Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Second rate reporter says what?

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

All hail the time of the bunny!

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Let there be snark.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

You are here: Home / Tell Me, Are You a Christian, Child? Ma’am, I am Tonight

Reader Interactions

107Comments

  1. 1.

    Trentrunner

    Easy: Trump wins this one, because his GOP voters think Catholics are heathens.

    But can I just add how rich it is that the GOPers are all over TV insisting that church & state should bee separate, and that no one–NO ONE–has the right to question another’s religion.

    Self-awareness Index: -1.56M

  2. 2.

    bystander

    Now we get to revisit the priests who announced they wouldn’t give John Kerry communion. And every unchristian thing all the evangelicals said about the Clenis.

  3. 3.

    JPL

    Since I was raised a Catholic, I might say that you don’t question another persons faith, you just know they are going to hell.

  4. 4.

    pacem appellant

    I’m a regular Frankie fan. Mano y mano, don’t underestimate the power of the phallic hat vs Trump w/o his lawyers.

    I am actually of the opinion that Trump is a xtian, he’s just a really bad one. Which I think is what ‘ole Frankie was getting at (No True Scotsman, &c).

  5. 5.

    jl

    TPM blog has an amusing history of Trump comments on Pope Francis. Some real gems there.

    Trump will be a blast as president. Drama every day. He could have ignored it and the Pope’s comment would have disappeared with little notice.

    Maybe that is a good sign. President Trump will be to busy scanning the news for slights, real or imagined, and furiously tweeting. Leaving the actual governance to the ‘greatest, most fantastic, terrific, and TOP’ people he appoints to get stuff done and ‘look into it and many other things’.

    Trump Sang Pope’s Praises For Years Before Calling His Remarks ‘Disgraceful’
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-pope-francis-love-hate-relationship

  6. 6.

    jl

    @pacem appellant: Trump isn’t going to sue the Vatican? Wow, that is news. The Vatican stole his signature themes of yooge terrific walls and yooge terrific buildings.

    And wonderful doors. Don’t forget those. The Vatican ripped off Trump’s idea of putting big wonderful doors in yooge terrific walls.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    @jl:

    I have to admit, if the Dems have to lose, I hope Trump wins. I prefer his chaotic even to the typical disciplined evil that is normally directed at us.

    I also don’t believe Trump will leave the GOP stronger than he found it. I can’t say the same for the others.

  8. 8.

    Felonius Monk

    @Baud:

    if the Dems have to lose, I hope Trump wins.

    He will be Commaner In Chief and Top Banana all rolled into one.

  12. 12.

    pacem appellant

    @jl: He’ll only sue after he loses. and even then, it depends where the cage match takes place. If it’s in Vatican City, I doubt Trump will have jurisdiction to lawyer up, as he’s not Catholic and not a citizen of the Holy See.

  13. 13.

    Trentrunner

    MSNBC is reporting the Clyburn will endorse Clinton tomorrow. Good. The Vanillenials will be upset, though.

  17. 17.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @srv: It’s a given among Republicans that it will be a Bible measuring contest to see who’s the truest religious fanatic, no chance anyone would actually question the whole enterprise.

    There are no atheists among Fox assholes.

    I think is how the expression goes. Or something like that.

  21. 21.

    pacem appellant

    @Heliopause: I think we can all agree that he’s a bad xtian. (I’ll leave as an exercise to the reader which boxing challenger I’m speaking of)

  24. 24.

    jl

    @srv: I, for one, am neither aware of, nor bound by, All BJ Blog Traditions.

    @Baud: Troopers like srv are the reason your campaign is where it is today!

    Edit: can you not find at least one religious figure to indirectly fart in your direction, so you can denounce them and get some free media? Maybe a drunken Scientologist someplace, muttering about something virtual? More inept campaign than Jeb.

  25. 25.

    Emma

    If Francisco gets ticked off, he pulls on the purple, covers the book and snuffs the candles. If Trump gets ticked off he bellows until he turns red. If you’re Catholic, Francisco wins.

  26. 26.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    Trump’s skin is so thin it’s amazing he doesn’t visibly steam at room temperature.

  27. 27.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Seebach:

    Nah. A lot of people were actually fooled by Bush being sold as a moderate, no one is trying to sell Trump that way. He’s primary red meat, but general election rancid three-week old stew. That wasn’t refrigerated.

    Well that’s what I think, anyway. And clearly what the GOP thinks also by the way, visible in their outright panic.

    I was teaching overseas during the Bush Gore election and a lot of people asked me if they thought Bush or McCain one of the other Republicans was the more conservative. Amazed, I’d tell them oh no, Bush is off the scale, this is an extreme right winger.

    Okay so they were foreign observers and don’t generally know that much about our candidates but it made me realize that what was leaking out of the country was the moderate story that was being sold back home.

  28. 28.

    jl

    @jl:

    Senate GOP planning to fundraise on obstructing Obama nominee until after the election. I think hard to make this a big campaign issue, but it if is one, a very good chance will hurt GOP in general rather than helping. So, forward, Senate GOP!

    And my deep deep apologies to Baud! 2016! The GOP may manage in the end to be more inept.

    Constitutiony
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/constitutiony

  29. 29.

    Cacti

    @srv:

    So Catholics are the good guys in this thread? Maybe BJ should have alternating day lurvfests, it’s a bit jarring for every few threads to swing 180 degrees.

    No side for me in this dispute. Just hoping that Drumpf makes a lot of incendiary comments about the Pope that offend the crap out of Roman Catholic voters. ;-)

  30. 30.

    jl

    @Bill E Pilgrim: W can lie is his ass off with an ingratiating smile and throw in a few folksy jokes and chuckles. W is a very shrewd campaigner. He is certainly shrewd enough to confound our corporate media pundits and news actors.

  32. 32.

    JMG

    Let’s just say attacking the Pope is not a traditional presidential campaign strategy. Trump’s supporters don’t care, whatever they tell themselves they have no religion except their own egos, but it might give the Village pause. A guy ready to go to the mattresses with the Vatican should get the nuclear football?

  35. 35.

    Emma

    @srv: Real Catholics know that Francis was placed on the Seat of Peter by God himself. You don’t second-guess the Big Guy.

  37. 37.

    Cacti

    @srv:

    Real Catholics look at Francis like Progressives look at Clinton.

    Less than 6% of the global Catholic population lives in the United States, and a bit less than 50% of U.S. Catholics vote Republican.

    Pardon me if I don’t think of you as an authority on the pulse of the RCC laity.

  38. 38.

    jl

    @JMG:

    ” A guy ready to go to the mattresses with the Vatican should get the nuclear football? ”

    Small tactical would take care of Vatican, and how many nukes do they have? We won’t even get our hair mussed, and neither will the D… I mean.. Italians. Win win.

    If fact, it is an example of Cruz’ targeted saturation carpet bombing ‘We Win They Lose’ strategy.
    Probably hear more about the idea at the next GOP debate. If anyone brings it up before Trump gets his chance, he will threaten to sue.

    Can’t beat this GOP primary!

  40. 40.

    GregB

    Trump will get the Mexican President to pay for the wall once he gets him to stop badmouthing his name to the Pope.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    @JMG

    guy ready to go to the mattresses with the Vatican

    Unfortunate imagery there. Perhaps you meant “ready to go to the mats.”

  43. 43.

    John D.

    @srv:

    Real Catholics look at Francis like Progressives look at Clinton.

    What the fuck are you talking about? Francis is incredibly popular amongst Catholics even in the USA, let alone the rest of the world. His primary issue is economic inequality. Real Catholics look at Francis like Progressives look at Sanders.

  44. 44.

    Cacti

    @srv:

    They swung for St. Ronnie, they’ll swing for his one true heir.

    Yeah, about that.

    A much larger portion of U.S. Catholics are now of Latin American origin. They’re already not so crazy for Drumpf, and now Drumpf wants to pick a fight with probably the world’s most beloved Latin American.

    Good luck with that.

  46. 46.

    Ken

    @John D.: Maybe by “real Catholics” he means the ones who have been complaining about changes since Vatican II Vatican I the Council of Trent? Or Bill Donohue – but I repeat myself.

  47. 47.

    scav

    I almost feel with all the heated reactions and fissioning and meltdowns going on. . . This is a party running in circles at great speed and we may see the the equivalent of a collision producing a R Higgs Boson, or at least something highly radioactive — which will likely be hugged, kissed and patted on like radium facepowder by many of the faithful.

  48. 48.

    singfoom

    @srv: I just want to make sure, did you mean to type “one true hair”?

    I think that’s a perfect description of Il Donaldo.

  49. 49.

    jl

    @Patricia Kayden: Thanks for the link. Some interesting bits:

    ‘ ” Trump listened as the mayor spoke, pressing his lips together tightly, and then said, “It’s a very sad situation.” Though minutes later, Trump told reporters he remained “totally respectful” of the pope. ”
    …
    “The pope was in Mexico,” he said at his rally. “Do you know that? Does everyone know that? He said negative things about me because the Mexican government convinced him that Trump is not a good guy because I want to have a strong border, I want to stop illegal immigration, I want to stop people from being killed.” ‘

    Dayumm… that evil Mexican government was sending murderers and rapists over our border to weaken us, and now they done turned the Pope! For whom Trump has total respect. It is so sad.

    I don’t know what the Baud! 2016! campaign is going to do to match that kind of total chaos and incoherence.

  50. 50.

    jl

    @scav: Given the density of the orbs over on the GOP side, the discovery of gravity waves came just in time. That may save us.

    I hope all those DemocRAT scientists are objective enough to do a real investigation, though.

  51. 51.

    Chip Daniels

    About the only religious group more disparate than Catholics would be that hazy mass called “Protestants”- that is, both Ted Cruz and Rev. Jeremiah Wright can both lay claim to the title.

    And yeah, Catholics, even down to the individual level, are both Reactionary Asshole and Progressive Saint, all at once.

    Its part of the Trinitarian non-dualism stuff they teach in Jesuit school.

  53. 53.

    Baud

    @jl:

    I don’t know what the Baud! 2016! campaign is going to do to match that kind of total chaos and incoherence.

    It’ll be difficult, but I’m confident we’re up to the challenge.

  54. 54.

    Wilson Heath

    @JMG:

    Let’s just say attacking the Pope is not a traditional presidential campaign strategy.

    Right, just ask Al Smith.

  55. 55.

    Jeffro

    I was shocked to find out that my right-leaning Dad, who has nothing good to say about Trump, was quite anti-Pope about this, to the tune of, “That socialist pope should keep his mouth shut…” I couldn’t even think of what to say back. I have long understood that Dad’s part of the “business/profit above all else” wing of the GOP, but man…

  56. 56.

    Enhanced Voting Techinques

    @Trentrunner:

    Easy: Trump wins this one, because his GOP voters think Catholics are heathens.

    Except for those conservative Hispanics in the general election. Sounds like Cruz and Trump are making sure no Latino votes GOP ever again.

  57. 57.

    scav

    There’s a lot of face-peeling and revelations about what people actually effectively mean by claiming to be religious. Hell of a weapon and a self-justification getting openly polished.

  58. 58.

    hellslittlestangel

    There’s a wall around Vatican City, built by a 9th century pope. He built it to keep out muslims.

    Advantage: Trump — as long as he doesn’t go on to ask how many divisions the pope has.

  59. 59.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jeffro: is/was he Catholic? Just curious. I could swing a dead cat at my next family reunion and hit half a dozen who would never miss Mass, and would completely agree about “that Socialist Pope”

  62. 62.

    hellslittlestangel

    @jl: The pope should threaten to sue Trump. And he could also earn some cred by calling him a pussy.

  63. 63.

    Elie

    I could see Pope Francis teaming up with Obama and others to troll Donald. He is such an easy target and can be counted on to respond in the most obnoxious way. I wonder if there is some way to set him up for more entertainment. What a low life! What’s next? Pulling his pants down and mooning the world?

  64. 64.

    John PM

    Unfortunately, I think that Trump’s disrespect of the Pope tends to support the position that there is no God, because God would have struck Trump down.

  65. 65.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    Nah. A lot of people were actually fooled by Bush being sold as a moderate, no one is trying to sell Trump that way.

    Just wait. I’ve already seen plenty of liberals describing Trump as a moderate because on several of the issues that have become basic Republican tribal shibboleths, he actually is one. Never mind the ethnic-cleansing promises that make him sound like Jean-Marie Le Pen.

  67. 67.

    Baud

    @John PM:

    I think that Trump’s disrespect of the Pope tends to support the position that there is no God, because God would have struck Trump down.

    Fixed.

  68. 68.

    Emma

    @Baud: The politics will be a bitch, I can tell you. You think this election is bad? Compared to the College of Cardinals — or as Charles Pierce puts it, the Tribe of the Red Beanie — these guys are rank amateurs.

  69. 69.

    muddy

    Here’s Trumps official response.This is the best part:

    I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President

    This sounds like Trump is predicting that he will not be president. Tremendous.

    “You’ll be sorry when I don’t win…”

  70. 70.

    jl

    @John PM: Putin is doing a very long set-up for his joke on Trump. That reaction will be awesome. Or, if Trump is President, maybe not so awesome. Dangerous and potentially catastrophic, but not particularly awesome in the usual sense.

  72. 72.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jeffro: That probably had nothing to do with Trump; the American right decided that Pope Francis was no good seconds after he became Pope.

  73. 73.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @muddy: I liked this bit

    If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’s ultimate trophy,

    I always love Trump’s “everyone knows… everybody says… it’s a very common expression… so many people say to me…”

    I don’t doubt that ISIS would like to hit the Vatican, I do doubt it’s anywhere near the top of their list

  74. 74.

    Chris

    @srv:

    So Catholics are the good guys in this thread? Maybe BJ should have alternating day lurvfests, it’s a bit jarring for every few threads to swing 180 degrees.

    It’s almost as if there isn’t a knee-jerk hatred of the Roman Catholic Church, just people who agree with it strongly in some instances and disagree with it strongly in others. Nah, that’s just crazy.

  75. 75.

    Ken

    @muddy: There’s a fair number of people who think he has no intention of actually accepting the nomination if he gets it. Among other things, the President’s assets are put in a blind trust, and can you see Trump agreeing to that?

  77. 77.

    jl

    @muddy: What is that, like a 260 or 300 word response to some phrase the Pope let loose, and that would have been forgotten in a few days if Trump had ignored, or just made the appropriate (and saner) anodyne comment?

    Trump will lose his mind as President. Every tin pot strong man (or woman) will take a clue from this kind of BS and troll the guy nonstop.

  78. 78.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: No, but that’s the thing, he considers himself pretty religious personally. It was surprising.

    For some reason it took me all the way back (30 or so years) to when I was a teenager and Virginia was considering legalizing a lottery of some kind (maybe Powerball?). He was incensed that our church’s reverend/minister was preaching against the evils of gambling. Made him mad as heck and he was clearly less enthused about Sunday services from then on out.

    I guess for him church is fine, as long as it doesn’t clash with his dreams of making it rich (and by extension, always valuing big money above all else?) Who knows? At this point, he knows the GOP is spiraling out of control, that’s for sure. I’d have thought he would have appreciated the potential to knock Trump and help a more pious sort like Kaisch out…

  79. 79.

    muddy

    @jl: I didn’t read past the first paragraph. Now that I think of it it did fill the whole page. I just got a good whiff of a future contrary to fact condition and ran off happily, ignoring the rest.

  80. 80.

    Jeffro

    @Matt McIrvin: yes…see #82 for more…I think a religious leader being against the wishes of big money is what irritated my dad both today and way back when.

    You’d almost think there was an Opposite-Bible someplace where Jesus constantly banged on the poor and talked about what an easy path the rich had to heaven. Ah well.

  81. 81.

    Ken

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: ISIS talks about Rome, but that’s because it’s in their apocalypse story, and I’m not sure if they understand metaphor. The Left Behind authors did the same thing with Babylon – the Bible talks about Babylon ruling, QED in the end times someone will rebuild the city of Babylon.

  83. 83.

    muddy

    I’m waiting for Trump to do badly and then have him say he wasn’t really running, really it was the world’s most epic troll job to make Republicans look stupid. He doesn’t even. want. it. so. gross.

    As long as I am making up fantasies, it would also be great if someone unexpectedly took a wet wipe to Trumps overly made up face and displayed it to the camera. The stripes of contouring and the highlighting are terrible. Remember when it wasn’t manly for a presidential candidate to even get an expensive haircut? Now you can paint and primp like a right trollop and please those same people.

  84. 84.

    jl

    @muddy: I didn’t read any of it. Just eyeballed a rough word count. And thought ‘This shit reminds me that Trump is a little nuts’.

  85. 85.

    George Hayduke

    @srv:

    Do you really think anybody here believes you have insight into the minds of either “real” Catholics, or progressives?

    Or insight, at all?

  88. 88.

    boatboy_srq

    @Trentrunner: Exactly why I loathe Xtians. It’s amazing how small Christendom gets when you ask them to define it – and how large it gets should their precious fee-fees get trampled when they denounce LGBT people shame pregnant slvts who question their options scorn the poor and homeless for not being Elect voice their strongly-held beliefs.

  89. 89.

    Mike G

    Jeb on Pope: “I don’t think it’s appropriate to question Donald Trump’s faith.”

    1. Yeah, what would the Pope know about Christianity?
    2. In that case, President Obama deserves an apology from just about every Republican Xtianist in the country.

  90. 90.

    boatboy_srq

    @pacem appellant: [Cough] Would a visit to Los Angeles by the Pontiff be “Frankie goes to Hollywood”? Perhaps Francis could bring the Two Tribes together and persuade them to Relax.

  91. 91.

    OGLiberal

    I love this from Jorge:

    In video of Francis’ response, translated by the Los Angeles Times, he begins with a direct reference to Trump calling him“political” and “a pawn” for visiting the border during his visit to Mexico.

    “Well, thank God he said I am a political man because at the end of the day a human being is a political animal, at least I am a human being. And that I am a pawn? Well, maybe, I will leave that up to your judgment,” Francis told reporters on the palpal airplane.

  93. 93.

    boatboy_srq

    @Mike G: Chiming in… HEB?’s reaction is a very Protestant response – considering that Catholics (theoretically) view all Protestants as heretics, so “questioning [prominent Protestant]’s faith” is not taken well by Protestants. Doesn’t make it sound any better, though, or dampen the dogwhistle aspects.

  95. 95.

    J R in WV

    @NotMax:

    The mob used that term, going to the mattresses, when a gun fight was likely between two mob families. A whole bunch of triggermen would be in a single dwelling, so they needed mattresses on the floor for all the wise guys, capische?

    I know this because I read the godfather novels, and my uncle Leonardo de Matteo, he’s Italian. Not really that last part, just from the books. Lennie was from Columbus, Ohio, what would he know about New York City mobsters?

  96. 96.

    J R in WV

    @Ken: I’m thinking this has always been
    the custom, so that the President was seen to be above petty economic machinations. But it probably isn’t a legal requirement. And Trump isn’t above petty machinations of all kinds.

    So I can hear him saying, “What!?! Are you Fuckin’ Kiddin?!?! Hell NO I’m not putting anything in any blind trust! Do I look stupid?”

    And no one answers that question!

  100. 100.

    Jeffro

    @Mike G: Geez (no pun intended) if the HEAD OF THE CHURCH can’t question someone’s faith based on that person’s public statements, you almost have to wonder who could.

    C’mon Jeb, it was an easy set up and you failed. Again.

  101. 101.

    TriassicSands

    Hmm, was there actually someone on the planet who thought Trump is a Christian?

    I guess Christianity is an easy club to join, and for many all you have to do is be sorry when you’re finished sinning and all is forgiven. Given that eternity is at stake, the rules are about as simple and easy as they are for any club in the world.

    Very few, if any, Modern Republicans qualify as genuine Christians — as Pope Francis thinks of Christians. They spend their adult lives vilifying the poor, lying the asses off, and trying to get as rich as they can (often at the expense of the poor). Despite instructions to the contrary from the head Christian (that would be Jesus), they’re about as public with their religion as they can be (no praying in private for these guys). There really is nothing about Modern Republicanism that is in any way consistent with Christianity, which means that Republicans ought to be calling for the highest possible wall between Church and State lest someone notice just how un-Christian their beliefs and policies are.

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