Friday, July 20, 2012

2012-07-20 "GOP Rep: Aurora Shooting an Attack on ‘Judeo-Christian Beliefs’" by Jeff Fecke
[http://www.care2.com/causes/gohmert-aurora-shooting-an-attack-on-judeo-christian-beliefs.html]:
The smoke from the horrific attack on a Colorado movie theater has barely cleared, and the motives of the shooter are far from clear. But Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, knows why 12 people were killed early Friday morning.

During an interview on the “Istook Live!” radio show, Gohmert said [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/louie-gohmert-aurora-shootings_n_1689099.html], “You know what really gets me, as a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of a derelict takes place.”
“Some of us happen to believe that when our founders talked about guarding our virtue and freedom, that that was important,” Gohmert said, according to a report in the Huffington Post. “Whether it’s John Adams saying our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people [...] Ben Franklin, only a virtuous people are capable of freedom, as nations become corrupt and vicious they have more need of masters. We have been at war with the very pillars, the very foundation of this country.”
Show host and former Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., clarified that the shooter’s motivation is unknown. Gohmert agreed, but said that the shootings could have been avoided if the country had turned to God.
“People say [...] ‘where was God in all of this?” Gohmert asked. ”We’ve threatened high school graduation participations, if they use God’s name, they’re going to be jailed [...] I mean that kind of stuff. Where was God? What have we done with God? We don’t want him around. I kind of like his protective hand being present.”
Gohmert also wondered aloud why nobody in the audience shot back at the assailant.
“Was there nobody that was carrying a gun that could have stopped this guy more quickly?” he asked.
Like most states in the Mountain West, Colorado has very liberal gun laws, including legal concealed and open carry of handguns.
Gohmert is no stranger to controversy. The extremely conservative Republican is a darling of the Tea Party. He’s warned of terrorists sneaking into the U.S. to have babies who could grow up to attack the United States, and compared an escrow fund set up to pay people affected by the BP Gulf oil spill to policies undertaken by the Nazis [http://www.care2.com/causes/20-billion-bp-fund-compared-nazi-law.html]. Just this week, Gohmert joined Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., in calling for an investigation into Muslim infiltration of the State Department.
Still, these remarks will likely be ill-received; in the wake of a tragedy, few people want to see finger-pointing. Especially by someone claiming that God would allow 12 people to die out of pique.

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