John Edwards invokes the J-word
posted at 7:44 pm on March 5, 2007 by Bryan
What is it with Democrats lately? Hillary! showing up with a fake southern accent in church. Obama showing up with a fake southern accent in a church. Now John Edwards shows up with a real southern accent but a fake Jesus in a church. Whatever they’re drinking at the DNC these days, I don’t want any of it but I hope they all keep swigging away.
Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards says Jesus would be appalled at how the United States has ignored the plight of the suffering, and that he believes children should have private time to pray at school.
Edwards, in an interview with the Web site Beliefnet.com, said Jesus would be most upset with the selfishness of Americans and the country’s willingness to go to war “when it’s not necessary.”
Keep in mind that among the rationales for the Iraq war is that it would alleviate the Iraqi people’s suffering under Saddam. Keep in mind that Edwards chides America for ignoring the suffering of others. Keep in mind that Americans are consistently the most charitable people on the planet. And keep in mind that Edwards thinks the Iraq war, for which he voted, was unnecessary. America ignores suffering even though it leads the world in charity, but goes to war unnecessarily to alleviate suffering, and that’s also bad. Keep all that in mind. Congratulations! You have cognitive dissonance just like John Edwards!
“I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs,” Edwards told the site. “I think he would be appalled, actually.”
Hm. Who’s ignoring the suffering of the Iraqi people in order to focus on selfish short-term needs, like getting good with the netroots and climbing up a notch or two in the polls? Who has already dismissed the consequences of leaving Iraq too soon, even if it would lead to genocide? Hmmmm?
And then, there’s this, which apparently Jesus would not find appalling at all:
Edwards told Kuo he stood by a decision to keep two bloggers on his staff despite their provocative writings criticizing the Catholic Church. Edwards said he also found the writing offensive, but “decided to forgive them and stand by them, knowing there would be potential political consequences for that.”
“Provocative writings…” That’s putting it mildly, to say the least. That’s a little press bias sneaking into the story. But here’s John Edwards’ Christian theology. Appalling: Ignoring suffering even when you go to war to alleviate massive suffering under a brutal dictator, while your country leads the world in charitable giving. Not appalling: Letting two foul-mouthed haters who can’t go a paragraph without dropping f-bombs or degrading Christians stay inside his campaign.
If that’s what John Edwards’ personal Jesus teaches, he is as confused as Edwards is. I wonder if his hair is as nice.









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Blech. After reading this, I’d just as soon have the 404 error back. ;-)
flipflop on March 5, 2007 at 7:49 PM
Is that a comment on Edwards or on my writing?
Bryan on March 5, 2007 at 7:50 PM
Actually, I think Jesus would be even more appalled with tort lawyers.
flipflop on March 5, 2007 at 7:51 PM
A comment on Edwards, of course.
flipflop on March 5, 2007 at 7:51 PM
Easy for Edwards to say – while sitting in his mansion compound – Clearly the Peter principle here – Edwards was a good sheister ambulance chaser – now he has promoted himself to Pope??? Chase ambulances John- seems to have been your calling.
iam7545 on March 5, 2007 at 7:52 PM
There’s two Americas. One who thinks they know what Jesus is thinking, and one who reads the Bible, trying like heck to figure it out, knowing they don’t know.
Buck Turgidson on March 5, 2007 at 7:52 PM
Well, He did bring a tax collector on board, and they were the first century’s moral equivalent of ambulance chasers. The tax collector did have to do some repenting, and there’s no evidence that Matthew built a house the size of an IKEA on his tax proceeds.
Bryan on March 5, 2007 at 7:53 PM
Just out of curiosity, what has Edwards don’t privately (i.e. – without financial gain, fanfare and media attention) to help the suffering? And wouldn’t building a 28,200 sq.ft. home qualify a selfish short-term need?
Oh how I wish he would get the nomination. It’ll be better than watching the Simpsons.
.
GT on March 5, 2007 at 7:56 PM
That’s interesting. If President Bush were to come out tomorrow and say that “Jesus would have wanted this war because it freed people” we’d never hear the end of the screaming from the left that GWB was thisclose to turning this country into a theocracy. There’d be hearings, calls for healing, naked nutroot lefties laying in the street in protest. But John Edwards, politician and trial lawyer, can stand there and say that he knows Jesus would be against this war, with the implication being that for that reason, we shouldn’t have started it, and the usual suspects don’t view that in the same light.
Will their hypocrisy never end?
SisterToldjah on March 5, 2007 at 7:56 PM
Bryan, you get bonus points for the subtle Depeche Mode reference at the end.
SailorDave on March 5, 2007 at 7:57 PM
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for John Edwards to win the Democratic nomination.
aengus on March 5, 2007 at 7:58 PM
People with 28,000 square foot homes who intentionally avoid paying medicare taxes shouldn’t throw stones.
This is a classic case of projection.
Sensible Mom on March 5, 2007 at 8:00 PM
I’m sure that Jesus would approve of Edwards allowing the local homeless to use his squash court every third sunday from 2:30 – 2:45.
rw on March 5, 2007 at 8:01 PM
Of course not–they’re liberals, after all. Hypocrisy is what they do. But you knew that.
ReubenJCogburn on March 5, 2007 at 8:07 PM
The guy supports people who trash Jesus and then evokes the name of Jesus to get votes? What a hypocrite!
I wonder if Ann should have a comment about Edwards? She better be careful because they put people in rehab for saying the word “faggot”. On second thought, she can’t really talk about Edwards.
csdeven on March 5, 2007 at 8:20 PM
This guy is such a joke.
WisCon on March 5, 2007 at 8:23 PM
yeah…just to be fair we do give the most ODA in dollar amounts, but among developed countries we actually give the least amount of foreign aid as a percentage of our GDP…so in a sense we’re the least generous.
crr6 on March 5, 2007 at 8:24 PM
But that doesn’t factor in all of the humanitarian aid our military delivers around the world, which dwarfs everyone else. So there.
Bryan on March 5, 2007 at 8:29 PM
We must also remember that generosity doesn’t just come in the form of tangibles, either.
SisterToldjah on March 5, 2007 at 8:33 PM
Jesus told me that John should “ay callate.”
Savage on March 5, 2007 at 8:36 PM
What would Jesus moisturize with?
Steve LLamabutcher on March 5, 2007 at 8:46 PM
Coulter took the hit for nothing. The right word is “hypocritical sc*mbag”.
Can’t wait until his nutroots try to figure out how Jesus fits into their concept of the campaign…
bofh on March 5, 2007 at 9:27 PM
Edwards is a piece of garbage… no not because he hired vile Christian haters, stood by them, then let them go when the controversy bled in to the mainstream, yet is using an Ann Coulter joke to raise money and is apparently shocked beyond belief over it….
No, my beef is that he wants to be this anti-war candidate and I’m so fricken’ sick of this crap… I feel the need to keep reposting this… Here’s how he felt in 2003 when he wanted to be the pro-war Democrat in the primaries:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3131295/
He quickly realizes that he’s pissed off a lot of liberal primary voters and tries to say he would have gone about it differently than the President, but he can’t seem to explain how, because he just go through saying he’d have done it exactly like the President and stands by how the President went about it. He actually tried to flip flop in a matter of minutes because he feared alienating the far left voters… yet he had no where to go because the comments I just cited leave absolutely no wiggle room for him. What would he have done differently, sent a hooker over to the hotel rooms of the foreing ministers of France, Germany, and Russia?
This guy is worthless and I hope soon enough we never hear from him again.
RightWinged on February 15, 2007 at 4:28 PM
Each of these candidates has many things to be ashamed of. They are all disgraceful human beings, but this is my biggest beef with Edwards. Sickening. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it, these Democrats are evil… We’re talking about war and American lives here, and all that’s on the minds of these people is getting elected.
And by the way… now he wants school prayer? I wonder how his liberal base feels about that.
RightWinged on March 5, 2007 at 9:27 PM
In a move to buy
carbonindignation offsets, Mr. Edwards pledged to move 200 indigents into his new house.crr6, skim this – you’ll get some enlightenment about your comment. Also, there are many items I can’t refer to here which help you and me to sleep very well at night because the U.S. watches over the entire world.
That is all part of generosity and costs a lot of money. A lot!
Entelechy on March 5, 2007 at 9:32 PM
Edwards campaign sufferes mild case of whiplash
Today, not long after being supportive of campaign staff who referred to some Christians as “Christofascist god-bags”, Edwards stated that, in public schools, “allowing time for children to pray for themselves, to themselves, I think is not only OK, I think it’s a good thing.” Making religious accomodation in public schools for Christofascist children represented such an extreme dichotomy that several Edwards staff members were forced to seek chiropractic treatment for cases of campaign whiplash. Edwards himself simply smiled and indicated that his campaign was a “very big tent”.
Edwards did not indicate if it would be necessary for children to temporarily leave school grounds to comply with current Supreme Court interpretations of the Establishment Clause.
eeyore on March 5, 2007 at 9:34 PM
John Edwards thinks he speaks for Jesus? Shouldn’t be surprising. He is the lawyer that channelled the souls of dead babies in front of juries while making millions off of junk science. At least his scumminess is consistent.
Another point the pisses me off is how these Donks, who supported the war in 2002/3, are now saying what a mistake it was because of how it has been planned and executed. If they truely believed in the mission at the start, they would be pitching in to help America win this conflict, instead of talking of withdrawl and mitigating loss. It is apparent that they will say what is politically expedient to say at the time they say it. They stand for their own ambitions. Their word means nothing.
Mallard T. Drake on March 5, 2007 at 9:57 PM
Silky Pony…….. is your hair right?
Where is the left with alligator tears over the seperation of church and state?
PinkyBigglesworth on March 5, 2007 at 10:11 PM
Doggone, Mallard! I get all the way to the end and you had beat me to it!
TugboatPhil on March 5, 2007 at 10:24 PM
Pinky, I don’t think there will be anything tearful about it. I suspect he will be getting a fangs-out, full-frontal assault from at least some few for spinelessly caving to the Jerry Falwells et.al.
eeyore on March 5, 2007 at 10:46 PM
Yes, we have to keep Edwards past alive, so we don’t have a president trying to channel Abraham Lincoln during a State of the Union speech!
Mallard T. Drake on March 5, 2007 at 10:48 PM
I’m getting the popcorn………
PinkyBigglesworth on March 5, 2007 at 10:59 PM
Sure he mentions Jesus in the beginning of the sentence,but are these so called children like the “youths” in France who burned,looted and wrecked havoc? I have all ideas he is setting the stage for a play we dont want to go to.
I’m with Rightwinged on this.There is also another reference to Jesus in this sentence.Edwards is using the name of Jesus as a talisman to get the attention of christians.disgusting!
Bryan,everything else was on point.
spazzmomma on March 5, 2007 at 11:01 PM
So Edwards thinks that the Jesus Christ of the Bible is appalled because liberal democrats have not stolen enough money from the citizens of the United States in taxes and given it to the “poor”, which I assume he meant when he said “the suffering”? No, the Jesus Christ if the Bible is appalled with us as individuals, not with a collective government of democrat would be Robin Hoods. “Hoods” being the key word there.
He was most certainly appalled, John, when you stood in a Court of Law and for money, pretended to be “channeling” the thoughts of a deceased little girl. Interestingly, that little girl was most likely actually with Him at the time you were doing that. I wonder if she looked up at Jesus and asked, “what is that man talking about?” while you were pulling that stunt.
I would guess that Jesus Christ is probably more appalled at Godless lying unbelievers attempting to use His name for political gain. Maybe you should fall on your knees, and ask Him…
NRA4Freedom on March 6, 2007 at 12:28 AM
Jesus brought us the baptism of fire.
Edwards will never come anywhere close to that,
even if his hairspray catches on fire.
CyberCipher on March 6, 2007 at 12:36 AM
Yeah I’m not arguing that the U.S doesn’t do a lot of good in the world,our role as a global hegemon is the reason there hasn’t been a major world war in 60 years, but my point was that Edwards wasn’t exhibiting “cognitive dissonance” when he said we have ignored the plight of the suffering…in some cases we have. We could give a lot more in terms of foreign aid to countries that need it. That’s not such a bad position to take….
crr6 on March 6, 2007 at 12:37 AM
I find Edwards invoking my Savior, as if Jesus speaks only to him, infinitely more offensive (not to mention blasphemous) than anything Ann Coulter’s ever said or will say.
Edwards, apologize and swear on the Bible (or the Koran) that you’ll never mention Jesus in a political context again!
Jen the Neocon on March 6, 2007 at 1:27 AM
I think Edwards has qualified to speak for Jesus here on Earth. After all, he was (briefly) under the tutelage of the blhoggers who know too well what Jesus is all about.
On a less sarcastic note:
LOL.
Know all that this invitation has been retracted–the staff is off every third Sunday.
RedCrow on March 6, 2007 at 1:36 AM
Hey John, do you know who Jesus screamed at? Not the prostitutes, not the tax collectors, not the down-and-outers; HE SCREAMED AT THE HYPOCRITES! Get it John? The hypocrites…
Edwards, you need to get saved.
Mojave Mark on March 6, 2007 at 1:42 AM
I am disappointed at the media, Democrats, leftists, liberals, and fight columnists (some overlap and are a bit of each) for denigrating George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and others, especially Christians, especially those who are allegedly right wing Christian Evangelicals, for their belief in God and in their Christianity, and accusing them of wearing their religion on their sleeve, when it was William Clinton, Al Gore, and others on the left-liberal side of the isle who engaged in attending churches, especially black churches, numerous times in order to promote their Democrat candidacies, invoking Church, Religion, Jesus, the works, all for personal ambition and personal gain!
Bush barely attended any religious institution with the purpose of preaching from the pulpit for votes, yet HE is the person who is falsely accused of what the Democrats really do in real life!
The hypocrisy, the double standard, the lie!!!!!
William
William2006 on March 6, 2007 at 2:13 AM
I agree with your reprimand of John Edwards and his sacrilegious abuse of religion, Jesus, the Churches, etc., for personal political ambition, but regarding Jesus yelling at people, we don’t know much about who He yelled at or what he yelled to them. As you know there is very little included in the Bible about Jesus’ life, and many people choose to claim that apocryphal writings are not to be considered, so, even if there are documents explaining where Jesus went, who he learned from, and what he did beyond what is written in the main Bible is omitted from our consideration.
Bottom line, we do know that Jesus DID in fact make comments to prostitutes (go and sin no more) and the money changers in the Temple, and so on, but we know little to nothing about what He said or who He yelled at.
William
William2006 on March 6, 2007 at 2:19 AM
“Jen the Neocon,”
John Edwards, as a malpractice lawyer, already has channeled small babies, and so on, so he already has the power to speak and communicate with those you and I, and other common folk, cannot speak or communicate with.
So, don’t be surprised if John Edwards, with his extrasensory, extra-spiritual powers can actually communicate with Jesus, and receives messages from Jesus, much like the Prophets of old have.
In other words, God speaks through John Edwards, so it is all over! Edwards is the Savior of Mankind, or he is the herald for the Savior.
Either way, we should show our love for Jesus and vote for John Edwards.
William
William2006 on March 6, 2007 at 2:24 AM
I personally spoke to Jesus today and he said he was appalled at the lack of empathy for minorities from the Democratic party. He wept when he told me of the millions of unschooled children that the democrats have allowed to pass through our system. He questions “free will” when it comes to allowing the democrats to control our education system. He told me slavery was an evil concept and that the democrats just can’t let go of it.
Why have they forsaken our most precious resource, our children, He lamented.
It was a disturbing conversation. Of course I have no answer but to exercise my free will, and work to vote them out of power.
right2bright on March 6, 2007 at 8:58 AM
Who says he’s means private prayer areas for “Christofascist children?”
ScottG on March 6, 2007 at 9:08 AM
WORD UP BRYAN!
budorob on March 6, 2007 at 9:50 AM
House ready to move in yet, Breck?
KelliD on March 6, 2007 at 10:26 AM
I agree with pretty much everything said here, so I’ll simply add: No one, no politician, Republican or Democrat, could possibly speak for the Christ.
SouthernDem on March 6, 2007 at 10:30 AM
Edwards contemplates what Jesus would think as he lounges around in his 28,000-square-foot home in Chapel Hill or in his 2,800-square-foot house on gated and private Figure Eight Island near Wilmington. Figure Eight, by the way, is where Algore hangs out when he’s on the coast. Photos of both houses here.
rivlax on March 6, 2007 at 10:42 AM
The appalled Jesus fits in beautifully with his two Americas class warfare nonsense. Watch out for this guy. In many ways, he is more politically skilled than Clenis.
Valiant on March 6, 2007 at 10:53 AM
Clean and articulate
What more do you want?
Kini on March 6, 2007 at 12:50 PM
I thought Obama was the messiah… I’m so confused!!
lan astaslem on March 6, 2007 at 2:35 PM
Mr. Edwards, you seem to have forgotten what contempt Jesus had for the money changers.
right2bright on March 6, 2007 at 4:04 PM
I’m not quite sure what your point is. We know everything about Jesus that is theologically relevant. The apocryphal books were written by 2nd and 3rd century heretics who were not eyewitnesses of the things Jesus did, nor did they know any eyewitnesses. That’s why they’re not included in the Bible. The excerpts we have of his life and ministry are a microcosm of the whole.
Jesus did not preach a social gospel, despite what Edwards wants to believe. He preached repentance and salvation.
PRCalDude on March 6, 2007 at 4:54 PM
You should re-read the post I responded to and the comment I made to that post. My statement is clear as the noonday sun and easy to understand.
I don’t understand what it is you don’t understand.
Your comment that all we need to know about Jesus which is theologically relevant means nothing in the context of my comment. It is clear that what I said is true, that little is recorded in the Bible about what Jesus said and did, where he went, who he learned from, etc., and therefore we do not know much about who He yelled at and what He yelled at them.
We do, however, know that the Bible does show that He DID reprimand prostitutes, the money changers in the Temple, priests, and so on. He did not reprimand only hypocrites.
William
William2006 on March 7, 2007 at 1:32 AM