most Americans favor government involvement to help stop foreclosures, favor the legalization of marijuana use, favor the accelerated withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan, etc., etc. You consistently side with the minority on almost every issue. Maybe it is you who need a hearing aid, to hear the voice of the American people.
He's someone who -- well, let's just go look at the record. If you look at when it came to the -- the Wall Street bailouts, did the president of the United States listen to you when it came to bailing out the big banks? Why? Because he thought he just knew better. He and his friends on Wall Street knew better than what was -- what was good for this country.
So, you would have instead opted for a complete meltdown of our banking system, sending our economy into another Great Depression? You are just a Monday morning quarterback. You had no better ideas then, and you have none now.
When it came to the problems that were being confronted on Obamacare, when the health care system in this country, did President Obama, when he was pushing forward his radical health care ideas, listen to the American people?
Yes, actually, he did listen. He wanted a single payer system, but the Republicans didn’t. So, he listened and he compromised, moving toward a government option that people could elect if they couldn’t afford or (or didn’t qualify for) a private health plan.
But the Republicans didn’t like that idea either. So again he listened and he compromised, moving to a system run entirely by the private market, using the idea (fostered by the Heritage Foundation) to implement a mandate that would force all Americans to be responsible and to purchase health insurance.
At the time, the Republicans agreed to this idea and a deal was struck based on fairness and compromise. And now after both sides agreed to the plan, and the law was enacted, it’s become a radical idea?
Why? Because he thinks he knows better how to run your lives and manage your health care.
Who is "he"? The president? Actually, the Affordable Health Care Act was enacted by the legislature, not the executive branch. Perhaps you need to take a class to understand how laws get passed.
When it comes to the environment, did the president of the United States listen to the American people, or did he push a radical cap- and-trade agenda that would crush the energy and manufacturing sector of the economy?
You mean the idea of telling industry that they cannot belch as much filth into the air it pleases is a radical idea? The idea of instituting a cap-and-trade plan, a plan originally created by one of Ronald Reagan's conservative White House lawyers, is radical?
Did he listen to you? No, because he thinks he knows better.
Yeah, he kind of does. But so did our last president. I think it goes along with the territory.
Ladies and gentlemen, we need a president who listens to the American people. When the majority of Americans oppose these radical ideas and they speak loudly against them, we need a president who listens to them.
This guy does not know how to read a poll. Here, Santorum…why don’t you do some reading before you run your mouth? You don’t seem to have any idea what the majority of Americans favor.
www.gallup.com
Here's the problem. The problem is, in this Republican field, you have been listening.
You think the problem is that the Republican primary voters have been listening? Huh?
Tonight, the voters of America, the voters here in Missouri, the voters in Minnesota -- and I'm hopeful the voters in Colorado, right?
Is there a verb in there somewhere? I can’t find it.
I hope you have been listening to our message, because if you've -- you listen to our message, and you found out that on those issues -- health care, the environment, cap-and-trade, and on the Wall Street bailouts, Mitt Romney has the same positions as Barack Obama and, in fact, would not be the best person to get up and fight for your voices for freedom in America.
I have to agree with you there. Mitt Romney is probably not the best choice to represent us. Though, he does look better in a sweater vest than you do. Gosh, Romney’s a handsome devil! I especially like his hair. Wait, what are we talking about?
Ladies and gentlemen, I don't stand here to claim to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama.
Wow. I’m impressed!
Tonight -- tonight, we had -- tonight, we had an opportunity to see what a campaign looks like when one candidate isn't outspent 5 or 10 to 1 by negative ads impugning their integrity and distorting their record. This is a more accurate representation, frankly, of what the fall race will look like.
Governor Romney's greatest attribute is, well, I've got the most money and the best organization. Well, he's not going to have the most money and the best organization in the fall, is he?
It depends on whose Super Pac is more well-funded. My guess is that Romney’s will be.
No, we're going to have to have someone who has other attributes to commend himself to the people of America, someone -- someone who can get up and make sharp contrasts with President Obama, someone who can point to the failed record of this administration and say that Barack Obama needs to be replaced in the Oval Office.
People -- people have asked me, you know, what is -- what is the secret?
The secret? Yes, tell us please. What is the secret? I’m on pins and needles.
Why are you doing so well? Is it your jobs message? And, yes, we have a great jobs message, talking about everywhere we go
Yes, tell us oh Wise One. Is it your jobs message? Could it be your jobs message? Your jobs message is so impressive. Wait, what is your jobs message, again?
and particularly here in the industrial heartland of Missouri, where they still make things here in Missouri, by the way.
Things? Things are made here in Missouri? I was wondering where things are made. I thought things were made overseas, but now that I know that things are made in Missouri, I feel better. Perhaps I’ll take a road trip to Missouri. I was needing to pick up a few things, anyway.
It's a message of -- as the Wall Street Journal called our economic plan, supply-side economics for the working man,
Supply-side economics for the working man? You mean cut taxes for the rich and watch all those jobs open up? Didn’t we try that already? It didn't work out so great last time.
is resonating in Minnesota and here in Missouri and across this country. And you see that, when you have a Republican out there talking about growth -- talking about growth for everybody, right... ... that Americans respond, because I do care about not 99 percent or 95 percent. I care about the very rich and the very poor. I care about 100 percent of America.
Except the gay Americans, but the other 100%, yeah - them for sure.
The real message -- the message that we've been taking across this country and here in Missouri is a message of what's at stake in this election. This is the most important election in your lifetime.
The most important election in our lifetime? This is kind of presumptuous since most of your supporters have probably voted in at least a dozen other elections.
This is an election -- we've seen it so evident just here in the last week.
Why yes, oh Wise One. This is an election. Gosh, you are smart!
This is an election fundamentally about the kind of country you're going to hand off to your children and grandchildren, whether they are going to have the level of freedom and opportunity that you have. And we have a president of the United States, as I mentioned, who's someone who believes he knows better, that we need to accumulate more power in Washington, D.C., for the elite in our country, to be able to govern you because you are incapable of liberty, that you are incapable of freedom. That's what this president believes.
Huh? The president believes that I am incapable of liberty? The president believes that I am incapable of freedom? Are you high?
And I -- and Americans understand that there is a great, great deal at stake. If this president is re-elected and if we don't have a nominee that can make this case and not be compromised on the biggest issues of the day, but can make the case to the American public that this is about the founder's freedom, this is about a country that believes in God-given rights, and a Constitution that is limited to protect those rights.
You believe in a Constitution that is limited to protect God-given rights and you think this about the founder's freedom? Huh? You are high aren't you? C'mon, you can tell me.
The president does not believe that. The president over the last few years has tried to tell you that he, in fact, the government can give you rights, the government can take care of you and provide for you. They can give you the right to health care, like in Obamacare.
Wrong. The president believes that the government can ensure that we all have access to health care by requiring all Americans to become insured and by preventing insurance companies from picking and choosing who can and who cannot have access to health care.
But look what happens when the government gives you rights. When the government gives you rights, unlike when God gives you rights, the government can take them away. When government gives you rights, the government can tell you how to exercise those rights.
Yes. You are correct. This is the first thing you have said that makes any sense.
Let’s look at the right to free speech. The Constitution grants this right and the government both protects it and restricts it. For example, we all have the right to speak freely to express our opinion, but there is no right to free speech if your speech is intended to incite violence. This right is both granted and restricted by the government, all at the same time. That’s how it works. Do you understand now?
And we saw that just in the last week, with a group of people, a small group of
people, just Catholics in the United States of America who were told you have a right to health care, but you will have the health care that we tell you, you have to give your people, whether it is against the teachings of your church or not.
Just because a business, such as a hospital or university, affiliates itself with a religion, that does not give it the right to circumvent labor laws. What if the Catholic Church decided that it was a mortal sin for people to work past the age of 50? Does this mean that a hospital that is affiliated with a Catholic Church can now legally discriminate against workers over the age of 50? Nope.
If an organization chooses to do business, it must abide by the same laws all other businesses do. And if the law requires all businesses that provide health insurance to workers, including coverage for contraception, then all businesses must comply.
If the Catholic Church doesn’t want to comply, they can stop running hospitals and universities, and go back to being just a church, where no government agency will tell them what to do.
I never thought as a first-generation American, whose parents and grandparents loved freedom and came here because they didn't want the government telling them what to believe and how to believe it,
Aren’t your ancestors from Italy and Ireland? I’m pretty sure that these are democratic countries. Though admittedly, the Catholic Church does tell most of the citizens of these two countries what to believe and how to believe it. Oh, wait.
that we had a First Amendment that actually stood for freedom of conscience, that we'd have a president of the United States who would roll over that and impose his secular values on the people of this country.
Secular values espouse that religions have no place defining the role of government. Secular values have nothing to do with the First Amendment. By the way, the First Amendment has nothing to do with “freedom of conscience”. Now you are just making stuff up.
And it's worse than that.
Worse than that? Wow! Now I’m really frightened!
When one of the Catholic bishops tried to communicate that through Army chaplains, the Obama administration said, no, you can't do that, no, because your language is seditious, and they made them change the language of a letter from a bishop to his people.
Oh my, restricting the right of a specific religion to proselytize to members of a secular organization that is funded by taxpayer dollars? How terrible!
Ladies and gentlemen, freedom is at stake in this election. We need to be the voice for freedom.
All this talk of freedom is making me hungry for freedom fries.
And that founding document, the Declaration of Independence, at the end of that document, those founders signed their names.
They did? Wow! That changes everything! (As an aside, have you ever considered applying for a job at FNMA as a historian? You sure do seem to know alot about history!)
But the last clause of that document said we pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
Ladies and gentlemen, every generation of Americans doesn't create freedom
“Every generation of American’s doesn’t create freedom?” What the hell does this even mean? Listen, if you don't have enough for everyone in the room, don't even bring it with you.
, but they have, in many respects, a harder job. They have to maintain freedom.
Mmmmm, freedom fries. Wait, what did he say?
Your charge tonight -- your charge tonight here in Missouri -- because we're not done yet with you here in Missouri. You've got a caucus coming up next month -- is to go out and pledge, pledge -- no, not your lives. Maybe your fortune. RickSantorum.com is the website.
Yes, all Tea Party folks should run out and pledge their fortunes to Rick Santorum. That is if you haven't already pledged your fortunes to Pat Robertson.
But your honor, the honor that you stand on, on the backs and the shoulders of your ancestors.
You know, that’s not really very nice. Get down off your grandma’s shoulders. She's not as young as she used to be.
The people here in St. Louis, the people here in Missouri, the people across this country who sacrificed for this country, for the freedoms we have. America's honor, your honor is at stake.
Your honor is at stake, America! Pull down your skirts! You all look like hookers!
Go out and preserve the greatest country in the history of the world.
We’re number one! We’re number one! Wait, where’s my giant USA foam finger?
Thank you all, and God bless.
No, Rick, thank you for showing us all what a complete moron you are.
Wow! Conservatism is alive and well in Missouri and Minnesota.
Conservatives? In Missouri? Wow! How surprising! I was pretty sure that the liberals would come out in droves to vote in the Republican primary. Oh, wait.
Thank you all so very, very much. It is great to be here. I just can't thank the people of Missouri; we doubled them up here and in Minnesota.
Um, you doubled them? Huh?
I want to also thank -- I have to always thank -- first off, let me just thank God for giving us the grace to be able to persevere through the -- through the dog days, and blessing us and blessing our family.
Perservere through the dog days? You mean the hottest days of the summer, when the Romans would typically sacrifice a brown dog to appease the rage of the god, Sirius? Those dog days? Isn’t this February? Does anyone know what the hell is he talking about?
My wife, Karen, here, what a rock. I mean, what a rock through these last few weeks. We have had -- we have had more drama than any family really needs. And -- and she has just been an amazing rock and a great blessing to me. And I just want to thank you in particular, my sweet, for all you've done. Thank you.
Frankly, your wife is not a rock, she’s a saint. I mean, she saw you there in that sexy sweater vest, and she slept with you anyway – more than once! Now that’s what I call taking one for the team! Millions of American women owe her a debt of gratitude. What’s the name of her web site? She’s the one who deserves the contributions.
I want to thank my kids, the two who are here, Elizabeth and John, and all the kids listening at home, I'll be home in a couple of days. It's been a while.
Why is he thanking the children? Did he make the kids lick envelopes? Is that legal? Oh well, thanks, kids!
And I just -- I just want a particular little note to my Bella, who I know is watching me and looking at her daddy. So I love you, sweetie. Thank you so much for getting healthy.
Aww.
Your votes today were not just heard loud and wide across the states of Missouri and Minnesota, but they were heard loud and louder all across this country, and particularly in a place that I suspect may be in Massachusetts.
Who is in Massachusetts? Mitt Romney is in Colorado tonight. What is he talking about?
They were heard particularly loud tonight. Tonight was not just a victory for us, but tonight was a victory for the voices of our party, conservatives and Tea Party people, who are out there every single day in the vineyards building the conservative movement in this country, building the base of the Republican Party, and building a voice for freedom in this land.
Vineyards? What vineyards? Why is the Tea Party in the vineyards? Are they chasing away illegal immigrants? I think all you Tea Party people should really get out of the vineyards now. This is not the appropriate place to build a voice for freedom in this land. Go back to writing letters to the editor and doing the crossword puzzle.
Thank you.
You are welcome.
There's probably another person who maybe -- maybe is listening to your cheers here tonight, also, and that might be at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. You better start listening to the voice of the people. But then again, I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't listening. Why would you think he would be listening now? Has he ever listened to the voice of America before?
He does listen. It is you who are not listening. According to the latest poll data, most Americans favor government involvement to help stop foreclosures, favor the legalization of marijuana use, favor the accelerated withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan, etc., etc. You consistently side with the minority on almost every issue. Maybe it is you who need a hearing aid, to hear the voice of the American people.
He's someone who -- well, let's just go look at the record. If you look at when it came to the -- the Wall Street bailouts, did the president of the United States listen to you when it came to bailing out the big banks? Why? Because he thought he just knew better. He and his friends on Wall Street knew better than what was -- what was good for this country.
So, you would have instead opted for a complete meltdown of our banking system, sending our economy into another Great Depression? You are just a Monday morning quarterback. You had no better ideas then, and you have none now.
When it came to the problems that were being confronted on Obamacare, when the health care system in this country, did President Obama, when he was pushing forward his radical health care ideas, listen to the American people?
Yes, actually, he did listen. He wanted a single payer system, but the Republicans didn’t. So, he listened and he compromised, moving toward a government option that people could elect if they couldn’t afford or (or didn’t qualify for) a private health plan.
But the Republicans didn’t like that idea either. So again he listened and he compromised, moving to a system run entirely by the private market, using the idea (fostered by the Heritage Foundation) to implement a mandate that would force all Americans to be responsible and to purchase health insurance.
At the time, the Republicans agreed to this idea and a deal was struck based on fairness and compromise. And now after both sides agreed to the plan, and the law was enacted, it’s become a radical idea?
Why? Because he thinks he knows better how to run your lives and manage your health care.
Who is "he"? The president? Actually, the Affordable Health Care Act was enacted by the legislature, not the executive branch. Perhaps you need to take a class to understand how laws get passed.
When it comes to the environment, did the president of the United States listen to the American people, or did he push a radical cap- and-trade agenda that would crush the energy and manufacturing sector of the economy?
You mean the idea of telling industry that they cannot belch as much filth into the air it pleases is a radical idea? The idea of instituting a cap-and-trade plan, a plan originally created by one of Ronald Reagan's conservative White House lawyers, is radical?
Did he listen to you? No, because he thinks he knows better.
Yeah, he kind of does. But so did our last president. I think it goes along with the territory.
Ladies and gentlemen, we need a president who listens to the American people. When the majority of Americans oppose these radical ideas and they speak loudly against them, we need a president who listens to them.
This guy does not know how to read a poll. Here, Santorum…why don’t you do some reading before you run your mouth? You don’t seem to have any idea what the majority of Americans favor.
www.gallup.com
Here's the problem. The problem is, in this Republican field, you have been listening.
You think the problem is that the Republican primary voters have been listening? Huh?
Tonight, the voters of America, the voters here in Missouri, the voters in Minnesota -- and I'm hopeful the voters in Colorado, right?
Is there a verb in there somewhere? I can’t find it.
I hope you have been listening to our message, because if you've -- you listen to our message, and you found out that on those issues -- health care, the environment, cap-and-trade, and on the Wall Street bailouts, Mitt Romney has the same positions as Barack Obama and, in fact, would not be the best person to get up and fight for your voices for freedom in America.
I have to agree with you there. Mitt Romney is probably not the best choice to represent us. Though, he does look better in a sweater vest than you do. Gosh, Romney’s a handsome devil! I especially like his hair. Wait, what are we talking about?
Ladies and gentlemen, I don't stand here to claim to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama.
Wow. I’m impressed!
Tonight -- tonight, we had -- tonight, we had an opportunity to see what a campaign looks like when one candidate isn't outspent 5 or 10 to 1 by negative ads impugning their integrity and distorting their record. This is a more accurate representation, frankly, of what the fall race will look like.
Governor Romney's greatest attribute is, well, I've got the most money and the best organization. Well, he's not going to have the most money and the best organization in the fall, is he?
It depends on whose Super Pac is more well-funded. My guess is that Romney’s will be.
No, we're going to have to have someone who has other attributes to commend himself to the people of America, someone -- someone who can get up and make sharp contrasts with President Obama, someone who can point to the failed record of this administration and say that Barack Obama needs to be replaced in the Oval Office.
People -- people have asked me, you know, what is -- what is the secret?
The secret? Yes, tell us please. What is the secret? I’m on pins and needles.
Why are you doing so well? Is it your jobs message? And, yes, we have a great jobs message, talking about everywhere we go
Yes, tell us oh Wise One. Is it your jobs message? Could it be your jobs message? Your jobs message is so impressive. Wait, what is your jobs message, again?
and particularly here in the industrial heartland of Missouri, where they still make things here in Missouri, by the way.
Things? Things are made here in Missouri? I was wondering where things are made. I thought things were made overseas, but now that I know that things are made in Missouri, I feel better. Perhaps I’ll take a road trip to Missouri. I was needing to pick up a few things, anyway.
It's a message of -- as the Wall Street Journal called our economic plan, supply-side economics for the working man,
Supply-side economics for the working man? You mean cut taxes for the rich and watch all those jobs open up? Didn’t we try that already? It didn't work out so great last time.
is resonating in Minnesota and here in Missouri and across this country. And you see that, when you have a Republican out there talking about growth -- talking about growth for everybody, right... ... that Americans respond, because I do care about not 99 percent or 95 percent. I care about the very rich and the very poor. I care about 100 percent of America.
Except the gay Americans, but the other 100%, yeah - them for sure.
The real message -- the message that we've been taking across this country and here in Missouri is a message of what's at stake in this election. This is the most important election in your lifetime.
The most important election in our lifetime? This is kind of presumptuous since most of your supporters have probably voted in at least a dozen other elections.
This is an election -- we've seen it so evident just here in the last week.
Why yes, oh Wise One. This is an election. Gosh, you are smart!
This is an election fundamentally about the kind of country you're going to hand off to your children and grandchildren, whether they are going to have the level of freedom and opportunity that you have. And we have a president of the United States, as I mentioned, who's someone who believes he knows better, that we need to accumulate more power in Washington, D.C., for the elite in our country, to be able to govern you because you are incapable of liberty, that you are incapable of freedom. That's what this president believes.
Huh? The president believes that I am incapable of liberty? The president believes that I am incapable of freedom? Are you high?
And I -- and Americans understand that there is a great, great deal at stake. If this president is re-elected and if we don't have a nominee that can make this case and not be compromised on the biggest issues of the day, but can make the case to the American public that this is about the founder's freedom, this is about a country that believes in God-given rights, and a Constitution that is limited to protect those rights.
You believe in a Constitution that is limited to protect God-given rights and you think this about the founder's freedom? Huh? You are high aren't you? C'mon, you can tell me.
The president does not believe that. The president over the last few years has tried to tell you that he, in fact, the government can give you rights, the government can take care of you and provide for you. They can give you the right to health care, like in Obamacare.
Wrong. The president believes that the government can ensure that we all have access to health care by requiring all Americans to become insured and by preventing insurance companies from picking and choosing who can and who cannot have access to health care.
But look what happens when the government gives you rights. When the government gives you rights, unlike when God gives you rights, the government can take them away. When government gives you rights, the government can tell you how to exercise those rights.
Yes. You are correct. This is the first thing you have said that makes any sense.
Let’s look at the right to free speech. The Constitution grants this right and the government both protects it and restricts it. For example, we all have the right to speak freely to express our opinion, but there is no right to free speech if your speech is intended to incite violence. This right is both granted and restricted by the government, all at the same time. That’s how it works. Do you understand now?
And we saw that just in the last week, with a group of people, a small group of
people, just Catholics in the United States of America who were told you have a right to health care, but you will have the health care that we tell you, you have to give your people, whether it is against the teachings of your church or not.
Just because a business, such as a hospital or university, affiliates itself with a religion, that does not give it the right to circumvent labor laws. What if the Catholic Church decided that it was a mortal sin for people to work past the age of 50? Does this mean that a hospital that is affiliated with a Catholic Church can now legally discriminate against workers over the age of 50? Nope.
If an organization chooses to do business, it must abide by the same laws all other businesses do. And if the law requires all businesses that provide health insurance to workers, including coverage for contraception, then all businesses must comply.
If the Catholic Church doesn’t want to comply, they can stop running hospitals and universities, and go back to being just a church, where no government agency will tell them what to do.
I never thought as a first-generation American, whose parents and grandparents loved freedom and came here because they didn't want the government telling them what to believe and how to believe it,
Aren’t your ancestors from Italy and Ireland? I’m pretty sure that these are democratic countries. Though admittedly, the Catholic Church does tell most of the citizens of these two countries what to believe and how to believe it. Oh, wait.
that we had a First Amendment that actually stood for freedom of conscience, that we'd have a president of the United States who would roll over that and impose his secular values on the people of this country.
Secular values espouse that religions have no place defining the role of government. Secular values have nothing to do with the First Amendment. By the way, the First Amendment has nothing to do with “freedom of conscience”. Now you are just making stuff up.
And it's worse than that.
Worse than that? Wow! Now I’m really frightened!
When one of the Catholic bishops tried to communicate that through Army chaplains, the Obama administration said, no, you can't do that, no, because your language is seditious, and they made them change the language of a letter from a bishop to his people.
Oh my, restricting the right of a specific religion to proselytize to members of a secular organization that is funded by taxpayer dollars? How terrible!
Ladies and gentlemen, freedom is at stake in this election. We need to be the voice for freedom.
All this talk of freedom is making me hungry for freedom fries.
And that founding document, the Declaration of Independence, at the end of that document, those founders signed their names.
They did? Wow! That changes everything! (As an aside, have you ever considered applying for a job at FNMA as a historian? You sure do seem to know alot about history!)
But the last clause of that document said we pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
Ladies and gentlemen, every generation of Americans doesn't create freedom
“Every generation of American’s doesn’t create freedom?” What the hell does this even mean? Listen, if you don't have enough for everyone in the room, don't even bring it with you.
, but they have, in many respects, a harder job. They have to maintain freedom.
Mmmmm, freedom fries. Wait, what did he say?
Your charge tonight -- your charge tonight here in Missouri -- because we're not done yet with you here in Missouri. You've got a caucus coming up next month -- is to go out and pledge, pledge -- no, not your lives. Maybe your fortune. RickSantorum.com is the website.
Yes, all Tea Party folks should run out and pledge their fortunes to Rick Santorum. That is if you haven't already pledged your fortunes to Pat Robertson.
But your honor, the honor that you stand on, on the backs and the shoulders of your ancestors.
You know, that’s not really very nice. Get down off your grandma’s shoulders. She's not as young as she used to be.
The people here in St. Louis, the people here in Missouri, the people across this country who sacrificed for this country, for the freedoms we have. America's honor, your honor is at stake.
Your honor is at stake, America! Pull down your skirts! You all look like hookers!
Go out and preserve the greatest country in the history of the world.
We’re number one! We’re number one! Wait, where’s my giant USA foam finger?
Thank you all, and God bless.
No, Rick, thank you for showing us all what a complete moron you are.
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