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Franklin is badly outmatched here and every time he gets cornered, which is often, he seems to be overcome with some sort of "Biblical Tourette's" which renders him incapable of doing anything except spouting disjointed chunks of memorized sermons, like some half drunk Christian revivalist.
OT....but you have got to listen to this.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Sullivan is decimating the bastards.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/04/which-birth-certificate.html
OT - I hear Olbermann is going to be back on the air in June.
ReplyDeleteI'm an atheist by nature, but God be praised!
Lawrence is a master! Game, set and match!
ReplyDeleteWhat I'd like to say to Franklin Graham is STFU! He danced around the questions while sermonizing what an A-hole.
ReplyDeleteI believe that he believes that he knows what others believe is ok or not in the eyes of God.
ReplyDeleteI almost started to feel sorry for him at one point--but I got over it.
All of these types are so deluded by their own fucking righteousness. It's based on ignorance, a lack of intellectual curiosity, and brainwashing. Throw a few of them together and they think they have all the answers and anyone else is doomed to hell.
Wish they'd all get raptured.
What a painful person Mr Graham is.
ReplyDeleteHe definitely fits a favourite of mine which my cousin used to quote which is:
"If I can't dazzle you with brilliance, I'll bamboozle you with bullshit"
Elaine in BC Canada
Franklin loves his money... he knows the type of person that donates to his lavish lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteHe like Sarah only preaches to the choir.
He will never vote Dem. His followers are 99% R
Taxing the for-profit religious business associations ought to help us reduce the deficit. Plain as day his title shows as,
ReplyDeleteFranklin Graham, President and CEO of Billy Graham Evangelistic Assoc.
I wonder how many poor folks scrimp to send him a few bucks enabling him to maintain his high level celebrity lifestyle. Pathetic.
Obama has stated unequivocally that he trusts Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. That makes you a Christian (not baptism, or other religious rites... that proclamation alone is sufficient... Just ask the thief who confessed as he was dying on a cross beside Jesus, who said to him, "Today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43)
ReplyDeleteLike the Grahams, I am a Southern Baptist, and this has really touched a nerve. You never ever ever EVER question a person's salvation.
Notice how FG is back-pedaling big time now: "I can't judge a man's heart! Only God knows a man's heart."
How about: "For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God." ... "Judge not, lest ye be judged." etc.
Ohhh Franklin. You may have the last name Graham, but you will never fill your daddy's shoes. He has prayed with every sitting President for over 50 years. He brought millions to Christ. You only see worldy power and opportunity. Your dad will see his riches when he joins his Saviour.
Lawrence O'Donnell SCHOOLED him (and Rush later on) on all things Bible, and I. Love. It. See? Liberals can be Christians, too!! Jesus was about as liberal as they come. And I'm pretty sure he was a Christian.
Sermon over!
Please! Make it stop! Make the insanity stop!!!
ReplyDeletePat Robertson: Women Get Abortions To Get On ‘Level Playing Field’ With Lesbians
Admit it: lesbians rule the world. Everywhere you look, these titans of industry are running companies, controlling countries, and deciding the direction our society will take. How, then, are poor straight women supposed to catch up to their lucky Sapphic sisters? Well, by getting abortions, of course! At least, this is the logic that Pat Robertson seemed to be working with this morning on The 700 Club.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/pat-robertson-liberal-women-get-abortions-to-get-on-level-playing-field-with-lesbians/
Franklin Graham is no man of God with his huge ego, palling around with hate monger Sarah, and his attacks on others faith. He pretends to know what is in other people's heart and tries to pretend he is better than they are, he frankly scares me because he is so judgemental of others while trying to be a fake God.
ReplyDeleteAnd then I saw that Israeli TV photo ... and suddenly, I became skeptical again.
ReplyDeleteA number of years ago, I was a designer at one of the top maternity companies in the country.
I'd put the job out of my mind, as it was something I took only for the money. We used non-pregnant fit models and put fake bellies on them (like these). They are sort of convincing if you aren't looking closely, but, really, they don't look real. And at least from the bad Israeli TV photo, I had a flashback to those days.
None of Palin's "pregnant Trig photos" look real either, in the same, flat belly way. The story of the reporter looking at Palin's swollen belly through a thin jersey tee shirt ... I doubt any reporter is going to stare at it, but you could definitely fake it with one of these bellies. I can tell the difference though; I know these fake bellies. It is not as easy to prove anything from a photo because of angles, lighting, retouching, etc. But I know what they look like in clothes versus what a real pregnant belly looks like. I had honestly put that work experience out of my mind until today.
If you want to let it go, so be it. Clearly, you'd probably sound like a kook to bring this up. But I am more skeptical now, pending other evidence.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast
.com/2011/04/the-validity-of-asking-empirical-questions-ctd.html#more
Franklin is rumored to have used the plane to cart Sarah around in a life of leisure. Those two are way too close and not in a good way.
ReplyDeleteThe question before us is: why? Are they scared? Or squeamish? No journalist has any business being either. And simply stating the following is a cop-out:
ReplyDeleteWe're prepared to do that right here and now: Sarah Palin, we'd be happy to see and publish your medical records. But the point of our package is that Palin simply doesn't need to do this -- there is no credible evidence to suggest that anyone other than Sarah Palin is the mother of Trig.
Has Salon ever aired the countless questions so many have had about this bizarre pregnancy? Or the persistent disbelief around it? About the wild ride? By not even acknowledging the natural skepticism of people toward these strange narratives, by arguing there is nothing fishy here at all without even going into what people have found fishy, is also a cop-out. It's basically an insult to the many people who remain genuinely puzzled by all this.
This blog, moreover, has diligently offered up evidence on both sides. Salon will not publish anything that might counter their a priori position. I mean: how many politicians in history have claimed that they gave a political speech while experiencing contractions? If that isn't de facto curious and remarkable enough to be worth asking about, what is? And yet no one - even those supportive of her - will go near that question. Why on earth not? Here's what counts for journalism today:
"She went into labor and got an airplane to go back to Alaska -- that's pretty cool!"
If that's your standard of skepticism in today's press corps, you get to host Meet The Press.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/04/which-birth-certificate.html
#2
ReplyDeleteThere is also the matter of consistency. When a politician has publicly claimed she has produced a birth certificate and hasn't, is it illegitimate for the press to ask why she simply lied about this? Can any sane person misremember such a thing? And if she's claimed she has released it, what on earth is the ethical reason for not asking her to do it along with medical records? When she publicly derides skeptics in speech after speech, is it not the press's duty to see if her derision has empirical validity? Or are we skeptics supposed to just sit back and be mocked by a pathological liar putting her own credibility against ours?
We all have cognitive biases. I have one - profound skepticism of anything Palin says - and may be judging evidence in ways that others wouldn't. But so do Justin and Ben and Weigel who have an interest in dismissing the possibility that they may have missed uncovering the biggest hoax in American political history. That same cognitive bias question applies to Loy and Quinn. It does not mean they they may not be right. It just means that their cognitive bias is as real as my own.
It seems to me that when some simple, readily available medical records could end this excruciating debate in one easy swoop - and could have more than two years ago - it is professional negligence that the MSM won't even ask for such proof, and devote far more energy to defending their own past than the facts at hand.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/04/which-birth-certificate.html
He never directly answered question Lawrence O'Donnell asked. He may have thought he looked clever, dancing around the issues, but an honest man would have behaved very differently.
ReplyDeleteSo he thinks Donald Trump is a christian, but Obama has a Muslim "issue". Dolt. Idiot. Clown. Asshat.
I liked it when O'Donnell quoted scripture at F. Graham. For an instant, F. Graham had a startled, pissy look like he only HE had the right to quote scripture.
I also think the subtext was that he knew, that O'Donnell knew, that Graham was making a million dollar salary off of the Graham name.
He is really not a very persuasive speaker, and the only reason he makes that kind of money is because of his dad's legacy, not on his own merit.
Also, one thousand negative points for saying that if you were not a christian, you would go to hell.
I once had a christian zealot "challenge" me to attend his denomination's Sunday service. When I responded that I might have plans that Sunday, he bellowed "Well, are you planning to GO TO HELL?"
Graham cinches it! Tax the churches. These exemptions must go. We taxpayers have subsidized Baker's air conditioned dog house, Haggard's drugs and prostitutes (he said he had a direct line to ShrubII,)Graham's airplane etc. etc.
ReplyDeleteEnough already.
After last night's debacle it is clear Graham is at least as dumb as Palin, and I think most of us know one blithering idiot is already one too many.
After Trump on CNN & Graham on MSNBC the whole educated world had to be asking themselves, "Is the US beyond repair?"
A few months ago, Graham said that "the President's problem is that he was born a Muslim." Then Graham proceeded to make up a bunch of claptrap about the "Muslim seed" that Obama carries.
ReplyDeleteThis preacher makes no sense at all, in his weird sermonizing or his lifestyle. How does he even sustain any followers? They must not read the Bible or they would see through this charlatan.
I am just going to admit that I hate Franklin Graham. When I heard him say that New Orleans was flooded because of gays (along with a few other stupid things) then that was it for me.
ReplyDeleteHe along with his other rich friends can kiss my butt!
What a creep! Why is it that in today's world, you mention to me that you are a 'christian' and I immediately go on the defensive?
ReplyDeleteMost of them are no more christian than am I.
The majority are white, fat, liars, unethical, cheat on their spouses, certainly don't practice what they preach and assuredly appear to have very black hearts by what they say/state.
Perhaps we could just find 'one' that is quote/unquote a 'good' christian? Give me the name and we'll begin research on that person and pull up their record/background.
ARGH!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLawrence O'Donnell blew it. He not only let Graham weasel out of what he said yesterday - he treated the issue of whether or not Obama is a Christian like it matters.
I did NOT vote for Obama because of his religion of lack thereof. In fact his stated Christianity is a big point against him, because it makes him anti-gay marriage.
There is NO passing of a religion test required to be elected to office in our country.
O'Donnell gets a FAIL for letting the impression that there is, stand.
He is a fucking asshole.
He is no "man of God" He is just takng over the family business, like a plumber or an electrician might do. These televangelists all do the same, keep the wealth in the family. He saw what a nice lifestyle his father provided with his sermonizing, so he figured THAT sure beats actually WORKING for a living. Tax all these so-called religious institutions, and the scams they pull with their "charities
ReplyDeleteI don't have any respect for him. I remember he was a drunk and a whole bunch of other things, before his daddy straigtened him out. Notice a lot religion chuch or ministries runs in families ,just like wrestling runs in families. In fact a lot of wrestlers become ministers. They know the junk talk and where the money is.
ReplyDeleteHe's had some conversations with Obama? Someone please explain to me why the fuck Obama has had conversations with this Christian fraud when there are thousands of humble Christians out there who really are following the teachings of Christ that he could talk to. Maybe they just aren't powerful enough for Obama's tastes.
ReplyDeleteDamnit, that pisses me off. Why is Obama so determined to try and please some of the meanest, most rotten people in this country???????????????????
Anonymous @ 2:29
ReplyDeletePlease don't lump all Christians together. We don't think and believe monolithically on every issue.
Jesus said not one word about homosexuality. Paul did, but his words don't carry the same weight, for obvious reasons.
Most Biblical prohibitions about homosexual activity come from the Old Testament as part of the lengthy and detailed Mosaic Law, which Jesus said he fulfilled, so we don't have to observe it to the letter. It includes things like not wearing garments of mixed fibers, not eating certain foods, etc.
Some Christian faiths ordain openly gay people to their clergy, and some perform marriages between homosexuals.
The churches which adhere the most closely to the teachings of Jesus emphasize love, generosity, forgiveness, and acceptance, not discrimination and judgmental condemnation.
That Graham guy is a f*cking asshole. What bullshit!
ReplyDeleteThanks for Lawrence O. Beside Maddow, he is my all time favorite interviewer on political shows. When he would substitute for Olbermann, I was always glad. I hoped he would get his own show and he did...by replacing Olbermann. That was fine with me.
And Gryphen, you are the best. I love reading your posts. Keep it up!
I can't believe that Lawrence didn't go after Graham re his birther comments on the ABC interview.
ReplyDeletegood god, that is one handsome and semi-undetectable hairpiece!
ReplyDeleteI had a lot of comments that I just deleted (I couldn't figure out where to stop), but I will say that he certainly has memorized his talking points well. Reminds me of why I hated going to church.
ReplyDeleteTo dodge a legitimate question by launching into a rehearsed word salad about "God," is such a cowardly act.
ReplyDeleteI have this mental picture of the real GOD stacking a brick blocking a person's path into Heaven, every time they say such malarkey, with that smirk you can so easily detect.
I have the same problem with religion that I do with Sarah Palin. They both state fantasy as fact, and then they try to shove it down your throat, like it or lump it.
ReplyDeleteBy virtue of birth, according to no less an authority than Franklin Graham, you can win the G_O_D lottery only if you're born in THEIR PARTICULAR FAITH (one of hundreds of religions, all with saviors, all born on Dec. 25th, all to virgin mothers, etc.).
How fortunate for lottery winner Graham, he gets to live like a king AND gets an automatic pass to the pearly gates.
If there is a God, what he really needs to save us from are people like the Franklins and the Palins in this world.
Well said Anon@2:28 PM.
ReplyDeleteLee
Franklin Graham had some more to say on this issue.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/graham-obama-not-muslim-hes-just-bad-christian
Graham: Obama Is Not A Muslim, He's Just a Bad Christian
Submitted by Kyle on April 26, 2011 - 1:22pm
Franklin Graham sat down for an interview with Christianity Today to clarify some of the recent statements he had made. During the discussion, Graham insisted that he never questioned the place of President Obama's birth and doesn't even care; he was simply making the point that the issue has been a "headache" for Obama and so it only seems logical that he'd produce his birth certificate in order to shut every one up.
This led into a discussion about Obama's faith, with Graham asserting that he's never believed that Obama is a Muslim ... mainly because Obama is clealrly just a bad Christian:
Just produce that birth certificate. CFOS. CFOS = Chock Full Of Shit.
When anybody says a man as often bankrupt as Donald Trump has the business sense to turn American around, you know right off they're full of shit.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous @ 1:47 there's no reason to let it go because $arah's bizarre behavior even AFTER she announced her pregnancy, wearing a heavy coat or jacket in ALL photos proved she was hiding something. Would the straps on an empathy belly be obvious from behind? I also think the coat was there to discourage anyone from being forward enough to "pat her belly". They would have wondered why it was so "soft"!
ReplyDelete