Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Founding Father's tried to prevent this from ever occurring by inserting in the U.S. Constitution, Article VI, Paragraph 3:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.
And yet, Rick "man on dog" Santorum has been on a Christian Dominionist rant (do not blame Catholicism – this is the secretive "The Fellowship" fundamentalist cult, of which Santorum was a member; see, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, by Investigative journalist Jeff Sharlet) over the past several days questioning President Obama's Christian faith. Bare-knuckled Santorum impugns Obama's motives.
Willard "Mittens" Romney has tried to follow suit by pandering to the Christian Reconstructionist and Dominionist base of the GOP, who are never going to vote for a Mormon anyway. "Unfortunately, possibly because of the people the president hangs around with, and their agenda, their secular agenda – they have fought against religion," Romney said. Obama has 'fought against religion,' Romney asserts.
And let's not forget Newt Gingrich, who also frequently rants about the "liberal secular humanist" agenda. (I am still waiting for a reporter to ask Newt how much he paid for his special dispensation from the Catholic Church to annul his previous two marriages and allow him to become a Catholic to marry his current wife in a Catholic Church, and who approved it — was it the Pope?)
Even Franklin Graham (Billie's boy) got in on the act questioning everyone's religious faith on Tuesday. Rev. Franklin Graham Questions Obama's, Romney's Christian Faith.
On Wednesday, hours before the last GOP debate in Mesa, Arizona, Willard "Mittens" Romney's campaign had its proxy Chris Christie out attacking Rick "man on dog" Santorum for a statement he made in 2008 about — wait for it — "could it be SATAN?!" SNL is going to have to bring back Dana Carvey as the Church Lady (below). Chris Christie And Rick Santorum Spar Over Satan, Whitney Houston:
“Listen, I think anything you say as a presidential candidate is relevant,” the New Jersey governor told ABC News on Wednesday. “It is by definition relevant. You’re asking to be president of the United States. I don’t think [Santorum’s] right about that. I think it is relevant what he says. I think people want to make an evaluation, a complete evaluation of anyone who asks to sit in the Oval Office.”
Christie was referring to a 2008 quote from Santorum at a Catholic university in which he said “The father of lies has his sights on what you would think the father of lies would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country, the United States of America. If you were Satan, who would you attack in this day and age? There is no one else to go after other than the United States and that has been the case now for almost 200 years, once America’s preeminence was sown by our great Founding Fathers.” (Rick Santorum, speech to students at Ave Maria University in Florida, in 2008)(full quote added)
Conservative pundits, especially those with ties to the Romney campaign, highlighted the old line on Tuesday as part of a broader message that Santorum is too extreme and divisive to be president.
Santorum, for his part, defended the quote on Tuesday, calling the controversy “a joke.”
“You know, I’m a person of faith. I believe in good and evil,” he told reporters in Arizona. “I think if somehow or another because you’re a person of faith you believe in good and evil is a disqualifier for president we’re going to have a very small pool of candidates who can run for president.”
No, what IS a disqualifier for office is imposing a religious test as a qualification for any political office. The GOP and its presidential candidates are guilty of this, and all should be disqualified from any consideration for their religious attacks on one another and on President Obama. These are the people the Founding Fathers warned us against.