..take a look at this frightening video from the McLaughlin group. Lawrence O’Donnell describes himself as a “practical European socialist.” He plays a character on “Big Love.” He completely lost it when describing Mormonism, saying it is a “racist religion” and claiming incorrectly that Joseph Smith was “pro-slavery.” The bile and hatred coming from this character has to be seen to be believed. He made Pat Buchanan (an embarrassment to conservatism) seem sane in comparison. Not everybody on the left hates us as much as this guy: Eleanor Clift made encouraging comments, and there is a long line of liberals who have commented favorably about the Church in the last week.
The Millennial Star
I’m not sure from your write-up if you saw Pat Buchanan’s comments about Mitt’s speech, but if not, be sure to read it:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/12/mitts_hour_of_power.html
I heard Pat Buchanan on Sean Hannity’s radio show yesterday saying nice things about Mitt’s speech as well.
A post was deleted for involving a personal attack. The poster is invited to re-phrase his post if he would like.
I agree that Pat Buchanan has shown uncommon civility on this issue, and I salute him for it. He’s not really the subject of this post, however.
Okay, let’s try it another way. Perhaps the third time’s a charm.
Geoff, do you not see a tinge of hypocrisy in, on the one hand, your criticism of Harry Reid for saying he doesn’t want to meet Mitt Romney, and, other the other hand, your characterization of Pat Buchanan as “an embarrassment” and implying he is insane?
No, Mike, I don’t. If you would like your comments to be published on this subject, I suggest you get on-topic. Thanks.
It’s worth noting that Pat Buchanan’s sister Bay (and manager of his presidential campaigns) is a member of the Church.
John M, interesting bit of info. I tend to think that if Mr. O’Donnell had any close contact to members of the Church he might mellow a bit as well.
Pat Buchanan’s sister Bay (and manager of his presidential campaigns) is a member of the Church.
She’s managing Tom Tancredo’s campaign this time. More embarrassment.
L Lemming, ouch! You and I agree on this one.
There’s a Mormon actress who’s been on several episodes of Big Love this past season, but it seems that this O’Donnell moron hasn’t met her.
I’d like to meet O’Donnell and punch him in his big fat ignorant mouth.
Mark B, I understand the sentiment, but personally I think the best thing to do for bigots like this guy is simply show him in his full glory, and let the world repudiate him. And if that doesn’t work, turn the other cheek. What would Jesus do? I don’t say that to be “holier than thou.” I’m just wondering how he would handle a guy like O’Donnell. Probably in a non-violent way.
I’m wondering if it would be possible to completely blackball him from the entertainment industry. Shouldn’t the world, including all potential producers/directors/studio owners, etc know what an incredible bigot he is? Isn’t there a line that public figures cannot/should not pass and still be able to hold down jobs? What if he were saying this about Jews or Muslims? Wouldn’t he be run out of the entertainment industry?
Perhaps one way to start would be letters to the McLaughlin Group and PBS?
I sent the following letter today to:
comments@mclaughlin.com
I would encourage as many people as possible to protest O’Donnell’s bigotry.
==================================
To whom it may concern:
I must write to protest the comments by Lawrence O’Donnell on the most recent “McLaughlin Group.” To make this point most simply, would these comments have been in any way acceptable if they had been made about Jews and/or Muslims? There are plenty of facets of different religions that some people may find objectionable for varying reasons. This does not mean that any candidate for office must renounce his religion to run for office, and in fact the Constitution is pretty clear that there will be no religious test for public office.
I found O’Donnell’s bigotry detestable. I hope you will consider never again having him as a panelist on your show.
I would like to congratulate the other panelists for challenging him on his views.
Thank you,
========================================
Wow. What a total moron that guy is.
If you are going to ding Mormons in the blacks and the priesthood thing you ought to at least remotely know what you are talking about. Mormons were clearly anti-slavery while the South (hotseat of evangelicals) were all for it. And while the “blacks were less valiant in heaven” speculation got more than its share of play over the decades it was always officially just that — speculation trying to explain the “why” of the policy to restrict the prieshood from some men.
I can forgive an outsider for thinking the priesthood ban (along with some of the “folk” doctrines that went along with it) is/was racist, that’s fine.
However, O’Donnell is wrong, as he claims that the 1978 revelation allowed those of African descent into the church. He needs to read his history. While they were barred from the priesthood, they were allowed into the church and even promised salvation in the Celestial Kingdom, despite not being allowed into the temple.
(I recall, a long, long time ago, reading a old book called (I think) “Black Mormon tells her story”. In it, she defends the church, and even says that the temple must not be all that important, since she can get into heaven despite not being allowed into the temple. I also recall Joseph Fielding Smith’s “Answers to Gospel Questions” saying that Black members would receive salvation in the Celestial kingdom, regardless. So, to say as O’Donnell did, that in 1978 we “allowed” those of African descent into the church, is flat out wrong and ignorant. Elijah Abel and Jane Manning James, anyone?)
Yeah, I suppose that I wouldn’t really punch the guy–but it’s fun to fantasize about taking the John Wayne way.
Speaking of the pre-1978 church is difficult in the soundbite world of attack journalism, but there are a few things that those of us who grew up in the pre-78 church wish others could understand:
1. The ban was never understood to be permanent, but was a temporary “disability”. However long the ban lasted on this earth, there would be the full blessings in the world to come (as Ivan says in his comment). As much as we were uncomfortable about the ban, we did have that hope, that in the end things would come out right.
2. Although there surely were racists in the church pre-1978 (and, sad to say, there probably are now too), the evidence of how the church really felt is to be found in the reaction to the revelation: absolute joy, relief, gratitude that the ban had ended! If I was such a racist back then, why did I suddenly, as I heard a familiar Utah accent on WBBM-AM radio in Chicago one beautiful June afternoon, stop being a racist and rejoice in the wonderful news? How do you explain that, Mr. O’Donnell? (Incidentally, the only negative word I ever heard about the issue was from an old guy we home taught, who hadn’t been to church for over 20 years, and, so far as I know, still hasn’t been back.)
3. For those of us who believed, leaving or protesting weren’t options. The former just wasn’t an option (John 6:68) and the latter isn’t the way the church works. You hoped and you prayed and you wondered and struggled and then you hoped and prayed again.
Mark B, I agree with all your points, and it’s extremely tough to explain the “blacks and the priesthood” situation in soundbites. Which is exactly why Romney should not have gotten into it, and exactly why he didn’t.
But, really, the details of Romney’s religion are not relevant to whether or not he is should be eligible to run for election. Let’s think about this. The Jewish religion is based on people they claim are prophets (Moses and Joshua) coming into another land and justifying the complete destruction of the existing inhabitants. Some of their greatest heroes were polygamists and adulterers and murderers (David, Solomon, Abraham, Jacob). Jewish leaders were, according to the historical record, involved in the death of Christian leaders 2000 years ago (Jesus, Stephen and James, among others, who were killed for apparently no good reason). Jews kept slaves. So, if a Jew runs for office should we have him, for example, justify the actions of Joshua in destroying the inhabitants of Canaan?
Do you see where this type of thinking leads you? Can you even imagine anybody claiming that Joseph Lieberman defend his religion’s beliefs in the way O’Donnell wants Romney to defend his?
Yes, the Jewish religion is “older” than the Mormon religion, but again that is irrelevant. Jews have had thousands of years to leave their religion and all its “horrible history,” yet they haven’t.
To be very, very clear: I completely honor the Jewish religion and love and cherish Jews and do not want to cast aspersions on them in any way. That is not the intent of this comment. The point is to show how “religious tests” like O’Donnell is imposing on Romney can and should be irrelevant to whether or not he would be a good president.
I agree, Geoff.
Thanks for posting the link. I grew up watching McLaughlin Group, and I NEVER thought I would be agreeing with both Eleanor Clift and Pat Buchanan SIMULTANEOUSLY! And for the record, that was probably the only time I have ever agreed with Eleanor on anything.
Ultimately, I think it’s shenanigans like this that give the Church good PR. Whenever someone makes a fool of themselves like O’Donnell, it inevitably piques people’s interest to find out more.
Geoff,
Please! oh please fix the bug in the comments that keeps telling us that the comment is invalid! It is so frustrating, because you have no idea what word is invalid. Please oh please fix it.
Geoff,
“Not everybody on the left hates us as much as this guy”
I know few people on the left that hate Mormons. They don’t like Mormon conservatives’ political philosophy. But please be careful about insinuating that this man speaks for any large liberal group. He may identify himself as whatever he wants, but he does not speak for liberalism or for Democrats.
sorry for splitting my comment in two. I have to find out what the offending word is. Here is the rest of my comment:
O n t h e o t h e r h a n d, I w o n d e r, i f w e g o d i g g i n g i n t o w h o i s f u n d i n g a l l t h e a n t i – M o r m o n l i t e r a t u r e o u t t h e r e, w h a t p e r c e n t a g e d o y o u t h i n k c o m e s f r o m E v a n g e l i c a l d o n o r s a n d w h a t p e r c e n t a g e c o m e s f r o m l i b e r a l s o c i a l i s t s ?
T h i s m a n i s a f o o l w h o c a n e a s i l y b e d i s m i s s e d b e c a u s e h e h a s n o i d e a w h a t h e i s t a l k i n g a b o u t.
My mother also had some scathingling critical things to say about this episode of the McLaughlin group.
However, she was very pleased with Richard Bushman showing up on Diane Rehm’s show and with how that show developed. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet myself – but here’s the link:
http://wamu.org/programs/dr/07/12/10.php#18232
Dan, you make a decent point regarding funding. Sorry about our software. I have no solution. We have been trying to find somebody with software experience who could help us transition to another platform, but so far we haven’t been able to do it. If you know of anybody, please let me know.
Dan – the offending word is
s o c i a l i s t
because it contains the name of a drug that shows up in a lot of spam. Take off s, o, and t. There really should be a way to fix this, but I’m ignorant as to the software.
At least O’Donnell was able to bring me and Eleanor Clift together for a brief moment.
Hugh Hewitt, who seems to have something of a man-crush on Romney, interviewed O’Donnell. The transcript is here:
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/talkradio/transcripts/Transcript.aspx?ContentGuid=cb634a31-a45d-47fd-b285-d181b269d10c
Key quote:
So, basically, if Mormons want respect, we need to start knocking some heads and breaking some knee caps 😉
Wow, everybody should read the entire transcript of that interview. It is a shocker.
Yeash, what a jerk.
I wonder how the tune would change if the LDS Church started filing a few nice fat defamation lawsuits over this kind of crap…