Here it comes, folks. The Fox News sufferers of ODS (Obama Derangement Syndrome) are exhibiting advanced symptoms of ever greater severity. Their determination to demonize President Obama is returning to the absurdly elevated levels that characterized the last two elections when they portrayed him as a friend to terrorists and a foreign-born Marxist who hates America.
The latest in their cavalcade of lunacy is a report that compares Obama to Pope Francis with a headline feature, “Pope Francis is the Catholic Church’s Obama – God help us,” that is insulting to both of them.
The story, in predictable Fox fashion, assails the President as a weak, ineffective leader who naively panders to his enemies. What was less predictable is the attribution of the same failings to the previously infallible Pope. The author, Fox News editor and self-described Catholic, Adam Shaw, begins by declaring that the popular new Pope is already headed in the wrong direction and that “just as President Obama has been a disappointment for America, Pope Francis will prove a disaster for the Catholic Church.” That’s a pretty strong condemnation directed at God’s anointed representative on Earth. Either Shaw knows better about what’s best for the church than the Lord Almighty, or he just wants to exploit this matter to beat up on a president he and his bosses despise.
Shaw’s argument supporting this view loiters around feverish criticisms that the Pope is insufficiently dismissive of gays, contraception, and those churchly nuisances, the poor. He chastises the Pope by grumbling that “Francis thinks by talking vacuously about the poor, he will be respected.” What Shaw means by “vacuous” is the Pope’s remarkable exhortation on economic inequality that rebuked the idolatry of money and trickle-down economics (you know, like Jesus did). It’s a theme the President picked up on yesterday in his speech on the same subject, but what Shaw called “vacuous” Obama called “eloquent.”
“The Pope himself spoke about this at eloquent length. ‘How can it be,’ he wrote, ‘that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?'”
Shaw sums up his screed with a twin-barrel attack on both Obama and the Pope as confused and deceived dupes of some sort of covert socialist cabal:
“Like Obama, Francis is unable to see the problems that are really endangering his people. Like Obama he mistakes the faithful for the enemy, the enemy for his friend, condescension for respect, socialism for justice and capitalism for tyranny.”
There is nothing particularly new in Shaw’s offensive rhetoric. It is a rather typical example of the Fox News, right-wing disparagement of any advocacy on behalf of society’s less fortunate. Any public activism that doesn’t inure to the benefit of elite, wealthy individuals and corporations is looked upon as tantamount to Marxist tyranny in the eyes of modern Tea Party conservatives. And the opportunity to wrap their hostility in a blanket of feigned spirituality proved just to compelling to resist. God help us, indeed.
Fantastic. For the last 30 or so years Catholics have been duped into believing they have efforts in common with the American Right. Catholics do not. And now American Catholics, who have for years given their support to Republicans and the Right, are in for a shock when their “brethren” the anti-human, let’em die, kill the poor, guardians of Plutocracy and Vulture Capitalists, turn upon them.
They’ll be surprised when conservatives begin to spit out epithets like papists and defame the ‘Bishop of Rome’ while expecting Catholics to toe-the-line and prostrate themselves in front of the conservative idols of Oppression, Subjugation, and Adulation of the Rich.
And they’ll be forced to choose between right-wing nutjobs who declare JESUS CHRIST IS A CAPITALIST
“Exclusive: Jonathon Moseley sets pope straight on Bible’s condemnation of socialism” and the Vicar of Christ.
Gene – Funny – “oppression and subjugation” are expectations of progressive with respect to government vs people. And “Adulation of the rich” doesn’t exist in conservatism as you suggest – maybe todays republicanism, but not conservatism.
Wrong, just because Jonah Goldberg told you Fascism is Liberal doesn’t make it true. The goal of conservatism is to transfer as much wealth into the hands of the 1% as possible. That’s precisely why Rush Limpballs and anti-catholic right-wingers have declared jesus was a capitalist.
Do you actually have an original thought or do you rely on those guys to fill your head with ideas? I never even heard those things – I’ve never used fascism or Jesus was a capitalist, those are your (or Goldberg and Limbaugh) words. I have used oppressive and subjugation when describing progressivism – those are my words and they are what I believe to be true. I don’t need conservative media to tell me what to think. Hell, you guys have done more to convince me that what I believe is true more than anything Fox News or Rush Limbaugh has ever said.
Sorry, that was for Gene – forgot to hit the reply button.
“And it is vacuous — the pontiff recently asked why it’s news that the stock market drops but not when an old person dies. When your leader is asking, “Why isn’t the newspaper a laundry list of obituaries?” you know you elected the wrong guy.”
Speaking of vacuous… When Shaw omits (intentionally, I’d wager) the verbiage the Pope used, homeless, it does add quite a different connotation now doesn’t it? It forces one to think of the poor and the downtrodden that suffer and what we, as a civil society, should do about it. Of course we’re all going to die; we just don’t have to die poor and homeless. We can easily do something about it and should. The corporate media sure could help as well if they weren’t always consumed by the almighty dollar. Which is exactly the point the Pope was making. You know, WWJD?
Vacuous, indeed.
Since the dunce hat fits, Shaw should sit in the corner and wear it.
Wow – did you all find religion recently? Is this to be a theocracy? Yes, we as individuals can and should think about those things – again, the ends are not in dispute, the means which I see from this site is that government is the ultimate means – through the theft of direct taxation and of course redistribution. You’re not going to get lots of argument on the ideas that we should give a shit about the less fortunate as INDIVIDUALS
Are you seriously saying that the party that wants to ban abortion, contraception, and gay marriage because “jesus says to” isn’t the least bit hypocritical in denouncing the Pope’s stance on the economy?
As for “the theft of direct taxation” that you mention, the founding fathers only considered taxation theft if it was done without representation. If you feel you aren’t properly represented by your representatives then maybe you should focus your efforts into getting Corporations stripped of their “people” status and help get the money out of politics.
Nick – Really??? – it only took an amendment to the constitution – 16th amendment – to remove all obstacles to the type of taxation we’re under now – yeah, they were only concerned about representation – you need to open your eyes. You must be one of those that states “if we want to live in a civilized society, we need to pay taxes” – the dumbest line ever uttered. If that was remotely true, the first 120+ years of this countries history would be chaos. how did it ever expand and thrive without stealing from its own citizens?
And of course you couldn’t help but totally misrepresent the republican party on contraception – the current republican party is pretty messed up, I’ll concede that all day long, but even that is a bit too far. Do you actually read anything or just make it up as you go? The only place contraception seems to enter into republican politics is when the fed gov’t tries to dictate requirements to employers and insurance companies that they MUST provide that kind of coverage – hardly banning anything – just making you responsible for paying for it, which is totally justified.
By the way – the pope is only considered infallible on issues of theology, not sure it’s for Fox News to determine, but I guess when you dip your toe in the political pool, you may get that kind of treatment.