April 3, 2011

Harry Reid: "Of course, this man in Florida who burnt the Koran, it’s a publicity stunt."

On "Face the Nation," today. (Here's the PDF transcript.)
Basically, [he] had nobody in his church anyway and this is an effort to get some publicity for him. He got it. But in the process ten to twenty people have been killed. You-- you-- you-- religious extremism in any form is wrong. And certainly all these deaths is wrong. I’m very, very disappointed that this man who we had some dealings with in January, December, who indicated he wouldn’t do anything. And suddenly, I guess, the publicity had fallen down a little bit so he decided to do this. It’s-- it’s really too bad. And, I think people should understand the consequences of what they do un-- under the guise of reli-- religion.
What guise? Criticizing a rival religion's scripture is religion. What would it be a guise for? You can't just say "publicity." Most public speakers are trying to get attention. Reid himself is trying to get attention by going on "Face the Nation."
BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, you introduced a resolution to condemn this by the Congress... or where do you go from here?
SENATOR HARRY REID: We’ll-- we’ll take a look at this, of course. John Kerry, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, has been on top of this. He’s made many trips to Afghanistan. And I think we’ll take a look at this as to whether we need hearings or not, I don’t know.
And that's the end of the discussion. Zero attention is paid to freedom of speech or religious freedom. Neither Schieffer nor Reid gives a damn (or dares to say he gives a damn). Pathetic.

ADDED: Later in the show, Lindsey Graham opines on the same issue:
You know I wish we could find some way to-- to-- to hold people accountable. Free speech is a great idea but we’re in a war. During World War II, you had limits on what you could say if it would inspire the enemy. So burning a Koran is a terrible thing. But it doesn’t justify killing someone. Burning a bible would be a terrible thing but it doesn’t justify murder. But having said that, any time we can push back here in America against actions like this that put our troops at risk we ought to do it. So I look forward to working with Senator Kerry and Reid and others to condemn this, condemn violence all over the world based in the name of religion.
"[T]o condemn this"... this what? "[C]ondemn violence all over the world based in the name of religion." I can't tell whether he's condemning the Koran-burning or the murders purported inspired by Koran-burning. Is Koran-burning "violence"? Graham is incomprehensibly mealy-mouthed. "Free speech is a great idea...  any time we can push back...we ought to do it"? What WWII precedents does he mean to invoke, and can he get his position — assuming he can state it clearly — anywhere close to American constitutional law?

214 comments:

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GMay said...

FLS, maybe when you're able to stay on topic and get a basic grasp on how to focus in an argument, we'll graduate to composing a coherent point.

Until then, post another potshot at Christians and their texts when it's currently the Muslims engaged in murder in the name of their religion in places like Egypt, Sri Lanka, India, Afghanistan, The Caucasus region, the Balkans, East Africa, Israel, Indonesia, the Phillipines, and Fort Hood (to name a few).

Let me guess, you're gonna come back with something about the Crusades now?

William said...

If it weren't this preacher, it would have been some other damn thing. The protests were successful. I feel much less inclined to spend American blood and treasure defending these baby fuckers than I was yesterday. Wasn't that the real point of the riots: to get Americans out of Afghanistan. This had less to do with the Rev Jones than Jared Loughner had to do with the tea party.

Anonymous said...

Collective bargaining rights.

Hah! Thanks, fls. I was starting to worry about you.

Folks, I don't think you get it. Some people think that playing advocatus diaboli is fun, even when it's a test to destruction.

Bruce Hayden said...

Well, I vote for a national burn the Koran day. Or, better maybe, desecrate it. Then, we could do all the vile things that have been attributed to us as having done, but done in real life, instead of in a cartoon series. And, if anyone want to burn a Bible instead, then, fine there too.

Maybe we should instead have a desecrate a sacred scripture day instead, just to be non-sectarian. And, we can see which sacred scriptures are held in the lowest esteem in this country. The Koran? Book of Mormon? The Bible?

And, then the Moslems all over the world would go mad, killing anyone in sight. And, then we would make it a permanent day on our calenders (except, maybe it would have to flex for holidays).

And, eventually, they would either settle down, kill each other off, or make us do so with some of our remaining supply of WMDs.

Yes, I know I sound somewhat cynical. But we do need to find a way to break this cycle, and the Muslims of this world need to come out of the 7th Century, into the 21st, where they have to share the planet with non-believers.

Cedarford said...

GMay said...
Cedarford stepped on his crank: "For the record, the various religious leaders of Islam never claimed it was a religion of peace.

That was George Bush's idiocy."

For the record, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. (Shocking coming from C4 I know)

When a 5 second trip to Wikipedia reveals your ignorance, you might not want to call someone else an idiot.

How does it feel to be less well-read than G Dub?

------------------
You stupidly put the apple before the Horse. Bush started with his "Few madmen who hijacked a noble religion and offended every peaceful Muslim" within hours of 9/11, joined by American Ruling Elite forces so concerned that a Clash of Civilization and Religious Bigotry could surface, they went out labling each Muslim as the purest and goodest sort of humanity on a parv with Mother Theresa.

The enemy Muslim, seeing the head infidel enemy out kissing their asses, naturally saw the days after 9/11 as an opportinity to hand Bush a shovel to help in the hole he was digging. CAIR formed a special advisory relationship with the White House, and mullahs from Malaysia to the most radical mosques asserted that it was all peaceful Muslims against warlike Xhristians. Jihad is the inner peaceful struggle. That's all, honest. Blame the Crusaders, the evil people who took Spain from the splendid tranquil Andalusians.
The Neocons, also popped up about them telling Bush all Muslims were basically noble people just like him and moderate and seeking democracy and presented a list of 6 countries around their Special Friend in the ME.

Within a month, the fool in the Oval Office was spouting "The REligion of Peace", peppering 3 state of the union speeches with religion of peace, women of cover garbage. No problem with them, Bush kept saying just a few handful of fanatics that noble Muslims hated as much as we did and would be bound to turn them in, given a 20 million reward!!

His biggest conservative supporters initially thought Bush was playing genius ju-jitsu...saying they were noble and moderate to force them to be noble and moderate.
Then they slowly realized he was just clueless.

Bush also ordered Justice and the Federal Government to put the rights of Religion of Peace members at the highest, and no bad word be said or else. "Incidents" were passed by the neocons and CAIR spokesman. At Ft Hood and elsewhere that that also translated under the Bushies to omerta if you were in the military and Fed law enforcement. The problem was not Muslims, even radical Muslims, just "Evildoers" who trained at terror camps.

Patrick said...

I have to say FLS, your questions at 4:22 this afternoon are the stupidest comments I have read in a long time. I annoying that you were trying to be ironic or something. Seriously, are you comparing burning a book owned by the burner with destroying someone else's building. Do you have any idea what content neutral statutes are? Goodness.

Peter said...

It took a lot of effort by the clerics wandering the streets in trucks with loudspeakers to incite these riots. Why are those clerics not blamed for them?

My complaint is that Reid and Graham swore an oath to preserve and defend the Constitution. They did not swear to uphold Islam. It is their duty to defend Jones' right, even his right to be an asshole.

Peter said...

Oh, and how any Q'rans has Obambi burnt up with all of the bombs and missiles he's flung about?

Patrick said...

I did not think it could happen, FLS, but against all odds, hour comments actually got dumber.

I will say, though, that if Jones really wanted to make appoint, he would have burned the Koran in Afghanistan.

FLS: the Musls would absolutely freak out if we elected a homosexual president. If we do, and they riot, who is responsible?

Revenant said...

FLS: the Musls would absolutely freak out if we elected a homosexual president. If we do, and they riot, who is responsible?

That's a complicated question. It depends on whether the President in question is a Democrat or a Republican.

If he is a Republican, it is of course his fault. If he's a Democrat, it is the fault of the American religious right. I'm not sure how, but it is.

dave in boca said...

Will used-condom Kerry be on the"committee" which "investigates" this admittedly one-off outrage? Will this speciment of cowardice and duplicity wear ALL THREE of his ill-gotten Purple Hearts which diminish the value of the medal for the millions of brave men who got it for actually being WOUNDED? Diouchenozzle Kerry and bleating "the war is lost!" traitor Reid should both be sent to the back of the Senate to wear dunce hats for the rest of their terms in the Senate. Reid gives the Mormon Faith a bad name---the guy is a byword for imbecility.

And John Kerry is about as Catholic as Mayor Ed Koch. Neither one should be allowed near any subject as sensitive as religion.

dave in boca said...

Will used-condom Kerry be on the"committee" which "investigates" this admittedly one-off outrage? Will this speciment of cowardice and duplicity wear ALL THREE of his ill-gotten Purple Hearts which diminish the value of the medal for the millions of brave men who got it for actually being WOUNDED? Diouchenozzle Kerry and bleating "the war is lost!" traitor Reid should both be sent to the back of the Senate to wear dunce hats for the rest of their terms in the Senate. Reid gives the Mormon Faith a bad name---the guy is a byword for imbecility.

And John Kerry is about as Catholic as Mayor Ed Koch. Neither one should be allowed near any subject as sensitive as religion.

Gary Rosen said...

Why are you pretending to have a problem with Muslims, Fudd? You're groin-to-butt with them on Israel and da Joooooos, just like your pal fls.

GMay said...

Cfudd said: "You stupidly put the apple before the Horse."

And you stupidly cannot check a plain link. Again, how does it feel to be less well-read than Bush?

The thing about you CFudd is that most of your diatribes signal the the reader that they can skip to the next post somewhere in the first paragraph.

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