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November 29: 7 Best Moments From Sunday Talk
Rick Warren backpedals on gay marriage, Carl Levin blames Bush for Afghanistan, and Google’s Eric Schmidt offers an Orwellian vision of the future. That and more in our Sunday roundup.
What Exactly Is Rick Warren Saying About Gay Marriage?
Rick Warren, if you watch this video from 2008, is pretty clear about his opposition to gay marriage. “Now let me say this really clearly: We support Proposition 8—and if you believe what the Bible says about marriage, you need to support Proposition 8,” he said at the time. In this appearance on Meet the Press, it seems Warren regrets that the comments went public, and that he may have hurt some feelings. Here, he’s somewhat softer in his language—“Of course I have a position on it; I believe what the Bible says”—but isn’t the message identical?
Carl Levin: No Osama, No Taliban
So let’s say we had actually caught Osama bin Laden when we had the chance, near Tora Bora in 2001. Would that mean we would not need to raise troop levels to defeat al Qaeda and the Taliban? That the enemy would have simply dissolved? That seems like a bit of a stretch, but it’s what Michigan Senator Carl Levin argues on Face the Nation.
Bill Kristol Hasn’t Learned Lessons From the Last War
At least Bill Kristol’s inner hawk knows no partisan bounds. On Fox News Sunday, the cheerleader for the most recent Iraq War has his pom-poms out for the war in Afghanistan, and goes so far as say that a victory could stabilize the entire region (echoes of the “spread of democracy” talk from circa 2003?). Not that there aren’t Democrats and independent military minds who agree with him, but Kristol seems to be ignoring the lesson that escalating a war often brings unexpected results, some of them extraordinarily painful.
How Rich People Smoke Pot
Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
Justice Clinton?
As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
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Z12345
To hear that R.W. has backtracked on gay marriage, how disgusting. I truly did believe in him. Now, I see he is following in what the media makes out to be "Fashionable." Do I believe in homosexual's or lesbians? No, I do not. I do not believe that God has made any mistakes, much less mistakes that are in the millions. Do I believe that psychological and social problems exist for these people? Yes, I do. They simply made some ghastly choices and then other people made the same choices, therefore, they get the support that they need to keep this social problem going, and then our money driven media , who wouldn't know the truth if it hit them in the eye, make the "unacceptable.....acceptable," and tried to make it into a fashionable trend. Then the snowball starts rolling. And the "politicians" look to this group to re-elect them. So they are willing to give them "civil rights" to help their cause along. Then, "OH , MY STARS." these "Fringe Groups" think, "We've done it", the "unaccepatable" has become "acceptable." Well, I don't think so...there are still some of us that know GOD DOESN'T MAKE MISTAKES.
Sincerely, Audrey Gregg
maspring
You don't believe in homosexuals or lesbians?
What's that mean? You don't think they exist?
Whether you approve of them or not it's quite another thing to deny that they exist at all. You may need to clarify your position.
wrathofkhan
Exhibit A for 'God' making mistakes: your post. You seem a bit off your rocker. You obviously don't know any gay people.
AlanD2
Audrey said "... some of us that know GOD DOESN'T MAKE MISTAKES."
Then perhaps you can explain why over half of all pregnancies end in spontaneous abortions? Perhaps there were fetal sins involved?
JTS1021
Well, reading this post, its apparent that God has made at least one mistake. Anyways, growing up in the Christian Church, it's people like this that I dislike the most. To even claim that they are Christians or that they follow the Bible is laughable to anyone whose ever actually read the Bible. The Bible says little about homosexuality (the oft quoted verse about homosexuality being an abomination is surrounded by other verses that say, among other things, that eating shrimp and crab is an abomination and that touching dead pigskin is an abomination, yet I don't see a lot of "GOD HATES" signs surrounding Red Lobsters and high school football games). And the hatemongers that attack homosexuals based on that verse, while ignoring the hundreds of verses that talk about loving your neighbor as yourself, bear a striking resemblance to one of JC's biggest antagonists, the Pharisees. I mean you read about how the Bible describes the Pharisees and then you look at the modern Christian Right and the similarities are almost eerie.
But, saying all that, I'm still going to try and ask a question here: Gay people exist. If you believe in the Bible, that means that God creates gay people. God doesn't make mistakes. So wouldn't that mean that, hey heres a concept, maybe God actually likes gay people? That maybe God changed his mind of the whole issue, like Christians apparently think he did with the whole seafood and football players thing? That God wouldn't make gay people if he didn't want gay people to exist, so you might want to check those verses over again because somebody might have screwed up the translation? Any way you look at it, the whole "God doesn't make mistakes" seems to be more of a support for homosexuality than a condemnation of it.
Monk66
perfectly worded.
DevilsLawyer
Yayyyy! I've always thought of today's far-right evangelicals (not the majority of Christians, mind you) as Pharisees and not "Christ"ians. Well put.
Lawrence42
Well maybe just one mistake, you!
bygones
And of course it only follows that "god exists", right? I mean you seem to know so much of what he/she thinks than I guess it is a good bet that you are on speaking terms.
You are an idiot!
iamone3
Homosexual "activity" is a dead end street.Put all homosexuals on an island, check back in a hundred years & zero is what you will find.
bygones
Here's my take on it: If Bill Kristol is in favor of something I think just the opposite. This man have seldom been correct.
If Bernie Sanders says something I usually pay attention. He makes the most sense of any of those other Fruit Loops in DC.
And if Mike Huckabee, the female Sarah Palin, says he is running in 2012, then get ready for the rise of the Religious Right, Moral Majority, or whatever they are calling themselves nowadays.
As for Rick Warren: why does anyone listen to him in the first place?
maspring
Bill Kristol should never be presented without some sort of laugh track.
The guy has made a career of being wrong about foreign policy. Given his track record, any leader would do well to listen to him before making big decisions and then do exactly the opposite of what he recommends.
winston1
The Sunday talk show's consist of foolish talking heads. They are nothing but puppets sent out with their talking points.
whipmawhopma
There you go, being right about something.
AlanD2
Followed quickly by Winnie with her/his/its talking points...
winston1
AlanD Go sit in your basemant and blog on Moveon.org. That's where you get your left leaning foolish garbage from.
AlanD2
Winnie fulfills my prophesy...
By the way, Winnie, if I did read MoveOn.org (I don't), I would doubtless find better stuff there than you get from Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.
althea
I can't wait for the scandal that will eventually come out on RW....I respect a fine goatee, but on a pastor?
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
disfasia
Can we have someone write about this "historical" nonsense on marriage. The Daily Beast, I'll write for you for free. Historically, marriage was actually NOT between a man and a woman and to state otherwise is just silly. It is well documented the history of same-sex marriage in ancient Roman and Greek societies. Note when the Theodosian Code (Christian law in Rome) was written in the 4th century, it strictly prohibited same-sex marriage. So, what is accurate is that marriage has been defined differently by every single culture.
Why do people vote for these rather ignorant politicians? (No, I take it back...I don't want to know.) Just listening to this guy compare pedophilia and incest to same-sex marriage and his 5,000 year "history lesson"... He hasn't a clue.
Monk66
he also refutes evolution.
if i can quote the great Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor
"You don't need to pass an IQ test to be in the Senate."
whipmawhopma
I find myself agreeing with Bill Kristol. This must be what self-doubt feels like when combined with discomfort and uneasiness. Agghhhh!
whipmawhopma
Anybody here read Harold Evans' book?
Monk66
you know people on this site are illiterate.
DevilsLawyer
Does Rick Warren have any historical knowledge at all, much less read the Bible? He thinks the marriage of brother and sister (Abraham and Sarah, Old Testament), a marriage of a man and child (Mohammed and Aisha, if he really wants to go with "all" religions), or the marriage of a man and multiple women (Jacob, Rachel, and Leah, Old Testament), were not traditionally considered marriage? 5,000 years my ass. For at least 95% of those years marriage was a patriarchal property arrangement, and it has been, guess what, REDEFINED into its present individual consent-based, egalitarian form. If Pastor Warren wants the more traditional marriage, fine. I'll stick with my radical redefinition of it as loving couples (straight or gay) bound in love and commitment, thank you very much.
Jeesh. I agree with the guy on a issues like social responsibility and the environment, but his ignorance on this point frustrates me to no end.
DevilsLawyer
Why would't Huckabee run? Because the Republicans are far from mainstream Americans and he could win the primaries only to get trounced in the general elections. This is obvious to everyone not completely sold into the Fox echo chamber.
fk4711
Bill Crystal is a fool and a jerk. He did not learn a thing and is incapable of learning because his eyes are clouded by ideology. I don't think he believes what he says himself, jut look at the smirk of the smile, not to over analyze his facial expression.
whipmawhopma
fk4711 - I thought he always looks like that. Like he realizes he's so dumb that he's completely amazed that anyone listens to him, but they do, yet he's afraid that they'll catch on, so he distracts them with the smirk, confusing it with charm. At least that's what I read into it.
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