GOP Teaparty Rep. Leads Crowd in Pledge “To Drive Liberals Crazy”; Botches It
November 5th, 2009, 6:17 PM EST
Representative Todd Akin of Missouri, pandering to a crowed of tea partiers on Capitol Hill, asserts how important it is that “God” has been in the Pledge of Allegiance since 1954. So intent was he to proclaim “God” as key to the Pledge, that he forgot what came next. And he failed to note that the original Pledge dates back to 1892, written by Francis Bellamy, a Christian socialist, expressing the ideas of his cousin, Edward Bellamy, to promote the concept of a socialist utopian world. Also ignored is that “under God” was added to the Pledge in reaction to McCarthyism, communist witch hunts, and the cold war.
Is that a toupe?
Obviously, the man is out of prctice when it comes to reciting the pledge….
November 5th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
The under god phrase was deliberately added to distinguish the United States from the Soviet Union which had a state abolition of organized religion. Funny bringing up McCarthyism and communist “witch hunts,” someone seems a little defensive about the socialist tag.
Yes, it is amazing a lot of people don’t understand the origins of the Pledge, anymore than liberals take potshots at how ignorant Norma Jean McCorvey really is although a few decades ago she was an icon. People use symbolism to uphold whatever their agenda happens to be.
jasperjava Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 12:19 am
Who the heck is this Norma Jean McCorvey who was an icon?
I know that Norma Jean Baker (née Mortensen) was Marilyn Monroe, most definitely an icon.
Oh, you mean Norma LEAH McCorvey, who was “Jane Roe” in Roe v. Wade.
Sheesh. You conservatives can never get anything right, can you?
Besides, Alan’s not being defensive about the Pledge being written by socialists. He just find it comical that right-wingers go around chest-thumping the Pledge, seemingly unaware that it expresses socialist values.
It’s no wonder he chokes on the word “indivisible”. The knuckle-draggers don’t believe in “liberty and justice for all”, either.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Cracked me up to see someone doing their best to divide the country stumble when he got to the word “indivisible” in the pledge…..
November 5th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Funny thing is, apparently, the Pledge of Allegiance was first used in public schools on October 12, 1892 after a proclamation by President Benjamin Harrison.
The Republicans got the vapors in 1988 because opposition research brought out that Dukakis had vetoed a 1977 state bill that would have required teachers to lead schoolchildren in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, when the bill was found to be unconstitutional;
1943 U.S. Supreme Court decision West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette held that requiring a student to recite the pledge under the threat of expulsion violated the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of speech and worship.
Can you imagine the drama and histrionics if it had been Obama who signed a proclamation that the Pledge be recited by school children?
Funny how a Democratic president telling kids to study or singing a song celebrating the first black president during Black History Month is “indoctrination”, while a Republican president having school children rectie a “Pledge of Allegiance” is patriotic, while a governor who vetoes a bill, forcing teachers to made students pledge, that is ruled unconstitutional by the courts is “unpatriotic”.
November 6th, 2009 at 8:07 am