Wolf Blitzer Asks If It's Okay To Associate With Atheists: Donna Brazile-That's How You Convert Them
By Heather Friday Oct 31, 2008 6:00am
From The Situation Room Oct. 30, 2008. While discussing the response of Kay Hagan to the Elizabeth Dole ad calling her Godless, Wolf Blitzer actually asks Donna Brazile and Bill Bennett if it's okay for candidates to be associating with atheists. I'm not sure what's more disturbing, his question, or their answers.
Blitzer: But did she make a mistake Donna by going to that fundraiser at the home of the woman who professes that there is no god?
Brazile: You know Wolf there are a lot of believers. I'm one of them. And there are people who just don't believe in an existence of a god. I don't know why because clearly there's strong evidence that there's a god but I believe that you serve all the people. Not just those that profess to have faith but those with little or no faith. That's how you convert them.
Blitzer: Is it a problem Bill to associate with atheists?
Bennett: Well this is an active atheist. This is a woman, ah, people who are campaigning to get "In God We Trust" off the currency. You know it would have been sensible for Kay Hagan or Kay Hagan's advisers to say let's just pass on this one. That's just going to get you into the association game. You know the "house of" like Barack Obama's been tagged with for the last six months or six years.
This is just so wrong on so many levels it's hard to know where to begin. First of all Donna Brazile, yes if you hold a public office you should serve all and not just those who profess to have faith, but that's not how you convert them!! Are you kidding me??!! There are plenty of people out there who don't care to be converted thank you. I know George Bush and the GOP have blown a hole right through this but we are supposed to have separation of church and state in this country, and we don't need to have two theocratic parties. One is one too many already. And Wolf, there is nothing wrong with being an atheist or heaven forbid associating with them. There's nothing wrong with atheists that might want to..gasp.. run for office. Just like there's nothing wrong with Muslims who want to run for office, or agnostics, or Jews, or Catholics. And Bill Bennett, we do still have a thing called free speech in this country and if someone doesn't like the words "In God We Trust" on the currency, they have every right to express that view without being treated like commie pinkos. Shame on all of you for this interview.
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Wolf Blitzkreig downs 8 to 10 cups of coffee before his show each day to project the persona of the "right on the story/breaking news" bullshit that is a staple of the faux journalist. The problem is that he sacrifices his ability his to assess what he is going to say before he opens his mouth. Ergo, inanities.
Several months back (I don't remember precisely when) there was a poll taken asking about different categories of people and whether someone would consider voting for them. The least trusted of all the categories was atheist. Very sad in my opinion, but most religious folks seem to think that without a belief in god a person cannot be good or have a moral compass.
Of course, this is nonsense. As far as I can tell, atheists are no more likely to act any worse than folks that believe in god. Just consider the parade of Christian criminals that have been in the Bush administration who have been liars, cheats, thieves and otherwise unwholesome persons. Sometimes religious folks seem to act like many Republican hacks in the sense that they project their own faults on those that are different from them. More explicitly, because they do not feel that they could find purpose in life and remain moral without a belief in god, they must distrust someone else who can.
Yep. It must be something like that. Most of them have never known 'being moral' and ethical without being religious too. Morality and ethics come from the appreciation of the value of life and the living, and of others. Our moral compass appears to be universal, and independant of a belief in a higher deity.
Leaving aside the larger, and more important, issue that this post is touching on - it is with such aplomb that the chattering classes dismiss "godless" Americans...
Did I just hear Brazile say that there was "strong evidence" that there is a G-d? Sheesh - I thought serious people of faith have always acknowledged the necessity, and extolled the virtues, of "faith" - in spite of the lack of evidence.
While I may have a strong sense of our spiritual dimension (minus the anthropomorphic stylings of most religions), I would never be foolish enough to claim evidence.
I sense it was a thoughtless comment - more's the pity.
I love Americans who believe what their Founding Fathers believed.
Donna, please reveal to us your exciting proof of the existence of God. You can finally put the debate to rest.
I wrote Ms. Brazile. My email, her reply, and my follow-up are posted below:
*******My email:
I am an agnostic. I don't believe in anything in particular. It's not really an issue. Most of my friends are not religious either, but it is not a precondition and I have plenty of friends who are religious.
Your remarks today about converting atheists are idiotic and intolerant. Atheists and agnostics are no better or worse than people who profess religious beliefs. And there are plenty of people who profess religious beliefs who do things that show that they are no better than nonreligious people - such as raping children and stealing millions of dollars from their parishoners. (Let me know if you need examples... I can cite several from within 10 miles of where I live.)
It is awful that you are doing the same thing the hideous right wing religionists are doing. You are no better than people who try to portray Sen. Obama as a Muslim, or than Sen. McCain who says "Sen. Obama is not a Muslim, he's a good family man."********
*********Her reply:
I did not discuss conversion, but said it was fine for "believers" to show up at events sponsored by so call atheists.
Trust me. I was trying to help Kay Hagan who is under fierce attack and if you want to insult me. Fine.
Have a good weekend and trust me, I don't care about your beliefs or non beliefs. Just respect your views and please respect my own right to share my damn opinion*****
I wrote her back...
*******You claim not to have discussed conversion. You said, "That's how you convert them." So, you discussed conversion.
It is ludicrous that Mr. Blitzer, yourself, and Mr. Bennett are even discussing whether it is OK for politicians to associate with nonbelievers. I'm sure you would not even answer the question "Is it OK for politicians to attend fundraisers held by Jews?" (for example).*****
... but haven't heard back from her since. I hope she has realized how wrong her comments were.
sounds like you really put her on the defensive. I hope your conclusions are correct but I wouldn't hold my breath.
I had lost most of my respect for Donna Brazille in 2000. Now, I have none left. I expect that kind of nonsense from Bill Bennett. And probably Wolfman too.
Someone fire this woman. Get her off the air. Get her out of Democratic politics. She's a disgrace.
And I wish this were on the front page instead of the video cafe. :)
hopefully more come visit here regularly as well. They are promoting quite a few of the posts here to the front page.
I'm just seconding your call for this to go to the front page.
Ms. Brazille may be a Democrat, but her comments are antithetical to the very foundations of our system of government. There are no religious tests allowed by the Constitution for those that want to run for office, and the United States, by law, has no state religion or requirement that anyone have a religion. Atheists and agnostics should be judged on their behavior and principles in the same way as a religious person of any faith is. As I said above, I've seen no objective or anecdotal evidence in my life to suggest atheists are any less good than religious folk.
This is why religious people annoy the fuck out of me - they always think their beliefs are sacrosanct and they want to "convert" everyone. If there was proof that there was a higher power and I chose to believe it in, I would. Otherwise, mind your own damn business.
Great post Heather. What a disgusting interview. Wolf is such an ass. I wonder if it's ok to accept donations from non-believers. Better make sure no one in your neighbourhood is godless as well I suppose.
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