Mike Huckabee: Ghoul of 2012?

I feel the need to highlight this, in case anyone hasn’t seen it.  Yes, it is “old” news; you can consider it Huckabee’s Ghoul of the Year nomination if you so choose.

Speaking to my mother the day after the Newtown, CT massacre, I remarked that I was waiting for some one on the right to blame the shooting on feminism, homosexuality, the teaching of evolution, the removal of school prayer, or liberalism in general.  Her response was expected; she always thinks I am exaggerating the insanity of the modern conservative movement.

Cue Mike Huckabee, via the Salon:

First, on Friday, mere hours after the shooting, Huckabee appeared on Fox to muse, “We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?” He added, “Maybe we ought to let [God] in on the front end and we wouldn’t have to call him to show up when it’s all said and done at the back end.” Because he’s an opportunistic, self-promoting creep.

Which is bad enough to earn a nomination, but the former Governor of  Arkansas and presidential hopeful was far from finished: (Bolding is mine)

Then, over the weekend, on his own show, he took on “the predictable left” and its “vile and vicious reaction” to his statements. He said he wasn’t merely talking about school prayer – oh, no, haters! “It’s the fact that people sue a city so we aren’t confronted with a manger scene or Christmas carol … Churches and Christian-owned businesses are told to surrender their values under the edict of government orders to provide tax-funded abortion pills.” On his Web page, he posted a version of his Fox monologue, in which he wrote, “We dismiss the notion of natural law and the notion that there are moral absolutes and seemed amazed when some kids make it their own morality to kill innocent children. We diminish and even hold in contempt the natural family of a father and mother creating and then responsibly raising the next generation and then express dismay that kids feel no real connection to their families or even the concept of a family.” He also railed about how “our kids would rather have ear buds dangling from their ears, fingers attaching to a smartphone, and face attached to a computer screen” and “we teach that God was not involved in our origins, that our very lives are biological happenstances.”

There you have it. It wasn’t a mentally ill lunatic with easy access to military grade weaponry that caused one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. It was “abortion pills,” iPhones, evolution and homosexuals.

Okay, so Huckabee is the winner of Ghoul of December, but of the year?

It’s a familiar Huckabee refrain. Last summer, after the deadly shooting in an Aurora movie theater, Huckabee went on Fox to say, “We don’t have a crime problem, a gun problem or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem. And since we’ve ordered God out of our schools, and communities, the military and public conversations, you know we really shouldn’t act so surprised … when all hell breaks loose.” This was right around the same time Huckabee was busily attempting to cleanse our great nation of the gay menace by declaring a Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day to support the chain’s stance on biblical marriage and “Godly values.”

Yes, of the year.  I’ll let Mary Elizabeth Williams (who wins my personal internet writer of the year award) close this post, and the year, with her own words:

It’s an appalling smear of a wide variety of groups, and a breathtakingly ignorant view. And it’s strikingly similar in spirit to Mitt Romney’s response, during the presidential debates, to a question on gun violence — that “to tell our kids that before they have babies, they ought to think about getting married to someone — that’s a great idea.” It suggests that somehow prayer can prevent anybody from being mentally ill, that hetero marriage cures murder, and that having a manger in the town square can stop a gunman from blasting his way into a school. It’s grotesque and hateful, even by Mike Huckabee standards. But if he’s even remotely correct that we’ve all been so great at ordering God out of American life, what in hell do we have to do to successfully exile Mike Huckabee as well?

 

 

 

Cathy Cooper Replies

Cathy Cooper, who posts over at Debunking Christianity, has responded to my post calling her a ghoul.  I’m moving it up here because I have no idea if anyone pays attention to the comment threads yet.

Resorting to ad hominem (ironic, don’t you think?) does not make your argument. Referring to me as a ‘ghoul’ does not take away from my arguments. If you disagree with my arguments, present a counter, and I will respond in kind. I made my arguments to make a point. Our society in general (whether one is Christian or not) is influenced by Christian dogma–and this is what I wanted to illustrated, as this is what I want eliminated. The best way to do so, is to put those influences on a platter in front of people–then have them think about them. That is what I did in that post.

You are right, actually. Several times in my post, I stated that I was not debating your argument. For example:

At this moment, I’m not sure of the validity of her argument. I don’t care if she is right or not.

or

Cathy Cooper brings up several good points in her post. The effect of Christianity on morality is a subject that needs to be discussed.

or

As I said above, I think she makes some good points on the effect of Christianity on morality, and that it is a discussion that should take place.

As for resorting to ad hominem, meh, not so much. I didn’t claim that you were wrong because you were a ghoul, or that being a ghoul diminishes your argument. I simply stated that, in my opinion, you are a ghoul.

Again for example, just because Rick Warren is a disgusting opportunistic ghoul for tweeting “When students are taught they are no different from animals, they act like it.” doesn’t invalidate his argument. His argument falls apart on its own, whether he tweeted it right after a tragedy or 10 weeks later.

Truth be told, unless you were explicitly claiming “Christianity turns people into mass murderers” I really don’t have an issue with your argument. And I agree that the effect of Christianity and Christian dogma’s effect on our society needs to be discussed. My issue with your post revolves around timing. (Once again, assuming you are not claiming that Christian dogma turns people into mass murderers.)

I’m not saying you are wrong because you are a ghoul. I’m not even saying that you are wrong.

But I am saying that using a tragedy such as the Colorado shootings to make a point in an argument over the moral effects of religion before the corpses of the victims are stiff is ghoulish, whether it is an atheist or a Christian making said point.

Ghouls Never Let A Tragedy Go to Waste

Oh, FFS.  This is just disgusting.  From the Baptist Press:

In the wake of one of the greatest tragedies to hit the Sikh community in North America, Southern Baptists have an unprecedented opportunity to reach out to their Sikh neighbors with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, says Aslam Masih, North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) national coordinator for Muslim people groups and South Asians.

Masih’s comments come after a man entered a Sikh temple near Milwaukee on Sunday (Aug. 5) and killed seven people, including himself, turning the nation’s attention to a religion of more than 20 million people worldwide.

“We have an opportunity now to turn this very sad situation into a life-changing encounter with the Gospel for Sikhs throughout North America,” Masih said.

Excuse me, do you have a second?  I know a white power clown just stormed into your place of worship and killed several of your loved ones, a tragedy indeed, especially since they are all burning in hell as we speak.  Let me tell you the Good News of Jesus Christ, so that you can go to heaven if ever killed during worship.

Fucking ghouls.

More Ghoulishness!

Ed over at Dispatches posts yet another example of ghouls using the Colorado tragedy to score points in the culture war.  This time it’s R. Emmett Tyrell of The American Spectator, appearing on Bryan Fischer’s radio show.

Tyrrell: A country that is being forced to turn away from God because of the liberals gets things like the Colorado massacre in abundance, and we will have more of them if we don’t return to God.

As Ed points out, there are a couple of gaps in that reasoning:

Okay, let’s test this against the evidence. The U.S. is by far the most pervasively religious country in the Western industrialized world. Nearly all the nations of Europe have far lower rates of belief in God than we do, yet they also have far lower rates of violent crime (not to mention far lower rates of teen pregnancy and many other ills) than we do. The correlation clearly goes in the opposite direction. And yet they continue to make this ridiculous claim.

Fischer’s interview with Tyrell also contains this jewel of projection, worthy of one of Brayton’s Bryan Fischer Awards:

Tyrrell: These liberals are bloodless, they are just cold-blooded people. They ought to open their hearts to conservatives, frankly. In writing this book, ‘The Death of Liberalism,’ I came to the conclusion that they are dead—they are brain dead—they simply can’t look at anything that contravenes their value system, they turn their back on it…

Fischer: It’s been interesting to me in talking to liberals, and I’m sure you’ve had this same experience, the conclusion I’ve come to is that they cannot be reasoned with because logic means nothing to them, facts mean nothing to them, history means nothing to them, reason means nothing to them. They just have these very strong feelings and the strength of those feelings in their minds is all they need to validate the positions they take.

That is some Olympic-grade projection.  Is it any wonder Ed named the award after him?

To the Ghouls….

In honor of Rick Warren, Jerry Newcombe,  Fred Jackson, Bryan Fischer, Cathy Cooper, Flip Benham, and Rep. Louie Gohmert:

Colorado Again? Is There Something In The Water?

Unless you live in a cave, you are no doubt aware of the tragedy in Colorado at the premier of The Dark Knight Rises.  This is not a hard news site.  My only comment on the shootings is that my heart goes out to the victims and their families.  I am the type of person who attends midnight premiers of similar films.  I know how the combination of the anticipation for the film and the shared experience of the packed theater can create lasting memories and an incredible night.  To have that interrupted by a massacre; to attend a film and wind up in a blood bath; to have a night you’ve looked forward to for months end with the death of your loved ones, is frankly completely unimaginable to me.

There are many things I could say in response to this tragedy.  Many ways I could use it in arguments for my beliefs.  Many ways I could exploit it.

But I’m not a vampire., and I am not going to use a horrific incident such as this to make a point before the victim’s corpses are even cold.

Some people however, have no such reluctance.   From the HuffPo:

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said Friday that the shootings that took place in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater hours earlier were a result of “ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs” and questioned why nobody else in the theater had a gun to take down the shooter.

…..

“People say … where was God in all of this?” Gohmert said. “We’ve threatened high school graduation participations, if they use God’s name, they’re going to be jailed … I mean that kind of stuff. Where was God? What have we done with God? We don’t want him around. I kind of like his protective hand being present.”

Gohmert also said the tragedy could have been lessened if someone else in the movie theater had been carrying a gun and took down the lone shooter. Istook noted that Colorado laws allow people to carry concealed guns.

“It does make me wonder, with all those people in the theater, was there nobody that was carrying a gun that could have stopped this guy more quickly?” he asked.

Okay.  First thing first.  Rep. Gohmert?  Fuck you, Louie. You are a ghoul, just like Falwell and Robertson when they blamed the 9/11 attacks on feminists, abortion, and atheists.  Guess what, asshole?  Bad things happened before state-sponsored prayer was taken out of schools.  Bad things would happen if it was put back in schools.  Of all western nations, we live in the most religious.  When you said the above quote, you had just as much of an idea why the shooting took place as the rest of us.  None.  To take a tragedy like this and use it to make a political point before the bodies are even cold is slimy, disgusting, and a disgrace to the people you represent and the nation as a whole.  Once again, fuck you.

Second, let’s deal with his comment wondering why no one was “carrying a gun that could have stopped this guy more quickly?”

Picture the scene.  You are in a packed theater.  The lights are out.  The surround sound system is deafening.  Suddenly, chaos; there is smoke everywhere, and then you begin to hear the shots, loud cracks overwhelming the sound of the film, soon mixed with screams of terror and pain.  Someone is shooting and people are dying.  Those not already dead are stampeding the exits, jumping over seats, storming the aisles, trying to survive.  You, concealed carry permit holder, are the epitome of cool under pressure.  You calmly stand and remove your .45 from the holster, casually flicking the safety off.  It’s dark and chaotic, sure, but you are Eastwood, Stallone, and Wayne, all rolled into one, with a little part of Samuel L. Jackson, the ass-kicking part, not the black part, for good measures.  You quickly glance over the situation, immediately picking out the gunman.  “You have one thing in common with the Joker,” you mutter under your breath.  “You’re both dead.”  You squeeze the trigger softly, sending a packet of justice across the theater, barely missing a 14 year old girl as she tries to escape before the bullet finds its home between the gunman’s eyes.  His head explodes in a mist of crimson, as you re-holster your weapon, sit back down, take a drink of Coke and a handful of popcorn, and wait for the movie to resume.

Bullshit.  A trained soldier would have trouble identifying the gunman and taking him out without injuring innocent civilians.  A pistol packing citizen out for a good time with his family and friends would have practically no chance to do anything but add to the chaos and body count.  There are some shootings where the argument can be made that an armed citizen could have ended the rampage and saved many lives.  This is not one of them.

Let’s visit Rock Beyond Belief for more on asshole Rep. Louie Gohmert:

GOHMERT: …But, ya know, I might mention something else that had not been public yet, most of us that follow the military know we have had an extraordinary increase in suicide in the military –and it’s just heartbreaking. And, I’ve sat with families around their kitchen tables and they are going ‘we never saw this coming – ya know, we didn’t know.” And there was a study commissioned…

ISTOOK: And, Louie, we’re gonna have to finish…

GOHMERT: Well, let me say this very quickly – but its six thousand personality index profiles. And, what they found, and I don’t know if they will make it public – one of the participants told me ‘ the results may not go public’; but, all of the people who committed suicide, within their thousands of people studied, were part of the 2-percent most atheistic members of the military. We’ve lost our faith.

If you want to know more about this, please go on over to Rock Beyond Belief and read Justin Griffith’s post.  One more thing before I move on from Rep. Gohmert:

Louie?  Fuck yourself with an old rusty pole or a splintery post.