Wolf Blitzer "not so sure" liberal CNN host Begala is "a good Catholic"

On the April 8 edition of CNN's Inside Politics, CNN hosts Wolf Blitzer and Judy Woodruff discussed Pope John Paul II's funeral with Crossfire co-hosts Paul Begala and Robert Novak, both Catholics. Blitzer opened the segment by suggesting that while "I'm sure Bob is a good Catholic, I'm not so sure about Paul Begala." In responding to Blitzer, Begala took exception to on-screen text* earlier in the program that characterized many Catholic doctrines as "conservative":

BLITZER: While they were united today in mourning the death of the pope, U.S. Catholics are a diverse group, as illustrated by two of our Crossfire co-hosts, the conservative Robert Novak, the liberal Paul Begala. Both good Catholics -- I don't know "good" Catholics, but both Catholics. I'm sure Bob is a good Catholic, I'm not so sure about Paul Begala.

BEGALA: Well, now, who are you to pass moral judgment on my religion, Mr. Blitzer? My goodness gracious.

BLITZER: All right, go ahead, go ahead.

BEGALA: On the day of my Holy Father's funeral. My eldest son is named John Paul, after the Pope.

BLITZER: So you are a good Catholic?

BEGALA: I'm serious, that annoys me. I don't think anybody should presume that a liberal is not a good Catholic.

(more) http://mediamatters.org/items/200504090001

On Edit (Thanks RevCheesehead):

Please write Wolf and let him hear it!

Here's the link to Wolfie:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form4.html?2

Here's the link to Inside Politics:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?6

And here's the link to CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv /

A complete Bush apologist, a pro-war ninny, a pompous little strutter. I loathe him, and he's one the top reasons I now avoid CNN like the plague.

Blitzer would be one of the first up against the wall in my imaginary revolution.

The comments about Begala's religion were extremely inappropriate.

Good enough to make Goebbels proud.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

work on the moronic in our country, which makes up enough to tilt an election

What an asshole.

And thank God, that for once, Paul spoke up and let him have it.

That just shows you how out-of-touch the media are when it comes to understanding religion.

wolfie is incompetent to boot

he's just embarassing. how does such ain idiot get such an important job?

Oh. Never mind. Murka.

Wasn't the Pope appalled by what was going on by Americans in Abu Ghraib?

This totally pisses me off!!!! Like Abortion is all that matters to Catholics!!! And Abortions went DOWN when Clinton was in office because Clinton gave people hope for the future!!! If you are truly against abortion - there are ways to reduce abortions besides making it illegal!!! Oh -- I'm pissed!!!

Sorry about ending a sentence with a preposition.

Republicans will continue to write bills that forget to protect the life of the woman just so they can say they tried and the activist judges ruled against them.
If they wanted to, they could. They have the majority in both houses and the White House. Why don't they? Abortion is too important a wedge issue to them for them to eliminate it.
Congress is doing nothing right now but making laws to help Republicans hold onto power. They aren't representing their constituents, they are representing themselves and their buddies to keep the gravy train running.

"Congress is doing nothing right now but making laws to help Republicans hold onto power. "

Very Good Point!!!

...who was not at all kidding, but was baiting Paul Begala into an on-air confrontation. I wouldn't at all be surprised if KKKarl Rove and Blitzer talked by phone ten minutes before the show to discuss some way to get Begala off balance so that the neo-conservatives would be able to bash his character. Blitzer is not a news journalist, he is a propagandist for the Bush administration.

....cute puppy pics:hippie:

BEGALA: I'm serious, that annoys me. I don't think anybody should presume that a liberal is not a good Catholic.

NOVAK: Paul, Paul, Paul is a good Catholic.

BEGALA: The Holy Father is liberal. And in fact, when (CNN contributor) Carlos (Watson) was speaking (earlier in the program), I was in the green room. Underneath, some producer had written, "Many Catholic doctrines are conservative." Absolutely correct. Many are liberal as well. The Holy Father bitterly opposed President Bush's war in Iraq. He came to St. Louis -- and I was there -- and he begged America to give up the death penalty. President Bush strongly supports it, as did President Clinton and others. Many of the Holy Father's views -- my church's views -- are extraordinarily liberal. The Pope talked about savage, unbridled capitalism, not Bob Novak's kind --

BLITZER: I was certainly not questioning -- I was only teasing.

BEGALA: Okay.

BLITZER: Don't be so sensitive.

BEGALA: Well, it's an important day for my faith.

BLITZER: It's a very important day --

BEGALA: It's the only pope of my adult lifetime, so I'm a little emotional tonight.

BLITZER: It's a very important day for Bob Novak. Go ahead, Bob.

at the Pope's funeral. Why would Leslie even bring up how good of a catholic Begala is?

for the last couple months i have been challenging the i was teasing. alll alll the people around me are just teasing as they look me in the eye and tell me if i vote for kerry i am unchristian, unamerican, unpatriot......dont be so sensitive i was just teasing.

and now we are culture of death. people feel they can say on tv i am culture of death. offended what do you mean offended dont be so sensitive.

call everyone on it darn it. cannot let this continue. makes things so obvious for people. teasing my ass, think twice before saying it, cause i will challenge

I HATE these people! I HATE how they toss off the incredibly hateful, hurtful insult, and then snicker and say, "Oh, I was just kidding! Don't be so sensitive!"

Begala should have walked off the set. These jerks get away with this because we let them. CNN should reprimand Blitzer and apologize to Begala.

Assholes.

:grr:

AND an abuser. Belitting a person's beliefs, then telling them to 'get over it' is classic abusive behavior. Blitzer should lose his job over this one.

I can't stress enough the importance of this!

just to be as deceptive as they are.

It made me angry when I heard it, but I was not near a computer at the time. Thanks for reminding me so I could give them a piece of my opinion.

May he rot in hell with the rest of the lying bastards.

... as a person. This is the right to a "just wage", which cannot be left to the "free consent of the parties, so that the employer, having paid what was agreed upon, has done his part and seemingly is not called upon to do anything beyond". It was said at the time that the State does not have the power to intervene in the terms of these contracts, except to ensure the fulfilment of what had been explicitly agreed upon. This concept of relations between employers and employees, purely pragmatic and inspired by a thorough-going individualism, is severely censured in the Encyclical as contrary to the twofold nature of work as a personal and necessary reality. For if work as something personal belongs to the sphere of the individual's free use of his own abilities and energy, as something necessary it is governed by the grave obligation of every individual to ensure "the preservation of life". "It necessarily follows", the Pope concludes, "that every individual has a natural right to procure what is required to live; and the poor can procure that in no other way than by what they can earn through their work".

A workman's wages should be sufficient to enable him to support himself, his wife and his children. "If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accepts harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice".

Would that these words, written at a time when what has been called "unbridled capitalism" was pressing forward, should not have to be repeated today with the same severity. Unfortunately, even today one finds instances of contracts between employers and employees which lack reference to the most elementary justice regarding the employment of children or women, working hours, the hygienic condition of the work-place and fair pay; and this is the case despite the International Declarations and Conventions on the subject and the internal laws of States. The Pope attributed to the "public authority" the "strict duty" of providing properly for the welfare of the workers, because a failure to do so violates justice; indeed, he did not hesitate to speak of "distributive justice" <snip>

Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Centesimus annus, 1991.05.01

When will we hear, from all the conservatives who have been kissing John Paul's cold coffin, an outraged cry for a living wage?

I don't think we could, or would.

Catholic based upon his political affiliation (I don't know if Begala is all that liberal but I guess he is according to how CNN/Faux defines a liberal), then he should expect people to say he is not a good Jew. Turn about is fair play and it would not be antisemitic, IMHO, to bring this up.

BLITZER: I was certainly not questioning -- I was only teasing.

BEGALA: Okay.

BLITZER: Don't be so sensitive.

I didn't let my kids get away with being mean and then excusing it by saying they were "just teasing".
Why not "tease" Novak?

Do they really think not hating gays and being for choices for women is less "holy" then being for unneeded war, the death penalty, giving to the rich and taking from the poor?

Rhetorical question I guess. They clearly do.

as it was called by his coworkers, kept happening to my husband at work, it became a formal civil rights complaint, approved for litigation by the State' Civil Rights Commission.

"Teasing" many times is a euphenism for bigotry in language use.

called, you make the one you smeared the attacker. That way, you become the victim of unreasonableness, and you don't have to apologize. And best of all, the smear stands.

That's no way to tease.

Blitzer should be in hot water over that. Of course, unless it costs him his job, we'll never hear about it.

that's all that matters.

Who is he to judge the "goodness" of someone's commitment to their faith? Do "good Catholics" put others in danger by revealing state secrets and then lying about it? I doubt The Pope would be pleased by that show of faith.
More and more you can't get away from Blitzer. He's on all day and then we have to suffer his Sunday theatrics. Does he sleep? Vacation? Have a family? I avoid him at all costs, but this is just WAAAAYYYY beyond his usual assholery.

:grr:

If he never leaves the office, when does he shower?

Here's the link to Wolfie:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form4.html?2

Here's the link to Inside Politics:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?6

And here's the link to CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv/

It's not enough to simply complain here at DU. If things are going to change, WE HAVE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. Please send at least one letter of complaint!

On edit: Here's what I sent to CNN main-link:


and here's what I sent to Wolfie:

I edited my original post to add these links.

Thank you for the comment that you have submitted through our errors section.

While we are unable to personally reply to every e-mail, your comments are important to us, and we do read each and every one. Comments become part of the viewer response report that is prepared and made available each day to our producers and senior management. If you have mistakenly submitted a question or story idea through this comments section, please allow time for it to be tagged as such and routed to the appropriate persons for handling.

Again, thank you for contacting us, and please visit the attached links for more information on our anchors, programs and schedules:

********

"re Paul Begala: your implication that a Liberal can't be a "good" Catholic says a lot about you and your lack of character but doesn't answer why you haven't been fired yet."

:thumbsup:

Who the hell does this (not his real name) Wolf think he is telling practising Catholics that they're "good" or not?

Outrage! It's not just for the right wing anymore.

They cannot take our religion away from us. Make no mistake - they want to paint us all as Godless, death-loving heathens.

is a good Catholic, even though he supported the war and is staunchly pro-death penalty and for policies that hurt the sick and the poor? And even though he committed a federal offense by outing a CIA agent for no other reason than political manipulations, then allowed his fellow journalists to twist in the wind while he suffers no consequences? God, what an ignorant, arrogant asshole Blitzer is. He's one of the many reasons why I rarely even watch CNN anymore. Buncha whores.

He is now a spokesman for the Catholic Church? Is he even Catholic, not that that should be an excuse for such a judgmental remark.

Maybe he's a saint. St. Wolf.

Mz Pip
:dem:

But maybe he's just an ass.
No, he's not Catholic, and his remark calls for an apology. Disgusting.

anybody see the fluff piece about what a wonderful catholic Robert Novak is? Almost brought tears to my eyes, the puking, anyway.


http://www.kliljedahl.net

BEING THE WORST SIN A CATHOLIC CAN COMMIT!! what a filthy pig that jerk is..i can not stand that immoral pig!

so i guess ole wolfie illegal wars makes you a man of god right pignut??

read what a catholic bishop in canton ohio says about *ies war and how it is a mortal sin under the eyes of the catholic church!!

http://gaelicstarover.blogspot.com/2005/04/sending-condolences.html

Sending condolences?
Bishop John-Michael (Botean) of the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St. George ( CANTON , OHIO)issued a letter to his people that condemned this beastly war in no uncertain terms:
"Therefore I, by the grace of God and the favor of the Apostolic See Bishop of the Eparchy of St. George in Canton, must declare to you, my people, for the sake of your salvation as well as my own, that any direct participation and support of this war against the people of Iraq is objectively grave evil, a matter of mortal sin. Beyond a reasonable doubt this war is morally incompatible with the Person and Way of Jesus Christ. With moral certainty I say to you it does not meet even the minimal standards of the Catholic just war theory."



SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WOLFIE..WHO IS THE REAL CATHOLIC.. the war mongers like novack who committed treason to a cia agent and our nation, or a liberal..who follows the law of the land , church and international world law!!??

wolfie..look up mortal sin in the catholic church..you filthy pig..also while you are at it wolfie..check out how Pope John Paul 11 called bush the antichrist!

fly

any Catholic could claim conscious objector status. At least as far as having to go to Iraq is concerned.

The religious right would have to support them, no? Oh, that's right, Catholics don't count as a religion, do they.

be angry.

he should be censured and forced to apologize.

I walked into the room just as Begala said "on the day of my Holy Father's funeral" I knew something had been said that was nasty but I had no idea.

Begala was obviously stunned and hurt by Blitzer's judgement of him. There is no way Blitzer was teasing.

Thanks for the links.

It was on a straight political news show, not where you might expect a blow to the senses from the right.

...I think the existence of Robert Nofacts is as good a justification for birth control as any!

:spank:

His response was simply astounding: he did not just sit back and take it, but instead spoke out on behalf of Liberals everywhere. This is not just a Religion issue - it is a biased Media issue.

Maybe this was the proverbial straw that broke our back.

I am sure we can get bad Christians like Begala off the air if we don't discriminate. A simple loyalty oath for "good Christians" should be sufficient and impartial.

We could add it to our citizenship tests too.

then what the hell? I don't think Wolf should apologize he should lose his damn job.

Keep this story kicked. Its important that this make it into the MSM and that CNN and Blitzer be held accountable. The time has come to force them to stop their little game picking at the "moral values" of liberals.

onenote

i've sinced watched said clip, and wolf really was just kidding.

now democrats party of death. so if he was kidding would be like a bigoted joke and then saying just kidding. maybe wolfie should have to do repentence by doing a story how the repug and media have gone along in enabling the people to believe democrats are not christians, unamerican, unpatriotic adn now a party of death

all in just teasing, quit being sensitive, you heathen, no really teasing, terrorist, ah quit being so soft

it can be nothing but offensive

...happened on the day of the Papal funeral.

Geez, even DU was asked to be "sensitive" about this topic.

Sure he was "just kidding" - and these idiots just coincidentally just happen to always be "kidding" at the expense of liberals and democrats, etc. - they NEVER "kid" about bunkerboy, repukes or conservatives.

"Boy, that Paul Rudolph - just another typical conservative repuke, huh?" or "GW sure likes to lie and cheat like all repukes do?!

"JUST KIDDING!"

My ass!

yet he refused to even meet with the Council of Bishops of the UM church before the war, after they specifically asked for a meeting. Has Blitzer ever "teased" him about not being a "good Methodist"? I tend to doubt it.

NOT what I expect from a straight news anchor. I don't even think I would expect it from a comedy news anchor on Saturday Night Live or Fox news.

That, to me, is bordering on religious perscecution.

Obviously you've never been bullied by a bigot. They always say "they're just kidding", that's how they get out of trouble with authority if the victim dares to speak up about it. I was called every name under the sun in high school due to my religion and sexual orientation, and without fail the bullies would say they were just kidding.

FYI, if this happened in your workplace or mine, Begala might have an EEOC complaint. Questioning someone's commitment to their beliefs is an especially heinous thing to do during such a sensitive time as the death of a beloved leader of their faith. It's just not "kosher" and Blitzer was totally out of line. But then again that's par for the course for that jackass, and his antics are one of the many reasons why I quit watching CNN ages ago.

religion or politics...or they better not!

fly

Ha fucking ha. He should be fired.

He was hauling water for the fucking rightwing and spreading the propoganda Liberal=bad Catholic. Teasing my ass.

like some here on du appear to be, so to me, i could see it as a joke... to others, perhaps not so...


you folks need to take a break from du every now and then and not get your fucking panties in a wad...


really, get a life.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

and you wanna talk to me like that again, i advise you to pm me so i can tell you where to go and how to get there, you got that?

So who the fuck should I think you're talking too? :eyes:

is currently in control of your psyche, so i'll refrain.

:hi:

nice grammar by the way!

Refrain from what? Calling an atheist a religious zealot? You mean refrain from doing stupid shit like that? Yes, you really should refrain from doing stupid shit like that.

a real class act.

Mr. I will defend Wolf "the whore's whore" Blitzer.

Hey Wolfie, is that you, Mr. "newsguyatl"? LOL!

Let me guess, you work for CNN. :eyes:

What a pathetic joke. Keep defending the indefensible.

and then puts me on ignore.

Is this a threat?

i wish you'd talk to me like that on the phone or in
>>>>>>person...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>you're a real big guy typing like a big bully on your
>>>>>>keyboard... somehow i doubt you'd have as much mouth in
>>>>>>person... typical pussy.

Since he's too much of a pussy to take my PM's back, if he actually grows some balls, he can let me know the next time he's in NY via PM, I will tell him exactly who I am and where to find me and then he can defend his boyfriend Wolf Blitzer all he wants and I'll tell him, to his face, exactly what I think of his antics. Ante up tough guy.

I find it ironic that he chastizes you for bullying via keyboard, then does the exact same thing. It's sad when people are so thick they don't get irony. :eyes:

to clarify your definition of "zealot"?

and even though you arent offended if we are, then we have to do something about panties being in a wad. so basically you have all these poster, a whole lot, and we are all wrong and need to be more like you because...........

you decide we need to be.

or maybe, it doesnt bother you, you dont see what the deal is with everyone else, but must be something because look at all the post, so..........leave it there

or are you really suggesting your way is the only way

and who was not. we live in an area where everyone is defining the christian, and the only definition for a christian is if they voted bush. my kids continually turned the other cheek, and took the ridicule in the just teasing. last spring and fall school year. god is a christian. only republicans are christians, kerry isnt a christian. catholics are heathens. liberals are perverse. liberals arent christians, americans or patriots. kerry is a murderer. now democratic party is the party of death.

it isnt funny. you really dont see a problem here. this is in essence what is being played out all across the nation. this joke of wolfie

That kind of teasing?!

Bullshit.

All the while they were laughing and then they said, "I'm just kidding."

It really looked as though they were kidding but they weren't.

at a funeral? A cousin or somebody's wife, say? No you wouldn't. So why should this be different?

I was just teasing.

problem. You never hear conservatives get "teased" like this, because it hits too close to the truth and we wouldn't want that would we?

Called for an apology and that Blitzer needs a few lessons in Jesus' more liberal teachings.

I am surprised this kind of below-the-belt attack has not elicited more condemnation. Imagine the uproar if Begala had said Blitzer wasn't a good Jew.

absolutely disgusting

No doubt wolfie is sitting on the right hand of God to help judge the quick and the dead.
If I was called on to sit in judgement of wolf, I would tell him to repent, for he needs not tell anyone what or who to believe in.
He should also check his stance on the war on make believe terror.

I didn't think he was in the running.

:kick:

Bob Novak makes no bones, about the fact that he's cozy with every snake in the pit! He who believes in Bush is a dumb Rovebot bastard! Birds of a feather flock over us together on TV!

Here is where I've found Gawd lately and it's paid off LARGE, in sanity points!


SNIP>>>

Well, i was young and hungry and about to leave that place
When just as i was leavin', well she looked me in the face
I said "you must know the answer."
"she said, "no but i'll give it a try."
And to this very day we've been livin' our way
And here is the reason why

We blew up our t.v. threw away our paper
Went to the country, built us a home
Had a lot of children, fed 'em on peaches
They all found jesus on their own

http://www.go2lyrics.com/J/John+Prine/69694.html

Say AMEN Somebody!!!!

I sent him an email for what it's worth. I'm tellin' ya, I don't watch these Bush butt sucking freaks anymore.

I wonder if he was mechanically or chemically castrated?
No-nut mutha-fucka....

And HE is supposed to be the "Dean of Newsman" or some such shit?

Blitzer's not fit to nibble the dingleberrys off of Uncle Walter's asshole.

a piece of my mind. What an asshole.

That exchange with Paul Begala was disgraceful. You should be so ashamed of yourself and repremanded strongly by CNN. That was THE LAST time I'll be watching you. Every time I see your smug face, the channel will be changed!

Lying hypocrite

I'm going to give Wolf an earful!

I don't know if that's just an internet rumor or not, but if it's true, I think that speaks volumes. To say that you were just "kidding" about something that is a fundamental part of one's being when he didn't have enough character to use his given name, unlike someone like Leslie Nielsen, and needed a name like wolf to define him instead of defining himself, well, that just makes me think of a schoolyard bully that just got caught. "Oh, I was just kidding."

Next, maybe "Wolf" will have Jesse Jackson and Armstrong Williams on the show and ask Jesse Jackson if he's a good African-American.

"At a panel entitled 'You're Only as Sick as Your Secrets', Wolf Blitzer admitted that his real name is Leslie Blitzer."

It was at a Press Correspondents' Dinner... and Franken might have been kidding... but I've heard that bit of information all over for a long time now.

If you write to the puke, you could always preface it with "Dear Leslie (JUST KIDDING): You two-bit asshole..." etc.

:evilgrin:

He's a Jewish-American. I think he legally changed it to Wolf Blitzer, but either way, you'd have to be very insecure to change your name to Wolf.

Adolf Hitler gave himself the nickname "Wolf" as a child.

Is Wolfie a Catholic? How does he judge a "good" Catholic from a "bad" Catholic?
:silly:

Leslie Whorewinkle?

Wolf has the hots for Dumbya!

a Daily Show clip in the making. JS goes so was "Wolf kidding when he said Paul was not a good Catholic or Bob was a good one ? Whaaaa ?

I guess that shows how much I know.

But nevertheless- what goddam business is it of Wolf Blitzers??????

thats what he really wants

Does CNN have a policy on this?

...and nasty, he would have suggested that Blitzer should be glad that Jon Stewart hadn't been on his - Blitzer's - show for he wouldn't have simply suggested that he - Blitzer - was a prick but a 'stupid prick'.

The thing about stupid people, and I do include Blitzer in that category, is that they are just too dumb to know when some thing's funny or not...when to get mad...or when to shut up...Blitzer qualifies on all counts.

and i wrote and told them so.

In regards to this incredibly biased comment by your "unbiased" news anchor.

<snip>
BLITZER: While they were united today in mourning the death of the pope, U.S. Catholics are a diverse group, as illustrated by two of our Crossfire co-hosts, the conservative Robert Novak, the liberal Paul Begala. Both good Catholics -- I don't know "good" Catholics, but both Catholics. I'm sure Bob is a good Catholic, I'm not so sure about Paul Begala.

BEGALA: Well, now, who are you to pass moral judgment on my religion, Mr. Blitzer? My goodness gracious.

BLITZER: All right, go ahead, go ahead.

BEGALA: On the day of my Holy Father's funeral. My eldest son is named John Paul, after the Pope.

BLITZER: So you are a good Catholic?

BEGALA: I'm serious, that annoys me. I don't think anybody should presume that a liberal is not a good Catholic.

<snip>

What the hell kind of "news" reporting is this? When it comes to news or political analysis, CNN has no credibility. Your station is nothing more than a propaganda machine for the bushtapo.

17 people protest outside a dying womans room, and the awful CNN gives it 3 weeks of media SATURATION as it supports the bushatapo's designs on the judiciary.

Several hundred thousand people protest the war, and your "news" outfit hardly provides a glance.

What credibility do you feel that your organization deserves?

:shrug:

I will no longer watch CNN ever again! This morning, I used my cable controls to block CNN just like I did with Fox News. CNN has become just as big a shill for the Christian Fascist Pigs and Big-Brother Corporations as Fox. Blitzer attacking Begala's Religious Faith is just what I would expect from people like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson and Pat Buchanan.

:rant:

hearing crap like this reassures I made the right decision.

Only good news source these days is "The Daily Show"

Hey Wolf - I'm not so sure you are a good Jew...just teasing!

Bad form Wolf, bad form. Very, very revealing moment.

I love it!

"Hey Wolf - I'm not so sure you are a good human being...just teasing!"

Wow! There is just so much there that it almost writes itself!

Good on you! :thumbsup:

>>"Hey Wolf - I'm not so sure you are a good human being...just teasing!"<<
Well, he did choose to use the name of a beast for his professional career, although I think "Barf Blitzer" would be more appropriate.

he legally changed it to Wolf! He has to be the worst Jew ever :eyes:

Christians and liberals of all faiths: It's time to take our religious beliefs back from the right! They do not have the right to take our religion away from us!!

Here's what I wrote:

I am writing to express my outrage at the so-called "teasing" of Wolf Blitzer. It seems as though Wolf thinks it's funny to question whether or not Paul Begala's is a "good" Catholic.

I don't find it funny. Not one bit.

Blitzer should be FIRED for implying that liberals cannot be good Catholics. And, all "teasing" aside, that's what Wolf meant by his comments (which I have conveniently provided below). I am SICK and TIRED of your paid, right-wing shills implying or outright saying that liberals are somehow lesser Christians (if your channel even acknowledges that liberals can be Christians, that is).

My Christian beliefs are supported by the Bible: helping the poor, caring for the sick, opposing an unjust war based on lies.

No one died and made Wolf the Pope. He needs to stick to "reading" the news and pretending to be a journalist.

Liberals who are Christians are sick of this kind of treatment. We are turning Wolf and CNN off.


<snip>
BLITZER: While they were united today in mourning the death of the pope, U.S. Catholics are a diverse group, as illustrated by two of our Crossfire co-hosts, the conservative Robert Novak, the liberal Paul Begala. Both good Catholics -- I don't know "good" Catholics, but both Catholics. I'm sure Bob is a good Catholic, I'm not so sure about Paul Begala.

BEGALA: Well, now, who are you to pass moral judgment on my religion, Mr. Blitzer? My goodness gracious.

BLITZER: All right, go ahead, go ahead.

BEGALA: On the day of my Holy Father's funeral. My eldest son is named John Paul, after the Pope.

BLITZER: So you are a good Catholic?

BEGALA: I'm serious, that annoys me. I don't think anybody should presume that a liberal is not a good Catholic.

<snip>

What I wrote:

Your "teasing" comments in which you quipped that you weren't sure whether Paul was a good Catholic were disgusting.

Mr. Blitzer, you may think that you have fooled liberal Christians by throwing out the "just kidding" routine, but we are not fooled.

Liberals can most certainly be Christians. If you actually read the teachings of Christ, you would see that liberals are following Christ: caring for the poor, caring for the elderly and the sick, helping our neighbor regardless of sex, race, color, creed, etc, and opposing an immoral, unjust war which was based on lies.

Mr. Blitzer, you have no right to question anyone's religious beliefs or how "good" of a Catholic they are. You are not the all-knowing judge. You're not even a journalist. You are simply another right-wing shill for Karl Rove and George Bush.

Thanks to you, liberal Christians all over the country are turning CNN off.

CNN isn't worth watching at any given time of the day.

Wofie is about as worthless as Brit Hume of FAUX news. Begala is an insipid asshole that hasn't said anything new in five years.

Mindlessness is running rampant here at DU on this thread.

it really doesnt have to do with all these people you talk. it has to do with how far the right has gone, and it is unacceptable. at what point are we going to say to our repug family friends co workers, you dont get to create me as a bad christian, or unamerican. that just isnt ok. it is about all of use saying, no. i wont be called the party of death, how dare you and who the hell do you think you are. repugs started defining our people and it stuck. gotta knock that off

You may not watch CNN or think others should, but they do. And when they get fed BS like a "teasing" remark that Begala isn't as "good" a Catholic as Novak because Begala is liberal and Novak is conservative, they need to be called on it, loudly. Again -- its not about you, its about everyone else who watches and has their opinions shaped by this kind of crap.

When was the last time Wolf "teased" Novak in a way that would put him in a bad light? Has Wolf "teased" Novak about being a traitor? Doubt it....

onenote

his likes or dislikes. Wolf Bilzer couldn't put a cockroach in bad light, cuz he's no better than Tom DeLay. So what's the biggy about this pissing contest? Where's the issue? I don't see it and I don't care what you watch or when you watch it or how you watch it!!

Christians who are liberals (or anything other than repubs) are getting a little bit sick and tired of having our religious values questioned. A few remarks here, a few remarks there and it starts to add up.

The right is trying to sell the American people the bill of goods that state that anyone who is a non-repub is either a non-Christian or a very bad Christian.

We need to call them on it EVERY SINGLE TIME.

We have to take our religion back from these folks. They have no right to judge what is in our hearts. None.

Whether it's CNN or Faux or the local newspaper, we need to speak up and speak out.

Sorry if you think that it's "mindlessness." We think a bit differently.

or even religious at all. I think it comes down to overall morality. What the right (and obviously Blitzer is one of them) apparently belive, is that Republicans, and ONLY Republicans can be good MORAL people. He is using religion as a screen.

Here is one Christian to ask...Wolf, when did morality become the property solely of the right, or, for that matter, solely of the religious?

I know many moral atheists. We are one of the few countires where the majority of people believe that you have to be religious to be moral.

is moral, and in part i think because he is atheist he is. he doesnt use atheism to say he can do whatever he wants without a thought to himself, family friends and society. i think that is how the religious preceive the atheist, they are atheist because they want to run hog wild. but..........the religious are under the impression you need strict and disciplinary rules to be able to be good. where as the atheist has confidence in self, and know he doesnt need law of god to be kind, loving, lite

EVERY SINGLE TIME. As a Christian and a liberal, I do it every single time. I am NOT evil simply because I am more in tune with the book of Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount than I am with Paul's take on things.

Based on my experience, I believe that I can now begin to imagine what a salmon swimming upstream feels like. :-)

I refuse to let Fox and Rove define me or my religious beliefs.

There's no question to the people who frequent DU and other alternative press outlets that CNN and other MSM (TV especially) is irrelevant if you really want to get an idea of the news of the day in context.

The issue isn't the quality of CNN for news dissemination. The issue is continuing to allow conservatives to frame the issues, especially to those who do watch CNN and their ilk for their news. Jesus is not the sole provenance of the Conservatives. In fact, I think that Jesus would be horrified by the way the Republican party has claimed ownership of him by only select messages and ignoring wholly most of Jesus's teachings. Let's be honest, Jesus was a radical liberal. He spoke of non-judgment of others, caring for the poor, the infirm, and befriending the lowliest of society. Sound like any Republican you know?

I am sick and tired of being told that because I dislike Bush with a white-hot passion that I must be anti-American; that because I believe in progressive causes I must be anti-Christian; that because I believe we have no business being in Iraq that I am pro-terrorist. Every time we allow someone in the media to frame the argument in such ridiculous, reductive terms, we are allowing them to pigeonhole and therefore, dismiss us.

This isn't mindlessness, this is the very essence of mindFULness.

issues that deserve more energy than this cat-house fight with two whores on a White House hot line.

What a straw-man argument.

However, if you hadn't noticed, there is a culture war afoot in this country, an attempt by those in power to slowly erode our civil liberties apparently to create a one party/one branch of government theocracy. The first and most heinous propaganda being used to do so is the Republican co-opting "moral values" as theirs.

Anyone who does not march in lockstep with them is dismissed as not Christian, as pro-terrorists, etc., etc.

Like it or not, most Americans do not want to think critically about the issues and still retain the naivety to think that TV news is journalism rather than punditry. To allow this kind of gross mis-characterization of someone's values on the basis of holding a different ideology is doing a disservice to all of us who try to live in the Word by doing good acts, as Jesus taught, rather than hating everyone who doesn't believe as you do.

As a side note, in the future, I'd appreciate it if you would refer to me as "ma'am" rather than "Sir." I haven't been knighted nor have I gone through gender reassignment. ;)

That is exactly my point! Thank you!! Now you can stop blowing hot air.

That's why most Americans watch CNN, FAUX, & MSNBC because they don't have to think, they let the Wolf Blizer's do their thinking. And folks that do think are labeled as Jays'us haters according to YOU, LOL!

John Negroponte, John Bolton and the 'nuclear option' is not near enough important as to what Wolfie regurgitates, 'eh? Poor Paul.

(Since you have to choose "positive" or "negative", I put this in since we all know that they just throw out supposedly negative feedback.)

I'm quite positive after Wolf Blitzer's personal attacks on Paul Begala that I will never watch CNN ever again.

:rofl:

"Your comments to Paul Begala regarding whether he is or is not a "good Catholic" were very inappropriate. Who do you think you are to be making such insinuations? Furthermore, if you are going to question the rectitude of your guests, why do you give a pass to Robert Novak, who is known to have exposed a covert CIA agent working to prevent the spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction (Valerie Plame) and also has a questionable record when it comes to accuracy, including cases in which he should have known better, or at least his journalistic diligence should have shown him so."

. . . the more convinced I am that this is the kind of thing that should drive Blitzer from the air. If Jimmy the Greek was destroyed by what he said, Blitzer should be by what he said here.

He's got two arse-holes to choose from now :D