Associated Press
In the wake of tragic gun violence, most politicians realize the decent, responsible thing to do is send sympathies to those affected while leaving politics out of it. Others aren't as sensible.
After the Columbine massacre, for example, then-Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) blamed science textbooks for the murders: "Our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but glorified apes who are evolutionized [sic] out of some primordial soup."
In 2007, after the Virginia Tech massacre, Newt Gingrich blamed liberals for supporting "situation ethics," adding, "Yes, I think the fact is, if you look at the amount of violence we have in games that young people play at 7, 8, 10, 12, 15 years of age, if you look at the dehumanization, if you look at the fact that we refuse to say that we are, in fact, endowed by our creator, that our rights come from God, that if you kill somebody, you're committing an act of evil." Gingrich, explaining the VT tragedy, went on to condemn Halloween costumes and the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law.
And this morning, after the slayings in Aurora, Louie Gohmert weighed in with some stupidity of his own.
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.
During a radio interview on The Heritage Foundation's "Istook Live!" show, Gohmert was asked why he believes such senseless acts of violence take place. Gohmert responded by talking about the weakening of Christian values in the country.
"Some of us happen to believe that when our founders talked about guarding our virtue and freedom, that that was important," he said. "Whether it's John Adams saying our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people ... Ben Franklin, only a virtuous people are capable of freedom, as nations become corrupt and vicious they have more need of masters. We have been at war with the very pillars, the very foundation of this country."
"You know what really gets me, as a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of a derelict takes place."
I see. So, in the mind of this strange Republican congressman, a madman killed 12 people because of ... the separation of church and State? The First Amendment is to blame for a shooting spree in a movie theater?
If decency had any place in American politics, this would be an immediate career-ender for the ridiculous congressman from Texas. Some political missteps are simply unforgivable.
Update: Gohmert also wondered aloud why no one else in the theater was armed, complaining that the victims should have shot back.
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I love it when a comment or statement that hints at a "God" or Christian-like values ... care for one another, good morals and ethics etc which is what this country was founded on, brings out all the knock-kneed, slack jawed mice, the author of this article included, Not one of you bastards stopped and said hey who cares who said what? People ARE DEAD and all anyone can do is scrutinize semantics SHAME ON US ALL AND
I'll just leave this here.
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/a-misstep-on-gma-as-networks-rush-to-cover-shooting/
We lead the world in spree killers at 25- going back to the first recorded in 1927 . A fact that is far more scary is that 12 of those 25 occurred between 2002 and today.
From what I understand about Ben Franklin, he's not the one who should be talking about "morality & Christian values".
"Derelict"? He's a medical school student. They don't let just any old body into medical school. Right-wingers will grasp at any straw to make them look better than anybody else.
Whose the most dispicable, this idiot or the people who put him in office....
I'm waiting for some right wing nutcase(s) - Gohmert himself or the NRA - to offer up the conspiracy theory that Obama & Homeland Security are behind this horrendous shooting. Citizens will start questioning gun rights & the 2nd amendment will be threatened! Sound familiar??
Having a gun in a crowded public place would not have helped. For those who think that having a gun and shooting the guy is the only way to stop the shooter, trust me it isn't. In many self-defense classes on of the first things they teach you is how to disarm someone who has a gun using just your hands. Adding more bullets into the room doesn't prevent more death.
“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?” -Louie Gohmert
That's right Einstein. Blame the many victims for not being armed and acting like trained marines in a dark chaotic gas filled theater.
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson would not even recognize what this guy called "Christianity." They were both closely allied with the Unitarian Church, which recognized freedom of belief.
"Virtuous" also is not synonymous with "CHristianity." The prisons are not filled with atheists.
It proves once more that many of our legislators fit the IQ profile for the old statistical adage, 'regression to the mean'. How can someone be so heartless as to make political hay out of so many people hurt and dead. His God is no god of civilization, but rather of violence and hatred. His parents did a terrible job of bringing him up. Shame on them.
I agree that the non-thinking congressman needs to reassess his idea that amateurs shooting at an unknown assailant in a dark theater would be a good idea. The whole concept of arming the public is REALLY STUPID. The idea that more guns means less crime would mean Houston would be a crime-free zone, everybody is packing. Guess what? WRONG. Yet all we hear from the right are their cute little analogies, or the call to ban cars, hammers, anything else that could be used to harm. How about offering a real solution?
Notice most of the crazy's that shoot up random places tend to be deranged right wingers?
Bottom line, politicians should have no response other then prayers & condolences for the families who lost loved ones and also for the families that came damn close to it. This sicko was just another one looking for 15 minutes of fame and I would imagine that the fore fathers of our country are deeply regretting making the decision that we all have the right to bear arms as part of our constitution. Some people want to pay just a little bit more attention to common sense and why & when that decision was made, it certainly shouldn't always apply in this day and age.
Some people have no shame!!! The Platzner Post Facebook, and Twitter https://www.facebook.com/ThePlatznerPost
While this would be a career ender for most politicians you must remember that Ghomie Ghomert is elected by the retarded christian right of Texas and this plays to that audience.
Just waiting for NRA spokesmen to say that guns don't kill people, people kill people...BUT, guns don't buy guns, PEOPLE buy guns
Didn't Rush Limbaugh just say the new Batman movie was a conspiracy. You know Bain Bane thing? Why don't they blame him.
...maybe the National RIFLE association needs to change its name, since rifles aree the least of our problems (or weapons)
It seems pretty obvious that Tom DeLay didn't "evolutionize."
When it is easier for people to "turn their heads away" rather than deal with the stigmas of mental health issues, you are going to get situations like this.
When it is easier to get a gun than to get anti-psychotic drugs, you are going to get situations like this.
When you vote for politicians who tell you "it's all about what YOU want" instead of telling you that we have to help our brothers and sisters and sometimes that means voting for something you are going to have to pay a little extra for, then you are going to get situations like this.
My heart goes out to all of the families of all the victims, including the family of the young man who did the shooting. I am sure they never dreamed their son could do this!!
They don't 'find' a way to blame Obama. They invent them.
Hey folks, have a little respect. You are talking about my local congressman. He was the worst one we could find in the institution for the criminally insane. After all, you know how Texas feels about the federal government.
Gohmert is right! We need the kind of christian values that the crusaders had, like the Inquisition had, like the Salem witch burners and the jew killing pogromers of Europe had. Darwin did this! And Gingrich is right too: We need to fear an almighty god like Eric Rudolph does, or Osama, uh, I mean the late Osama ... ... never mind.
A few things we would miss without religion
Pagan Purge (315 - 599 Unknown Dead)
Mission 1 - (782 - 4500 Saxons dead)
Mission 2 - (1234 Germany 11,000 dead)
Mission 3 - (1400's Poland 1000 churches and 18,000 villages plundered by the Knights of the Order. 10,000 dead)
Mission 4 - (1500-1600 Ireland 20,000-50,000 dead)
Crusades (1095-1291 between 1 and 2 million dead)
Crusades against the Hussites ( 1400's 5000 dead)
Spanish Inquisition Tribunal (3 million dead)
Pope Pius V against the Huguenots (1572 20,000 Huguenots dead)
Witch-hunts (1480-1750 300,000 dead)
French Wars of Religion (1562-1598 2-4 million dead)
Thirty Years' War (1618-1648 3-12 million dead)
Israeli / Palestinian Conflict (1917-Present At least 10,000 dead since 1987)
Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990 130,000-250,000 dead)
Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005 1-2 million dead)
Bosnian War (1992-1995 Over 100,000 dead)
Northern Ireland Christian Wars (1968-1998 3000 dead)
9/11 (September 11, 2001 3000 dead)
7/7th (2005 - 70 dead)
Gunpowder plot (1605)
Partition of India (1947)
Honor killings
Taliban blowing up ancient statues
Public beheadings of blasphemers
Flogging of female skin for the crime of showing an inch of it
Televangelists fleecing the public
Michelle Bachmann
Louie Gohmert
Just saying.
You are so, so right.
Yes, Religion has some "splanin' " to do, Lucy. Thank god many people are beginning to discover there is no god and that all religions are moronic, but destructive nonsense.
Makes perfect sense: without religion, we'd have no war, oppression, murder or stupid politicians. Cuz, you know, religion is what causes all these things, not greed, selfishness, or hunger for power.
/sarcasm
The funny thing is, I was just about to add a comment pointing out that when people make the stupid argument that Gohmert made, they're failing to note that in the past, when western society WAS mostly Christian, murder rates were much higher than they've been in recent decades, as society has become more secular.
I don't think there's a simple cause/effect relationship there, but at the very least it's evidence that religion alone is not sufficient to keep people from behaving barbarously.