Lawrence O’Donnell: Let’s get rid of the Bible on Inauguration Day
“We will ensure that whoever delivers the benediction rejects the same parts of the Bible that President Obama rejects and most Democrats reject, even though every word of the Bible is the word of God,” O’Donnell said. “As I’ve pointed out … no one accepts all of the teachings of the Bible. No one. … Still, the president, following one of our most absurdest traditions in the government that invented the separation of church and state, will put his hand on this book filled with things he does not believe – filled with things that no one in the United States of America believes – and with his hand on this book he will recite the oath of office. ”
O’Donnell offered an unlikely alternative to the Bible for the swearing-in ceremony: one of the president’s daughters.
“Now, wouldn’t it be better if the president’s hand was on the shoulder of one of his daughters, suggesting that he was honoring the oath of office as much as he honors Sasha and Malia?” O’Donnell asked.
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Jacobins.
forest on January 11, 2013 at 1:06 PM
As a Christian, I’m trying not to spout expletives. Hmm…..
tommy71 on January 11, 2013 at 1:06 PM
You are an idiot, Larry.
kingsjester on January 11, 2013 at 1:06 PM
How about we get rid of Larry
cw10036 on January 11, 2013 at 1:09 PM
Me thinks bho would feel more at home putting his skinny anti-American fingers on ‘another’ book, not the Bible?
L
letget on January 11, 2013 at 1:10 PM
Are they going to scrap it in courts, too?
OldEnglish on January 11, 2013 at 1:10 PM
I think it is appropriate for left wing presidents, aka, donks, to not use the Bible.
Blake on January 11, 2013 at 1:11 PM
Quite aside from the appalling lack of theological understanding O’Donnell presents, I wonder if he’s aware that there is absolutely zero Constitutional requirement to take the oath of office holding a Bible. If Obama don’t wanna play that, he’s under no obligation to. Of course, he risks pi$$ing off a large segment of Americans, but what has that made any difference to him?
psrch on January 11, 2013 at 1:11 PM
I’m thinking it might be more convincing if he swore on his own weenie.
apostic on January 11, 2013 at 1:12 PM
Bet he thought this up all by himself.
ronsfi on January 11, 2013 at 1:13 PM
Do it.
Let millions of Christian democrats ask why their president is rejecting his supposed Christianity.
darwin on January 11, 2013 at 1:14 PM
Regardless of what he swears upon, I’ll still be mystified if he doesn’t giggle when he gets to that “support and defend the Constitution” part.
apostic on January 11, 2013 at 1:14 PM
In the case of obama, It doesn’t really matter anyway. Just as he did in 2009, obama will put his greasy paw, festooned with his golden ‘muslim terror ring’, on the Bible (this time two Bibles), effectively canceling out his oath.
Pork-Chop on January 11, 2013 at 1:14 PM
Talk about missing the point.
It’s not about believing everything in the book. It’s about the importance and seriousness of swearing the oath on the holy book of your religion.
It takes the oath from being something you’ve just promised to man to something you promised on your religious beliefs, your hopes for eternal salvation and happiness, to God. You’re swearing on the most sacred and important thing you can muster.
If you’re Christian, that’s the Bible. If you’re Muslim, the Koran. Atheist, it’s whatever matters to you above all else. To demonstrate your seriousness to keeping the oath.
That doesn’t require you to believe 100% of everything inside. Just that you’ve assigned it that importance morally, and you’re willing to swear upon it. That’s what is important.
amerpundit on January 11, 2013 at 1:15 PM
Didn’t Obama do that already?
petefrt on January 11, 2013 at 1:15 PM
he can swear over the constitution?
nathor on January 11, 2013 at 1:16 PM
Huh? No one? That has got to be one of the most absurdest things I’ve ever heard.
2L8 on January 11, 2013 at 1:16 PM
i agree with this… if obama says he is a christian, let him swear over the bible…
nathor on January 11, 2013 at 1:17 PM
Sure, let’s just let modern presidents undue every fine tradition set by our first president. FDR snubbed the no third term tradition. Every president since FDR has ignored the avoiding foreign entanglements tradition. So we could just go all the way and eschew the swearing in on a Bible tradition. Geez, I’m still upset they made Washington’s birthday “Presidents Day.”
radjah shelduck on January 11, 2013 at 1:18 PM
I think liberal ideologues who are also atheists are the last people on the planet to accept the fact that the Old Testament is a recordi of the Hebrew people and their God written over a millennium and not a day planner.
HitNRun on January 11, 2013 at 1:20 PM
If they haven’t asked themselves that before now, they’ve already chosen willful blindness.
Kataklysmic on January 11, 2013 at 1:21 PM
Ha ha. Hey Sasha and Malia, I’ve left trillions of dollars of debt to your generation to pay off and set up a system that will reduce their standard of living in order to transfer wealth to older baby boomers.
gwelf on January 11, 2013 at 1:22 PM
Replace the Bible with a pirates chest full of trillion dollar denominated platinum doubloons.
gwelf on January 11, 2013 at 1:23 PM
Feel free to fantasize that way. I’m fairly certain however that Obama cares as much about Biblical fantasies as he does about “another’book-ical fantasies.
lester on January 11, 2013 at 1:42 PM
How about using Dreams from My Father instead, since it is the Word of God? Never mind that it may have actually been written by Bill Ayers; it’s nonetheless divinely inspired.
steebo77 on January 11, 2013 at 1:45 PM
Fine, but we have to get rid of Lawrence O’Donnell first.
Resist We Much on January 11, 2013 at 1:45 PM
Marx-ical and Engels-ical fantasies?
steebo77 on January 11, 2013 at 1:46 PM
Why not go all the way and have BO recite the oath inside an upside down pentagram.. /s
katiejane on January 11, 2013 at 1:47 PM
Yeah, that’s not creepy. Or hypocritical.
But hey, how about swearing by all the dead fetuses he given thumbs up to over the years? Or why not seal it with a gay kiss? Or a toke with the choom gang? Burning the effigy of an overseas ambassador? Or a pile of money? Or how ’bout O’Donnell just comes up and takes a crap on the stage in the name of journalistic integrity?
All of those are much better than swearing by some ridiculous book of stories no one believes in. I mean NO ONE.
somewhatconcerned on January 11, 2013 at 1:59 PM
Obama should use the Koran (as a side benefit, just think of the self-esteem boost it’ll provide to NASA’s now primary mission) …
ShainS on January 11, 2013 at 2:00 PM
Good thing Obama decreed life time SS protection for himself.
teacherman on January 11, 2013 at 2:01 PM
No one stand anywhere near this guy during a rain storm.
gophergirl on January 11, 2013 at 2:02 PM
Well look at the source of the comment.
Guy is crazy.
gophergirl on January 11, 2013 at 2:03 PM
Those as well. Glad you brought them up.
lester on January 11, 2013 at 2:04 PM
Yes, why not. At least then it would lower the amount of hypocrisy practiced by the political class.
chemman on January 11, 2013 at 2:08 PM
Let him get sworn in on “Dreams From My Father.” That’s the only book he actually cares about.
Good Solid B-Plus on January 11, 2013 at 2:09 PM
How dare you. Barack has pontificated many times about his deep Christian faith. Are you claiming he is lying about that for political gain?
Kataklysmic on January 11, 2013 at 2:14 PM
Really? It’s not about “accepting” scripture, it’s about how it’s translated (and mistranslated) by quite a lot of the Protestant denominations.
*sigh*
Homosexuality is not a sin according to the bible.
As for the anti-gay preacher…It doesn’t look good for The One to have him administer the oath of office. The guy can say whatever he wants about gays, straights, and any other groups he sees fit to. Most here were correct in their assessment of Rev. Wright and his hateful anti-American rhetoric…so too with this one as well.
O’Donnell is a partisan tool with about as many brain cells as he has viewers.
JetBoy on January 11, 2013 at 2:19 PM
Genesis 19, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Judges 19:22, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Romans 1:27, etc.
steebo77 on January 11, 2013 at 2:28 PM
Ironically Larry gets it right. Why swear on a book that contains thousands of words, hundreds of verses and scores of teachings that you do not believe in, let alone accept as coming from God? Find something else, like your daughter, cause you don’t believe in the constitution either.
AH_C on January 11, 2013 at 2:31 PM
The plan is to have him publicly beseech his daughters to kill him and send his soul to hell if he violates his oath of office? Dude.
kunegetikos on January 11, 2013 at 2:34 PM
If Obama wants to place his hand upon something that represents the reverence he holds to the god that he worships in taking the oath of office…
He can put his hand on his head.
As for all of the talk about Bibles and preachers, etc, etc, they can hold a live recreation of a Roman orgy at one end of the National Mall and an Aztec human sacrifice ceremony at the other – neither will have any negative effect on the inauguration.
Because it can be no more sullied than the fact that Barack Hussein Obama is being sworn in as president.
turfmann on January 11, 2013 at 2:36 PM
Lighten up, O’Donnell. You’re making Euripides blush.
kunegetikos on January 11, 2013 at 2:39 PM
The ironic thing is that Obama will be sworn in using THREE Bibles.
On Sunday with a Bible belonging to Michelle’s paternal grandmother. That woman worked at manager the Moody Bible Bookstore. (Amazing–wonder what happened with her son and granddaughter?).
For the public outdoor ceremony he’s going to used Lincoln’s Bible again and a Bible that belong to MLK, Jr.
Not that he believes a word of the Bible. This, IMHO, is a use of the propaganda technique of TRANSFER.
IMHO Obama is trying to give the appearance of this devout, sincere, Christian man for his own purposes. Many will fall for the symbol. “Why, of course, he’s a good Christian man doing the best he can.” etc.
No matter that his policies are detrimentally opposed to God’s Word, he’s trying to cloak everything with a sanctimonious appearance. He attempts to redefine Christian as his actions.
INC on January 11, 2013 at 2:40 PM
I told my husband, why doesn’t he just have several hundred Bibles put on a bookcart and rolled out so he can really impress people with his spirituality?
INC on January 11, 2013 at 2:42 PM
Doesn’t he kind of swear to uphold the Constitution? So he is going to place his hand on a holy text and lie?
Dr. Frank Enstine on January 11, 2013 at 2:50 PM
Am sure Larry would have no problem if he took the oath with his hand on a copy of the Communist Manifesto. It is not like anyone believes everything in there, oh yeah Larry does. Every word of it.
tjexcite on January 11, 2013 at 3:01 PM
It’d look like the man was… overcompensating… for something….
apostic on January 11, 2013 at 3:02 PM
How about, “Cross my heart and hope to die”?
Ward Cleaver on January 11, 2013 at 3:03 PM
The bible actually condemns homosexual acts, not homosexuality. Homosexuals who remain celibate and resist the temptation to sin are okay.
Ward Cleaver on January 11, 2013 at 3:07 PM
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