August 14, 2009

(h/t Heather of VideoCafe)

It's hard to argue with rock solid logic that GOP strategist Karen Hanretty offers up on The Ed Show. In a discussion of whether providing health care to all citizens is a moral imperative, Hanretty informs us that Jesus would probably not like health care reform because he would avoid the 1000 pages of bill Congress has drafted, just as he avoided the Pharisees.

SCHULTZ: Karen, where is the Christian leaders (sic) in this country, the four that I named at the top of this show tonight. They’ve been very silent on the moral obligation to cover every American. This is a big play, what do you think?

HANRETTY: Well, I think it’s interesting. You know, you were saying earlier if Christ came back, if this was the Second Coming, what would He do? And you know, we know when Christ walked the Earth he was very careful not to let the Pharisees entrap him in legalistic disputes. And I think that would be the case with this 1,000 page health care bill. I think that, you know, the Christian community, we have an obligation to care for the poor, and for children, orphans and widows, and that is our commandment. I think a lot of churches do that. I’m not sure there’s something in the Bible that talks about should you have a single health care payer program, you know, what are the details…

So the commandment to take care of others, that goes out the window if you have to trudge through several hundred pages of writing? I'm not sure I like the "Jesus as a slacker" motif, but I have one way to simplify it: "Medicare for all". I think even your slacker Jesus could manage to read three words, Karen.

But honestly, it was the next exchange that made me cringe at what laughingstocks we must be to the rest of the world: the discussion of health care reform during End Times.

HANRETTY: I think it’s very…I think it’s very…quite frankly, I think you really pushed the limits, Ed, when you say that if Christ came to Earth, he would encourage us to support this health care bill.

SCHULTZ: We’re out of time with this, but I want to say that I’m not pushing the limits on this, because if Jesus were to come back and have the Second Coming, while we’re on the face of the Earth, I don’t think he’d be denying care to anybody.

HANRETTY: You think in the middle of the Rapture, in the middle of the Rapture, he’d be taking a health care survey? You’re insane! I love that. That’s crazy.

Yeah, thinking that Jesus would care for the least of us on this planet, that's crazy, but believing in a Rapture overseen by a slacker Jesus, that's totally normal.

Oy.

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