In a last-minute desperate attempt to scare the shit out of as many voters as possible, Paul Ryan made an outlandish claim that another term for Obama will threaten Judeo-Christian values. Because apparently, contraceptive access will bring about the end of days:
CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — Representative Paul D. Ryan accused President Obama on Sunday of taking the country down a path that compromised Judeo-Christian values and the traditions of Western civilization.
The remarks came in a conference call with evangelical Christians, sandwiched between public rallies in which he often spoke of the Romney-Ryan ticket’s promise to bridge partisan divides if elected.
~snip~
“It’s a dangerous path,” Mr. Ryan said, describing Mr. Obama’s policies. “It’s a path that grows government, restricts freedom and liberty and compromises those values, those Judeo-Christian, Western civilization values that made us such a great and exceptional nation in the first place.”’A spokesman for Mr. Ryan, Michael Steel, said, “He was talking about issues like religious liberty and Obamacare – topics he has mentioned frequently during the campaign.”
As I’ve said over and over, the notion that ‘Obamacare’ or the birth control benefit threatens religious liberty is horseshit:
Contrary to morality-soaked rhetoric of such zealots, however, the birth control brouhaha isn’t about protecting the rights of citizens to practice their own faith. It is about the rights of citizens to be given the freedom to make their own choices, free from the restrictions of a faith that they might not call their own. It is about freedom from religious tyranny—which is a bedrock principle of this country.
What Ryan seeks to protect is an imagined right of a handful of out-of-touch religious zealots to force their religious values down the throats of unwilling women.
It’s unconstitutional, and, frankly, it’s un-American.
As for Ryan’s claim that, essentially, another Obama term will destroy Western civilization as we know it? Render unto me a fucking break already.
UPDATE: Some folks pointed out on Twitter that it’s a dog-whistle. Yes, I think it’s a dog-whistle, too — but what isn’t these days? I can’t even be bothered to care today. I’m more concerned about drilling the following into everybody’s noggin: CONTRACEPTIVE ACCESS FOR WOMEN HAS FUCK-ALL TO DO WITH RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
[via NYT]
[cross-posted at ABLC]
PreservedKillick
This guy wants to take medical care away from millions of people, resulting in thousands of deaths, and he has the balls to talk about judeo-christian values?
russell
That Obama is one powerful dude.
Flukebucket
Me! Me! Me! Mine! Mine! Mine! (I think that is a verse out of one of The Lost Gospels)
LanceThruster
What gives, Paul?
Ayn Rand would be happy to kill Judeo-Xianity.
Susan K of the tech support
I’ve seen this mentioned all over, and the one thing I think in response is:
THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS.
Bearing false witness, a new Judeo Christian value, brought to you by $pecial Revelation in the year 2012.
taylormattd
Well.
We all know what they mean when they say he threatens their traditional Christian values.
(It means he’s a non-American Mooslim, and also, he’s blackety blackety, blackety, BLACK!!)
PeakVT
@LanceThruster: Ryan knows about as much of what Rand actually said as he does of what Jesus actually said.
gnomedad
“Judeo-Christian values”: often referenced, seldom specified.
vayama
Curious as to which Judeo-Christian values are embodied in the philosophy of Ayn Rand.
Waldo
Doesn’t surprise me and I see no sign of panic in that statement. Fear-mongering is just another day at the office for these f*ckers.
JPL
@PreservedKillick: That’s the type of pro life person he is.
Lahru
What is comforting is the average republican has no idea what “Judeo-Christian” actually means and being said by Paul Ryan carries the same weight as the cashier at 7-11.
PeakVT
Question for anyone who hasn’t blocked out the 2004 election like I have: did Kerry flail in the last few days like Rmoney and Ryan? I have no recollection of that time whatsoever.
Jay in Oregon
It’s hard to believe that, within my lifetime, evangelical Christians went from a strong, Bible-based belief in being pro-choice to an equally strong, Bible-based belief in being “pro-life”.
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/30/my-take-when-evangelicals-were-pro-choice/
PsiFighter37
@PeakVT: No, his worst sin was doing that idiotic Duck Hunt trip in Ohio. That was just plain stupid, but not desperate.
catclub
@PeakVT: So where are the fapworthy sections of the Gospels? Rand has em, and those are probably what Ryan has memorized.
so no evidence he knows anything about what Jesus said.
Steve
Uh, since when is religious liberty a Judeo-Christian value? Protestants and Catholics used to burn one another at the stake with regularity.
Culture of Truth
It’s a little-known fact that chief message of Jesus was the virtue of selfishness.
NotMax
What, no
hatmitre tip to Huckabee’s ‘vote wrong and you’ll burn in hell for eternity’ video ad as precursor?The Other Chuck
Most of the time in the last few days of the campaign, candidates try to close the deal by talking up a hopeful positive message about themselves. You know who ends with gloom and doom prophecies? LOSERS. R&R are not going down with any kind of dignity.
scav
If those medieval and renaissance politicos had held to the hard xian line on forbidding usury, we wouldn’t have slid into the banker-infested sacrilegious wasteland we all suffer through daily.
Culture of Truth
Cashiers 7:11 is one of my favorite Bible passages
lamh35
ok, now there is reporting that Romney will be campaigning in Cleveland and Pittsburgh tomorrow??? WTF?
JPL
OT… It’s kinda fun watching the audience do the wave with their forward signs in Ohio.
The Other Chuck
@lamh35: Cleveland I can kinda sorta see. But Pittsburgh? Really?
PsiFighter37
@lamh35: That sweet stench you’re getting a whiff of? It’s called desperation, and this is a perfect indication. You want your supporters out there voting/GOTV, not attending a rally on Election Day.
I hope Mittens cries during his concession speech tomorrow. Oh please, pretty please…
YellowJournalism
“CONTRACEPTIVE ACCESS FOR WOMEN HAS FUCK-ALL TO DO WITH RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.”
Just thought this should be repeated.
PurpleGirl
@Steve: And for many hundreds of years, the Christians of Europe (and Russia) had a high old time killing Jews. Judeo-Christian values, indeed.
Matthias Neeracher
@vayama:
I suppose “Judeo-Christian Values” just rolls off the tongue more easily than “Mormono-Objectivist Values”.
jibeaux
@Culture of Truth: That old people shouldn’t have health care if they can’t afford it is the hidden message of the Sermon on the Mount.
Comrade Dread
I have never heard of religious Jews objecting to birth control. And neither have I heard of the vast majority of Protestant sects of Christianity objecting either.
And even if I did, it’s stupid to complain that because you buy a service from a company for your employees of your secular functioning business that then might disperse that money to one of your employees in a way that you object to, that you have a right to interfere. You don’t.
Neither did you ‘pay for it’. Your insurance provider did. Out of the insurance pool.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Matthias Neeracher: I think you mean Mammono-Objectivist values.
scav
@lamh35: Might be the last time (for a long time) that people are excited to see him and think of him as a potential winner. Man has got to know there will be sub-text and footnotes and unstated reservations about him in future — and that will be from his erst-while supporters.
NotMax
@<a href="https://balloon-juice.com/2012/11/05/paul-ryan-panics-claims-obama-threatens-judeo-christian-values/#comment-3928619"lamh35
Isn’t Cleveland where voting machines from the company son Tagg holds an interest in are located?
Dunno if the same holds true for Pittsburgh.
Violet
Someone said in a previous thread that Ryan was making noises about his post election plans–non-VP plans. Does anyone have a link?
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
I’m sorry, you will have to select another configuration. Judeo-Christian values are only available in white.
PeakVT
@lamh35: It’s a confidence gambit. But has anyone ever been swayed by an election-day rally? I can’t imagine even the most clueless swing voter deciding based on that. All the people involved in such rallies would be better used driving people to the polls.
lamh35
@The Other Chuck: isn’t Cleveland Dem-leaning?
NotMax
@
Moronic-Objectivist values?
(term derived from the angel Moroni)
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@LanceThruster: He’s not running against Ayn Rand. He’s running against a Socialist Metrosexual Kenyan Islamofascist. So that makes it consistent (in those who can tolerate cognitive dissonance like LyinRyan can.
ABL
@Jay in Oregon: Whoa! Thanks for that link.
Mike G
So, having your employer deny you part of your health coverage based on their religious whims is “freedom and liberty”.
The government stopping them from denying you coverage is “tyranny”.
* Does not apply if you’re a non-Catholic working for a large hospital corporation that had Catholic roots, and don’t want your health coverage dictated by old gay men in Italy wearing dresses.
This is your brain on Ayn Rand. Any questions?
artem1s
@NotMax:
No, Cleveland proper uses optical scanning. Some of the richer surrounding areas might have some of the Diebold touch screen machines left around.
artem1s
@lamh35:
City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga county, yes. Surrounding counties, not so much. Hopefully he will grace Medina or Independence with his presence and not Cleveland itself.
PeakVT
OT but related via Rand: one of Fallows readers promises to go Galt if Obama wins. Though the email so on-key I’m thinking DougJ has been hard at work.
FlipYrWhig
@YellowJournalism:
Interestingly, contraceptive access for women has everything to do with fuck-liberty.
NotMax
@Violet
Maddow show on Sunday had a segment about that. (relevant portion begins about 4:20 in)
Waldo
@PeakVT: Traditionally, campaigning ends the day before. On Tuesday it’s victory/concession gatherings. But who knows — maybe Mitt is planning an unprecedented November Surprise.
FlipYrWhig
@Mike G: If you see yourself as a lordly employer, rather than a lowly employee, it almost makes sense.
Enhanced Mooching Techniques
HRC may not threaten faith but it certainly threatens religion as an institution. Lot of money goes into charitable donations and a lot of people “believe” because church are their only protection against utter poverty and starvation.
lamh35
Axelrod gots jokes!
@politicalwire
David Axelrod on Dick Morris: “I’ve had a foot in my mouth plenty of times, but it’s always been my own!” http://pwire.at/TtP0pN
NotMax
@artem1s
Optical scanners are what Tagg’s invested-in company (Hart InterCivic) provides.
NCSteve
Ryan’s fearmongering would have more force if Angry Old Testament Jeebus hadn’t sent Hurricane Sandy to smite Mitt’s momentum. Evidently, Obama’s god is God.
The Other Chuck
@lamh35:
More than “leaning”, but it would draw a decent size crowd, and it has a lot of burbs that are much more swingy, in a state that can’t be entirely written off, unlike PA.
Still, you’d think Florida would be more important for Mitt to spend some time in, since it’s only just slightly leaned his way. If Obama picks up Florida, Mitt’s defeat is going to be crushing.
PreservedKillick
@PeakVT:
The first guy is a grade A whack job.
The second one has it about right, IMO. And it is scary. My own experience, and I do have several republican friends who I quite often sit down to dinner with, would suggest that the republican party will likely need to jettison the religious right and make their way without that group. This is a much more tenable path, albeit with some serious headwinds (Grover Norquist and his ilk) but at least there is a potential way to work things out.
artem1s
@Enhanced Mooching Techniques:
I prefer to thing that old dead white guys continuously calling for the apocalypse and granny starving austerity is far more of a threat to religion as an institution. People are abandoning organized religion in droves because it doesn’t speak to real life situations. Not because of government or gays or liberals or feminazis or anything else Ralph Reed is railing at this week.
Roger Moore
@NCSteve:
There is no God but God, and Obama is his Prophet?
ShadeTail
@ABL:
I disagree. Contraceptive access is about *our* religious freedom not to have our lives controlled by a church, whether our own church or someone else’s.
Violet
@NotMax: Thank you!
artem1s
@NotMax:
Ah, didn’t get that.
But optical scanners have the paper back up for recount purposes. Anything close gets extra scrutiny as was the case in Al Franken’s recount. If there is a huge swing where there shouldn’t be, I think that would also draw unwanted attention.
Voter suppression is far more likely to be an issue this time around in Ohio than voting machine fixing I would think. Even in 2004 when Diebold promised the election to Bush the actual equipment issues were largely not an issue. Rejecting provisional ballots on technicalities, scrubbing voting rolls and rejecting registrations were far more effective for the GOP and Blackwell in terms of keeping the wrong people from voting.
NotMax
@artem1s
Agreed.
Not suggesting hanky-panky, just noting the coincidence.
Snopes has a pretty good page on the topic.
Roger Moore
@artem1s:
And if they’re doing things carefully, they should randomly audit some fraction of polling places to make sure the electronic and manual counts agree. That’s the big advantage of direct recording electronic machines for people who want to commit fraud; the results can’t be routinely audited. There’s a much bigger risk of getting caught if there’s a paper trail, especially if the law requires routine audits.
Culture of Truth
There is no Tunch But Tunch
yopd1
@PeakVT: You left out a word – fixed:
JustAnotherBob
@Roger Moore: Absolutely.
There should be a paper ballot. Paper is cheap and recyclable.
Paper can be retained for as long as it takes to settle any disputes.
Randomly recount a percentage of polling places. Let Republicans and Democrats show up with their own optical scanners if they desire and pass ballots from one machine to another.
If ballots are scanned as they are completed then there is no delay in reporting results.
Let’s get away from touch screens and all these things that can be hacked.
LD50
@russell: No fooling. Obama is powerful enough to destroy Christendom and Western Civilization, yet not strong enough to stop Jon Husted.
PeakVT
@yopd1: That was the poster just before me, @Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937.
@JustAnotherBob: I think that a small random sample (say, 2%) should be counted by hand on election night, before being fed through any scanning machine. That should be followed by a larger random sample the next day. Doing both should detect any date-based programming gimmickry.
JustRuss
But if our employers aren’t free to impose their values on our healthcare, are any of us truly free?
Richard W. Crews
I had this 200 word letter printed in my very conservative paper ( Issa is my rep) :
TITLE : Freedom expands choice, choices expand freedom
One feature of Obamacare is the minimal definition of an insurance policy. (Without such definition, the Republican notion of interstate policy sales is a foolish surefire disaster.) Pregnancy is a medical condition; the ability to manage pregnancy is important. Being pregnant only when desired is certainly an aspect of management. A healthy planned pregnancy and subsequent healthy child is in society’s interests; hence the coverage in minimum definition.
It’s an unfortunate post-WWII fluke that most Americans are insured through their employment – unlike most of the world. The employer offers the policy – not the care. The policy has coverages used or not used at covered’s discretion. Since a business cannot discriminate, all kinds of people perhaps work there. These people are presented with opportunities and choice – Freedom!
A religious organization is free to have rules; their followers are also free to follow or not. A business follows civic laws that guarantee Freedom. Jobs are open to all religions. Religions are free to have policies. People are free to join a religion or not, and further, free to follow at their own level. Freedom all around.
Republicans are making a phoney issue here. Freedom, defined as choice and opportunity, is being expanded.
JustAnotherBob
@PeakVT:
Some sort of second level reliability checking.
A simple flatbed scanner attached to a laptop could do reliability checks. Let whomever wanted to double check show up the day after the vote and set up their gear on a table. Pass the ballots down the row under the eyes of election officials and security cameras.
Our paper ballots are fed directly into the scanner when we bring them back to the election workers. They go into the machine and into a secured container underneath the scanner. We have no worry about ballots “getting lost”. There’s no reporting delay – counts are tabulated as ballots completed.
One optical scanner can replace a dozen or more expensive and hackable voting machines.
geg6
@PeakVT:
Another example of the finely tuned machine that is the GOTV for the R/R ticket!
geg6
@lamh35:
So is Pittsburgh. Dem mayor, Dem county executive, Dem city council, etc., etc. etc.
They’d be better off in Washington, PA, a bastion of white supremacy, militias, and other angry uneducated white men with gun fetishes.
LanceThruster
@PeakVT:
Yet Goppers all know the words they put into Republican Jesus’s mouth…
Verily, I say unto you…I’ve got mine!
LanceThruster
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
You mean like being for Ayn Rand before he was against her?
Triassic Sands
I’m really surprised that I haven’t seen any reports that Republicans have sighted Satan at Obama rallies.
I think the one BIG question to be answered on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 is Will running the most dishonest campaign in modern American history pay off for Mitt Romney? Based on the overall level of dishonesty shown by Romney during the primaries and general election campaign, it would be wrong–WRONG–if Romney actually won the election without some pretty obvious election stealing tactics on the part of Republicans. As always, I’ll be looking to Florida and Ohio to lead the way. And it’s no surprise that those just happen to be the two key states in Romney’s strategy. May he rot in hell.
andrew
Shorter Paul Ryan: Oogah Boogah!
Wolfdaughter
ABL:
As a card-carrying cradle Episcopalian, I appreciate greatly your way of incorporating Elizabethan English into a pithy statement. I may borrow if that’s ok.
Great post in all respects.
FormerSwingVoter
@artem1s:
Worth noting for the conspiracy-minded: the machines sold by Tagg Romney’s company work this same way (at least the ones in Ohio); there are paper copies of all electronic votes, and the paper ones are the ones that count in a recount.
While we’re on the topic, they sold those machines to Ohio before Tagg bought into the company.
FFredPalakon
I’ll just add, in a self-serving way, that the no-I’m-not-making-this-up irony in all this is that Ryan’s mentor, Ayn you-know-who, was a heavy influence in the writing of the Satanic Bible.
jefft452
@Mike G: “Does not apply if you’re a non-Catholic working for a large hospital corporation that had Catholic roots”
Its worse then that
Despite Limbaugh’s ravings, not one penny of “taxpayers money” paid for Sandra Fluke’s insurance
Despite what the guys in funny hats say, not one penny of the Catholic Church’s money paid for Sandra Fluke’s insurance
Georgetown University does have insurance for its workers as part of its compensation package, that money belongs to the worker just as much as a paycheck does…
But Sandra Fluke was not an employee, she was a student
100% of Sandra Flukes premiums we paid by no one other than Sandra Fluke – yet somehow if that insurance covers BC, it is a violation of Limbaugh’s, the Cardinals’, and the president of Georgetown’s religious liberty
CynDee
I guess Paul isn’t a very good Judeo-Christian — he has so little faith that the deity will fail to convey and protect values . . .