Right-wing pundits. Image from http://conhomeusa.typepad.com/survey/2010/12/the-republican-grassroots-ten-favorite-pundits.html
On Thanksgiving Day, President Obama gave a pretty damn good speech to mark the holiday. He made a great effort to explain what Americans are most grateful for this time of year. Here’s a portion of the speech.
“As Americans, each of us has our own list of things and people to be thankful for. But there are some blessings we all share.
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We’re also grateful for the Americans who are taking time out of their holiday to serve in soup kitchens and shelters, making sure their neighbors have a hot meal and a place to stay. This sense of mutual responsibility – the idea that I am my brother’s keeper; that I am my sister’s keeper – has always been a part of what makes our country special. And it’s one of the reasons the Thanksgiving tradition has endured.
The very first Thanksgiving was a celebration of community during a time of great hardship, and we have followed that example ever since. Even when the fate of our union was far from certain — during a Civil War, two World Wars, a Great Depression — Americans drew strength from each other. They had faith that tomorrow would be better than today.
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With all the partisanship and gridlock here in Washington, it’s easy to wonder if such unity is really possible. But think about what’s happening at this very moment: Americans from all walks of life are coming together as one people, grateful for the blessings of family, community, and country.”
Conservatives across the country immediately jumped all over the speech for a single reason. Apparently, President Obama didn’t mention God in the speech. And for that, right wingers are using the omission as proof that the President is a secret Muslim or atheist who wants to destroy Christianity. Despite the fact that the Constitution doesn’t include God and does not require the President to praise God or practice Christianity, Fox News and several conservative pundits and politicians are criticizing the President for not saying ‘God’ or ‘Jesus’ in the speech. Curiously, it looks like many right wingers are guilty of the same thing, at least on their Facebook pages.
If you visit the Facebook pages of each of these right-wing organizations, politicians, and pundits, you will notice that none of them mentioned God or Jesus on Thanksgiving Day:
Fox News
Fox & Friends
Tea Party Patriots
The Tea Party
FreedomWorks
The Heritage Foundation
Bill O’Reilly
Sean Hannity
Neil Cavuto
Greta van Susteren
Megyn Kelly
Geraldo Rivera
Karl Rove
Shepard Smith
Laura Ingraham
Ann Coulter
Hank Williams Jr
Family Research Council
National Organization for Marriage
Koch Industries, Inc
Mitt Romney
Newt Gingrich
Ron Paul
Rick Perry
Jon Huntsman
Donald Trump
Glenn Beck
Rush Limbaugh
George W. Bush
Dick Cheney
Ted Nugent
Nikki Haley
Haley Barbour
John Kasich
Scott Walker
Bill Haslam
Robert Bentley
Rick Snyder
Rick Scott
Mitch Daniels
C.L. “Butch” Otter
Joe Wilson
Chuck Grassley
Rand Paul
John Boehner
Eric Cantor
Mitch McConnell
Richard Shelby
Jeff Sessions
Darrell Issa
Jim Demint
Peter King
Lamar Alexander
Bob Corker
Virginia Foxx
Allen West
Marco Rubio
Paul Ryan
Jon Kyl
Orrin Hatch
Jeff Miller
(Those are just the ones I thought to look up. I have no doubt that’s not all of them. List compiled by Sam Gibson)
So, right wingers, why do you hate God and Christianity so much? Is God not important enough to warrant mention by you on a day in which we all give thanks? Or do you feel so self-righteous that it’s only fair to whine about omitting God when a Democrat does it? Shall we just assume that since you failed to mention God or Christ that you all must in fact be secret Muslims or atheists? President Obama didn’t mention God because he was being respectful of the beliefs of all Americans. Not all Americans believe in God, nor do all Americans practice Christianity. The President does not represent one religion or one group of Americans. He represents all Americans of every religion. Besides, in each of the last two previous Thanksgivings, President Obama mentioned God. So it really isn’t a big deal that he didn’t do it this time around. One thing is for certain though. The right-wing is full of hypocrites.
There are always people who forget, especially because of the commercialization. They may have prayed to God before their dinner, your talking about a president that may believe Allah is Jahovah and Pbuh(Sp?)is Jesus. I’m not sure about that, he claims to be Christian but a lot of people who claim to be “Christian” that may or may not be.
You mean like all the mean-spirited evangelicals who call non-Chistians “Unamerican” while vociferously defendinf viewpoints that are contradictory to the teachings of Jesus?