God, what a silly and dreadful political season this is in America! Do not miss this video showing pastor Dennis Terry spewing venom and insanity at a Rick Santorum campaign in Louisiana. After this video ends, Terry called Santorum on stage and blessed him by laying on the hands. (You can see that on the video at the Telegraph link below.)
Terry is a Baptist, of course. All you sophisticated theologians who think that people don’t really believe stuff like this, have a listen. And you, Rabbi Lurie, listen too: see a prime example of someone believing in a God you call “childish.”
The Telegraph reports:
Republican contender Mr Santorum was shown clapping approvingly in the background as the rightwing pastor delivered the ranting fire and brimstone address. He later received a personal blessing from the preacher who called on God’s will to be done in the upcoming election.
The comments raise some embarrassing questions for the ultraconservative Catholic candidate, who has previously said J F Kennedy’s notion of separating the Church and state made him want to “throw up”. . .
Last night he was forced to clarify his stance over the pastor’s opinions and whether he agreed with the comments.
Insisting he supported religious freedom, Mr Santorum said he “wasn’t quite listening” during the speech but had not clapped at the parts where their opinions clashed.
“I didn’t clap when he said that. I do remember him saying that, I said, well, I wasn’t quite sure he was saying it for himself, I wasn’t quite listening to everything to be honest with you. But I wasn’t sure whether he was speaking for himself or speaking generally, but I didn’t clap when he said that because it’s not how I feel.”
Yeah, and Bill Clinton didn’t inhale. Notice that Santorum was in fact clapping.
h/t: Grania
Venom and insanity are terms too nice for this filth. This is fascism reincarnated but with jaysus. Santorum is just as bad as this cretin.
cretin = christian. Not abuse, just etymology.
So, why the surprise?
FWIW, the Telegraph is an intellectually fairly upmarket but decidedly right-wing 9and even climate change denialist) UK newspaper.
We watch you from across the pond, and despair.
Used to be called the “In-house journal of the Conservative Party”. Not as right wing as it used to be in the days of Bill Deedes. Max Hastings moved it away from such slavish obsequiousness but it still is right of centre.
I am not surprised; I went to a Santorum rally in East Peoria. It was very churchy. This was very different from the Romney rally I attended.
Then again, Romney got under my skin more than St. Rick did.
We can be optimistic and hope Santorum gets the nomination; his jackassery will ensure the other guy wins, which is the lesser of two evils.
I don’t see a reason to be optimistic. He gets the nomination, loses the election, is anything going to change in a meaningful direction? No, Obama will be in charge and we will get another 4 years of more of the same.
But that does not mean there will be no impact, there will be – every time someone as crazy spends so much time in the spotlight, the lunacy of his views becomes more acceptable. So if Santorum wins the nomination, the lesson for republicans will be that pandering to the fundamentalists is the way to go – and that’s what they will pursue with increased fervor. They are already doing it. Then there is the part of the republican-leaning population that is not quite as crazy but will be pushed in that direction by the fact that the presidential nominee is.
We have seen that develop over the years – it is currently unacceptable for a republican candidate to say he accepts the reality of evolution or global warming, or to even mention the word “tax” unless it is accompanied by “cut”. That is a result of precisely of that process of gradual creep towards the extreme, which a Santorum nomination will only accelerate.
This is the way I see it also, power leads to more power. The fact that this is the GOP position in the first place is very worrying indeed. I’m glad I’m British.
So if Santorum wins the nomination, the lesson for republicans will be that pandering to the fundamentalists is the way to go – and that’s what they will pursue with increased fervor.
Possibly. But if Romney gets the nomination and loses the general election, then the lesson for the Republicans will be that they didn’t pander to the fundamentalists ENOUGH and that next time they need to double-down on the crazy. And if Romney were to win the nomination then the fundamentalist Christians in the party would freak out because they would see their political power waning and the lesson they’d take away is that they need to work to expand their control even more.
There isn’t a single possible outcome to all of this where the Republican party learns a valuable collective lesson on the need for moderation in their party. Any outcome – victory or loss – results in the party deciding that they aren’t “conservative enough”. That’s just how they operate.
Yes, that’s how it’s going to unfold.
Problem is if Romney gets the nomination, he will most likely lose because he is a mormon and it’s doubtful whether the fundamentalist base will rush to the voting booths to support him
Maybe what we need to do is give them their own party, and their own candidate every time; so they can go off in the corner and play with themselves while the adults have a serious discussion.
Problem is, they’d like their own country too.
Every time I see this line of argument, I remind the person making it that not only was George Bush (s)elected, he was reelected.
What a retard!
I am so glad I am not American.
BTW, Evangies have a higher rate of marriage failure than the rest of the population. So, I wonder who really is “undermining” marriage.
Dreadful pastor. Gutless politician. Santorum should either have rebuked the pastor or clearly said he agreed with him when interviewed. Not try to weasel out of it when he was seen clapping.
Time to pop the bubble these people are living in. Maybe welcome them to America!
Unfortunately, given the geopolitical situation and the general unsustainable course that humanity is on, there is little reason to think that the economy is going to get any better, exactly the opposite – there are good reasons to think that economic growth is over and is never coming back (because we’re hitting the limits to it).
This means that there will be increasingly better conditions for the rise of demagogues employing passionate religious rhetoric and rabid intolerance towards various out-groups, and this country will eventually end up with someone like Santorum, or even crazier than that in charge.
And all bets are off then…
I agree that is as likely a scenario as any.
Am I the only one who sees eerie similarities between this speech and Hitler’s speeches? The yelling, the gestures, everything…
No
I’d give it 4 out of 5 Nurenburg stars.
He is certainly a charismatic speaker, but that is the problem – people who dare not think for themselves get carried along by the emotion & ignore the consequences of carrying through what he says. These people are really beyond reason – they are UN-Reasonable.
The moment I see someone yelling like that, I chalk him off as a person worth listening to – it means he relies on emotion and there won’t be any reasonable argument coming from him.
But I guess that’s just how I am wired and I am in the tiny minority…
Me too. I go so far as to mistrust pretty much all political speech, and many other kinds as well. Esp. debates. I don’t appreciate being spun. Write it down & let me read it, or let a dispassionate reporter do so.
The television/video age has robbed us of many potentially effective statesmen & -women who won’t play the appearances game.
One person’s charismatic speaker is another’s buffoon, I guess…
Certainly not.
Well, Hitler was a bit less emotional …
I was brought up a Baptist and let me tell you: many, many Baptists don’t like Catholicism. If the moment comes that Baptists sieze power in this country they will work down their list of people who are undesireables: Muslims, atheists, Hindus, Catholics and Jews.
Yep, I think the radical Proties would go after Catholics before the Jews – business before pleasure.
Well, at least the atheists aren’t topping the list… that’s something, I guess…
We don’t worship Buddha, we don’t worship Mohammad, we don’t worship Allah!
Good news everyone! Brother Dennis Terry’s sermons are all online. These ones look like hits:
• Aug 14, 2011 – War of the Worlds: Unmasking the Myths of Homosexuality, goo.gl/x2u48
• Jan 30, 2011 – The Moral Collapse of America, goo.gl/Z75qS
• Dec 15, 2010 – Islam, What You Need to Know Now: The Last Jihad, goo.gl/gMRtn
• Dec 8, 2010 – islam, What You Need to Know Now: The Islamic Global Threat!, goo.gl/yvcLN
…
Full quote, via Siri:
He sounds like a guy I would like to have over for dinner!
I wish Hannibal Lecter had posted that.
I was thinking more along the lines of The Last Supper lol!
I suppose this should be Santorum’s Reverend Jeremiah Wright moment.
But it won’t.
Oh Joy! Oh Bliss! My life is now complete. I, and many other Freethinkers of the Universe, have dropped from #1 on the “Most Hated People” list to….what….#2 ? *sigh*
Well, it’s a start, right??
I was raised with this sort of insanity, except that we didn’t applaud. It wasn’t seen as entertainment. Once in a great while, once or twice a year, some old hillbilly would shout “Amen!” and startle everyone awake. Otherwise, it was just SSDD. At least, they generally don’t carry AK’s & bombs. He probably buys his beer just over the county line.
You guys seem his as extremeist? He’s just a normal Baptist preacher. Seriously.
Yeah seriously, to most of us non-USAians this guy really is nuttier than a squirrel turd.
That this is seen as normal among many Americans would give me nightmares if I weren’t already used to this shit from other countries.
You are absolutely right. He’s just par for the course. Many evangelical preacher sound just like this man. Hello!
If that’s what the normal ones sound like, I shudder to think what the abnormal ones must be like.
I love how Santorum’s excuse is he wasn’t paying close attention. Inattentiveness is not a quality you want in a president.
Being associated with this pompous arse reverend is not a quality you want in a president
Isn’t Santo supposed to pay attention in the House of God?
C’mon, be honest. He wasn’t clapping very enthusiastically. Imagine standing motionless in from of that audience. Not that I sympathize. He’s the one who puts himself into this shit.
The whole “this is a Christian Nation!” rhetoric and the stance that it’s time Christians started to stand up for their rights is based on the idea that the United States is just like a house — and the majority (the ones who built it) ought to be in charge. Minorities are guests, and they need to act like guests.
I thought the pastor sounded like he was acting out the familiar role of a long-suffering father finally appealing to the rest of the beleaguered family and laying down the household rules concerning an ungrateful, disrespectful, destructive minor relative who had overstayed their welcome and exploited the hospitality of the host. Enough is enough! Yea! Billy can have his bedroom back and Ma doesn’t have to keep picking up trash on the sofa!
And then the grandfather can come in and fix everything Deus ex machina. That’s all it takes to make things right again! One big happy family and magic!
The good news is, minorities are soon going to be the majority, if they aren’t already. (They are in California now, at least.)
Excuse me if I get the impression that the majority of Americans are stark raving bonkers.
“majority”. I don’t think that’s a fair conclusion. I doubt that the total number of fundies has changed much over the last 100 years. What has changed is their power and influence. Almost universal access to higher education has made them more confident and more articulate, but has done nothing to eradicate their deep rooted simplistic beliefs. This is what I find so difficult to understand.
I didn’t think for a moment that the majority of Americans were barmy, but this is the impression we are getting on this side of the pond. We have barmy people here too of course, Warsi, for example.
This is fascism pure and simple. You guys know what happened in Europe, don’t let it happen in America.
I found it impossible to listen to more than just under 2 minutes.
You made it further than I did.
Elmer Gantry isn’t dead.
+1
Scary. Really scary. Pure demagoguery and the fascist maxims of ‘them’ being to blame, and only ‘we’ can bring salvation. Utopian nonsense with a totalitarian edge. No doubt if they ever got power they always need new scapegoats for their failures. Homosexuals, liberals, pro choicers, Jews, Catholics, atheists etc etc. Get rid if all these reprobates, and gawd will bless ‘mericuh again.
This guy sounds like Ian Paisley on crack. A guy who was adept at calling others out on the streets to cause mayhem – his audience was never this big though. The fact people like this have the ear of a potential leader of the world’s only superpower is terrifying.
I love the US and the thought of it descending into theocracy like some Xtians version of Iran scares me. Nothing could be further from the aims of men like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Do these fundies not read?? Where is the founding father’s statement of intent to form a Christian nation?
I can only hope the GOP get pasted this year and realise how much damage the tea party, theocracy and anti intellectualism has done. To think this was the party of Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln. Shameful.
And not that long ago, Ike.
I think he should elaborate on that economic model. Let me help:
Y=C+I+G in the Mundell-Fleming model. Y is gdp. C is consumption. I is investment. Silly economists think that G is government purchases. But it’s actually God. So the more god, the more gdp. Also a fantastic model for all those republicans that want to have no stimulus. God takes care of that!
Relax. If Terry runs true to form for his ilk, within six months he will be exposed as a sexual pervert, embezzler of church funds, or both.
I’m hoping for the former, since the latter doesn’t seem to phase his target audience that much.
They forgive the former too. What about the spin they’ve put on Newt’s dalliances?
I’m sorry, but I don’t see what is so shocking about this video. I mean, yes, almost everything he said was either a) vile and hateful, b) a dirty fucking lie, c) a complete misunderstanding of history and/or law, or d) a combination of some or all of the above… but everything he said is par for the course these days on the right, isn’t it?? Did I miss something? I mean, if you transcribed this and posted it as a WND article, I’d yawn.
It makes me wonder what parts exactly Santorum said he wasn’t clapping during. AFAIK he has publicly agreed with pretty much all of that shit?
Spool back a few hundred years: “I don’t care what the liberals say, this nation was founded as a poly-thistic nation; Zeus, and Apollo and Ares and Athena. This is a poly-theistic nation. There’s only a whole bunch of gods, and their names are the ones I tell you. We don’t worship Osiris, we don’t worship Mithras, we don’t worship Asherah. We worship the real gods.” Go to fucking hell you blathering ass-hole.
Oh, and take your little dog too.
Appreciate all the comments; as an ex-Baptist, I found Terry relatively run of the mill (that is, nauseating and demagogical).
Was I the only one who heard, just after the 3:00 mark, “if we’ll put god back in our pulpits” as “if we’ll put god back in our pool piss”?
Baptismal pool?