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Title: 'Deeply harmful: Democrats fear O’Rourke will aid Trump by calling for seizing guns and taxing churches
Source:
Washington Examiner
URL Source: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ ... izing-guns-and-taxing-churches
Published: Oct 11, 2019
Author: Jeffrey Cimmino & Naomi Lim
Post Date: 2019-10-11 18:08:10 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 1925
Comments: 15
Beto O’Rourke is worrying Democrats with his extreme rhetoric on social issues, which they fear could damage the party’s electoral chances next year. Ripples of discontent started forming around the former Texas congressman, 47, when he pushed for the confiscation of military-style rifles after a gunman this summer opened fire at a Walmart in his hometown of El Paso, killing 22. Now, O’Rourke’s call to strip religious institutions of their tax-exempt status if they oppose gay marriage at Thursday night’s CNN forum on gay and transgender issues has Democrats worried that he will mobilize religious voters by fostering fears the left would bankrupt churches and charities if it gained power. Jeff Hewitt, a Democratic consultant based in Ohio, said “there was certainly a risk” of intended consequences for Democrats up-and-down the ballot in 2020 triggered by O'Rourke's stance. “He seems to be running for first loser instead of winner. It’s just hard to win in the industrial Midwest when you alienate, you know, the Catholic Church,” Hewitt told the Washington Examiner. “I, for one, don’t think it’s helping the eventual Democratic nominee to keep having the party get pulled further and further to the left." Michael Wear, host of the Faith 2020 podcast and faith outreach director for Obama’s 2012 campaign, ripped O’Rourke’s proposal as “a bad idea irrespective of politics or strategy or anything else.” “It’s also irresponsible, contrary to the notion of the separation of Church and State and it would be deeply harmful politically if such an idea is not explicitly rejected by our party’s presidential nominee,” Wear wrote in an email to the Washington Examiner. Democratic anxiety about political backlash appears justified as Christian organizations and public-interest law firms focused on religious freedom condemned O’Rourke’s remarks. Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public-policy branch of the Southern Baptist Convention, said O’Rourke was backing positions Democrats have denied supporting in the past. "Beto O’Rourke’s comments are alarming because they represent precisely what those on his side of these issues have said for years that they are not seeking to do,” said Moore. “Tax exemption for churches is not a 'reward,' but a recognition that the power to tax is the power to destroy.” Moore added that O’Rourke’s proposed tax-exemption removal “threatens to destroy every church, synagogue, or other religious institution that does not adopt his viewpoint on sexual ethics over and against their own traditions and authoritative texts.” Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit legal firm that takes religious liberty cases, slammed O’Rourke’s proposal as “blatantly unconstitutional.” “It's also foolish because those groups provide billions of dollars in essential social services to their communities,” said Goodrich in a statement emailed to the Washington Examiner. “Churches and ministries should be allowed to hold centuries-old beliefs without fear of government retribution." O’Rourke, once a rising Democratic star, has struggled to recreate the energy and excitement he experienced during his failed Senate bid. Although his fundraising numbers have been relatively strong, his poll numbers have dwindled in the single-digits. His rhetoric on social issues has become more strident as his prospects for winning the nomination have dimmed, and he is now well to the left of his rivals on some hot-button issues. In 2016, even socialist Vermont Democratic senator Bernie Sanders said he would allow religious groups to keep their tax-exempt status even if they oppose gay marriage, citing America’s commitment to religious freedom. But now O’Rourke has pushed the boundaries on the issue, inviting Republicans to criticize the Democratic Party as a whole as backing the taxation of churches. ... Poster Comment: You almost wonder if he is doing this to blackmail the Dems into letting him be VP or something if he'll just shut the hell up. They're right that the more of this stuff he says, the more it hurts all Dems running anywhere in the South and Midwest. I do think it's safe to say that Beto will not be running for Senate in Texas. After his gun speeches and tax-some-churches-as-punishment policy ideas, he'd be lucky if he only got tarred and feathered at most campaign stops in Texas.
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#1. To: Tooconservative (#0)
So the 'Rats aren't worried about the idiotic gasbagging from Berniezuela and Princess Gray Beaver? They have a lot more than just Skater Bob O'Rodriguez to worry about.
I don't think they've endorsed door-to-door armed gungrabbing or taxing only the churches who don't embrace gaiety. That's pretty radical, even for the Dems. Of course, that is the policy they prefer but they certainly don't want those ideas to represent their party with the indy voters who would flee from them if this was broadly known. No, I think Beto is more radical than any of the other Dems. He scares them by saying this stuff before he gets elected. Even Obama never went this far, other than his little remarks about deplorables "clinging to their guns and God" speech at a private fundraiser. But Obama never suggested door-to-door gun confiscation, buy-back programs, taxing churches he doesn't like, etc. Bad as Obama was, he never tried to campaign for that kind of stuff. Not in public.
That's a CT that makes sense. ;-) Pretty much damage done though, isn't it? Beto has already been a very loose cannon.
Or if they oppose abortion. Or gambling. Or porn. Or drugs. Hey. How about a call to strip religious institutions of their tax-exempt status if they have madrassas that promote violent extremism, maintain ties to transnational terrorist networks, and harbor terrorists? Works for me.
Maybe he thinks Trump is very likely to be re-elected and so Beto is just positioning himself for a run in 2024? But then, wouldn't he have been moderate enough to try to get elected to the Senate in 2020 instead? After this, he'll go quiet for 4 years and that's a long time in Dem politics. He is an odd duck in many ways.
Heh-heh... Trump could use your creative speech writing talents. It sure does appear The Dems are clearing the field for Princess Gray Beaver...(whose perpetual case of post-menopausal gasbagging & bitchiness seem to be channeling The Witch. Meanwhile Bernie is supposedly down for the count with a heart attack (or so he's been told), while the Dems seem to be sabotaging both Tulsi (Chameleon) Gabbard and Marianne (Ramtha) Williamson for telling half-truths.
I think your initial instinct is the case; He's angling for a more influential, powerful position somehow, somewhere within what will be an even more insane Dem Party. He is an odd duck in many ways. AND...still counting...
...OR oppose abortion. Or gambling. Or porn. Or drugs. Hey. How about a call to strip religious institutions of their tax-exempt status if they have madrassas that promote violent extremism, maintain ties to transnational terrorist networks, and harbor terrorists? IOW, Beta O'Rourke is the pro-Vice, anti-Virtue candidate (D-Hell)
Yeah, like that'll ever happen. Beto really seems to attract the weirdest fringe of the Dem party. And they do have money. Admittedly, I can't differentiate which of these comrades is the weirdest in their stable but Beto really does attract the kooks. He's like the Matt Agorist of the Dem prez hopefuls. Don LeMona was beside himself. Beto was even kinda speechless.
The entire slate is bat-schiff crazy! Every single one of them. They try to one- up each other. And Lizzy...Gawd she is a hoot. If any of the candidates get traction on any line they spew, she grabs it and uses it as her own at the next rally...rather like the French Chef recipes that appeared in her POW_WOW CHOW book. You can't make this stuff up.
It's hard to believe he is 47 yrs. old, almost a half century old, yet he acts like a snotty sophomore. SMH
After the black tranny man shoves her way past the black tranny girl and grabs the mike and starts screaming, you can see the little gears in Don LeMona's head spinning. "I got this!" And he goes into action like a consummate newsman to "handle" the situation with this hysterical black tranny ranting away about how everyone is out to kill them. Don LeMona is the Tranny-Whisperer. Not sure what the status of that lawsuit against him is. The dude was suing for $1.5M. Lemon then “shoved his index and middle fingers in Plaintiff’s mustache and under Plaintiff’s nose,’’ according to Hice’s suit, which was filed over the weekend. “And he goes, ‘Do you like p—y or d–k?’ And he kept saying, ‘P or D? P or D?’ He said it three or four times. I’m like, ‘Whoa man, what the hell?’ ” Hice claimed. The accuser said he was so traumatized that he fled the bar and came back a couple minutes later to find Lemon gone.
More likely the Ds are using his message as a trial balloon of sorts. I mean, come on - most if not all of the candidates believe exactly the way Beto does, right? Beto is just the only one saying it. Each of the other candidates would love to be the one preaching that message. He (and they) are just testing the waters for the socialist left to see just how far they can go and how much more tyranny they can shove down our throats...this time if they are elected.
Government is in the last resort the employment of armed men, of policemen, gendarmes, soldiers, prison guards, and hangmen. Gotta be tough to stand out in the primaries -- for either party. Odd that the Democrats are trying to "out-left" each other rather than trying to sound more sane. Almost as though they think that's where the country is. They need to get out more -- away from the Washington cocktail parties and more with the people. Good for us they won't.
If so, he made the gaff of a lifetime. This will follow him forever. You can bet that the opposition will use it. Welcome to Hank Johnson's world, Beto.
#2. To: Hank Rearden (#1)
idiotic gasbagging from Berniezuela and Princess Gray Beaver?
#3. To: Tooconservative (#0)
You almost wonder if he is doing this to blackmail the Dems into letting him be VP or something if he'll just shut the hell up.
#4. To: Tooconservative (#0)
Now, O’Rourke’s call to strip religious institutions of their tax-exempt status if they oppose gay marriage
#5. To: Liberator (#3)
Pretty much damage done though, isn't it? Beto has already been a very loose cannon.
#6. To: Hank Rearden (#1)
So the 'Rats aren't worried about the idiotic gasbagging from Berniezuela and Princess Gray Beaver?
#7. To: Tooconservative (#5)
#8. To: misterwhite, tooconservative (#4)
(Edited)
("O’Rourke’s call to strip religious institutions of their tax-exempt status if they oppose gay marriage")...
#9. To: misterwhite (#4)
Hey. How about a call to ...
#10. To: Hank Rearden (#1)
(Edited)
#11. To: Tooconservative (#0)
#12. To: WWG1WWA (#11)
(Edited)
As alleged in his complaint, Hice, 38, told The Post, “About 5 or 10 minutes later, Don gets up, walks around the bar, comes up right up to me and puts his hands down his board shorts. He rubs himself aggressively, his penis and whatever else down there.”
#13. To: Tooconservative (#0)
You almost wonder if he is doing this to blackmail the Dems into letting him be VP or something if he'll just shut the hell up.
The essential feature of government is the enforcement of its decrees by beating, killing, and imprisoning.
Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom.
#14. To: Tooconservative (#9)
Admittedly, I can't differentiate which of these comrades is the weirdest in their stable
#15. To: Tooconservative (#5)
Maybe he thinks Trump is very likely to be re-elected and so Beto is just positioning himself for a run in 2024?
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