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Channel: Kirsten Powers – Caffeinated Thoughts

Kirsten Powers: The White House is a “Big Bunch of Crybabies”

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Kirsten Powers has to be one of my favorite Democrats.  For sure we’d have many, many disagreements on policy, but is fair-minded in her critique of Republicans and incredibly civil.  She was one of the few Democrat pundits who condemned the personal attacks on Governor Sarah Palin and her family.  She also calls the Obama administration on their whining about Fox News (and she voted for him).


I’m sure that she’ll be labeled a faux Democrat, a sell out, or, if you are President Jimmy Carter, a racist.


Megyn Kelly vs. Kirsten Powers

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Last week I posted on Megyn Kelly’s interview with head of the New Black Panthers Party, Malik Zulu Shabazz.  I just now got to watch the debate between Megyn Kelly and Kirsten Powers yesterday over the New Black Panthers Party case and the controversy surrounding the Obama Administration’s handling of it.

The fireworks begin at the 3:00 mark after watching video from a town hall meeting with Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA):


I don’t think I would call it the best 10 minutes of television (by a long shot), but I think we can consider this a KO by Kelly.  Powers really seemed out of her depth, which is sad because I’ve always found her pretty reasonable even when I disagree.  She was out there on this subject.

Lesson learned, never, ever go into an interview with Megyn Kelly, especially regarding legal issues, unprepared.  Ouch.

Kirsten Powers Wouldn’t Rule Out Sarah Palin Beating Barack Obama in 2012

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Democratic strategist Kirsten Powers being interviewed on Fox News said that she wouldn’t former Alaska Governor Palin beating President Barack Obama in 2012.  Watch below:

What I find interesting in that clip is the theme that she is constantly underestimated… from Vice President Joe Biden to Kirsten Powers.  Everybody keeps on saying she’s done or that is a disaster.  Let me tell you if beltway people are clucking about – say her show on TLC.  It’s probably playing well with mainstream America.  Because one thing that Beltway folks, even the ones in my own party, have demonstrated is that they don’t have a clue.  But I think that’s a positive.  Keep on underestimating her, please.

HT: Conservatives 4 Palin

In Light of the Embassy Attacks Don’t Blame Free Speech

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Transfer of Remains Ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base

Flag-draped caskets carried inside hangar for Presidential transfer of remains ceremony. (Press pool photo by Jamie Nelson/Fox News.)

With the embassy attacks happening across the Middle East there is no doubt that the State Department is on edge.  They lost four of their own this week when the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya was attacked.  Ambassador Chris Stevens, Glen Doherty, Sean Smith and Tyrone S. Woods are patriots and died in the service of their country.  We own their families a debt of gratitude.  There is a narrative that must stop however.  We can not allow the blaming of the embassy attacks on the trailer of the Innocence of Muslims to continue.

I’ve watched the trailer.  It’s pretty outrageous, and I can certainly understand why Muslims are offended.  However in the United States unlike most countries in the Middle East we have the protection of free speech.  It is, along with freedom of religion – something that is also denied by most Muslim countries, our first and fundamental right.  Because of this right of free speech as a Christian I am offended every day by numerous advertisements, videos, music, etc.  I could, if I allow myself, to be in constant outrage mode by how decadent our culture has become.  This video should not be allowed to be used as an excuse for the embassy attacks in general and the attack on the Benghazi consulate attack specifically.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her remarks today at Andrews Air Force Base during the transfer of remains ceremony for the four slain in Libya said:

This has been a difficult week for the State Department and for our country. We’ve seen the heavy assault on our post in Benghazi that took the lives of those brave men. We’ve seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful Internet video that we had nothing to do with.

It is hard for the American people to make sense of that because it is senseless and it is totally unacceptable. The people of Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia did not trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of a mob. Reasonable people and responsible leaders in these countries need to do everything they can to restore security and hold accountable those behind these violent acts.

I agree that the State Department had nothing to do with the internet video that was made.  They have done nothing to deserve these embassy attacks.  I agree that this violence is senseless and totally unacceptable.  However let’s stop blaming the video.  Let’s not cave to violent mobs.  We should be angry that the White House has even asked YouTube to review the trailer and has sent the FBI to find out the true identity of the filmaker.  Democratic strategist, Kirsten Powers, nailed it when she wrote:

In fact, what is “disgusting and reprehensible” is that there are people in the world who think they are justified in attacking and killing people because someone hurt their feelings or offended their sensibilities.  The US government should not act as a validator or enabler of this upside down worldview, which is exactly what the Obama administration has done repeatedly as they have responded to these abhorrent attacks against the United States.

I have defended the Obama administration against the complaints from the right that they have run an “apology tour” in the Middle East because I believe the US should admit when we make mistakes, such as the accidental burning of Korans. But what we shouldn’t do is affirm the wrongheaded view that people should be protected from the free speech of others.

Worse, our leaders shouldn’t let our enemies know that when they kill our people and attack our embassies that the US Government will act like a battered wife making excuses for her psychotic husband. Wake up: we weren’t attacked because of a movie made by an American.  We were attacked because there are crazy religious fanatics who hate the United States. We didn’t ask for it.

Egypt’s President Morsi reportedly asked Obama “to put an end to such behavior”—presumably freedom, constitutional rights and the like — as it led to the making of, in his eyes, the offensive movie.

Like I mentioned before I’m offended by what I see in culture every day.  Yet what you don’t see are Christians rioting, issuing fatwas, burning down buildings, and killing people over what offends us.  You don’t see that out of any religion except for the “religion of peace.”  Let’s stop blaming free speech and get to the root of the problem – the inherent violence within Islam and to call it out for what it is.

Hey Evangelicals: Support The Truth Phil Robertson Told

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philWhen I first saw the news about the suspension of Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson by the A&E network over his remarks about gays, I knew it would be a pretty controversial thing. As usual, however, I didn’t anticipate some of the twists and turns that the debate would take, even among those in the evangelical community.

Let’s start with Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who wrote a blog post largely sympathetic to Phil Robertson. Mohler laments the fact that Robertson would consent to an interview with GQ in the first place. “Entertainment and marketing machines run on publicity, and the Robertsons have used that publicity to offer winsome witness to their Christian faith,” Mohler wrote. “But GQ magazine? Seriously?”

Then there’s Christian author Carl Medearis, who, after suggesting that Robertson’s remarks on race were far more offensive than what he had said about homosexuality, was surprisingly blunt: “It’s the homosexual act that God is against (in both the old and new Testaments). There are only about 6 verses total that say this. Not very many. But there are no verses that support a homosexual lifestyle. There is no example in nature that supports it. It’s not natural. It’s sin.”

kirstenAnd then there’s the new darling of evangelicalism, columnist Kirsten Powers, who was obviously deeply offended by Robertson’s remarks, and stated flatly on Fox News that “the point here is that he’s (Robertson) a bigot.” She went on to say that Robertson has said some “very bigoted, hateful, things…in no way supported by being a Christian, or are found anywhere in the Bible.”

There was a lot of chatter on Facebook about all this, of course. In more than one post, I saw that comparisons were being made between the Robertson clan (or those who defend them) and the kookburgers from Westboro Baptist Church. I also saw the charge of racism made more than once. And I read one blogger who suggested that the Robertsons now “confess…that he expressed those thoughts coarsely —- unfiltered,” and went on to point out the necessity of choosing words carefully and speaking with love and compassion.

I also read folks that were annoyed that anyone would suggest that there might be constitutional implications to the flap, and I read one Facebook friend’s post that Robertson’s remarks had nothing to do with his faith. “Faith in what?”, this person asked. “That homosexuality leads to bestiality?”

All of these points of view were interesting to me, to say the least. I even found myself in substantial agreement with a number of the points that were made even by those that I thought were missing the larger picture. And now, having the advantage of a few days passing since Robertson’s remarks were made public, and just about everyone having already weighed in on the matter, I can offer a thought or two on both Robertson’s remarks and the subsequent reaction to them.

First, let’s consider the matter of racism relative to Robertson’s remarks. At the outset, I want to say that I don’t know Phil Robertson, and I have watched very little of his show on A&E (I don’t have cable TV). I can’t speak to whatever else Robertson may have said on the show or elsewhere that would indicate racism on his part. My comments will be specific to what was quoted in the GQ article. That article is, after all, what caused all the fuss in the first place. Here’s what was said:

“I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once. Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I’m with the blacks, because we’re white trash. We’re going across the field…. They’re singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, ‘I tell you what: These doggone white people’—not a word!… Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.”

If you want to suggest that Phil Robertson has his rose-colored glasses on as he recalls his Louisiana childhood, feel free. Perhaps you’d go so far as to think this is a bald-faced lie on his part. Either way, I think it’s a travesty that the above remarks are alleged to be racist in character. If there’s one thing I would have hoped we had learned over the last five years, it’s how easy it is play the race card and what a hurtful calumny it can be. You don’t need any real evidence that someone is a racist; you just need to make the accusation. You instantly have the accused back on their heals. Game over. It’s a cheap play, certainly effective, but the lowest of low blows.

And what of Kirsten Power’s indignant observations? It’s possible, of course, that she is commenting on statements that Robertson has made outside of the GQ interview, and so, again, I can’t speak to those if that’s the case. But if she is responding to Robertson’s remarks in GQ, is it really true that they are “in no way supported by being a Christian, or are found anywhere in the Bible”? The answer is a resounding no. She’s completely wrong. Again, here’s what Robertson actually said:

“Everything is blurred on what’s right and what’s wrong,” he says. “Sin becomes fine.”

When asked “What, in your mind, is sinful?”, he says this:

“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”

I am of a mind to cut Powers some slack here, as I would any young Christian, especially one whose entire life experience was within the bubble of liberalism and skepticism, and one whose understanding of Christianity is largely limited to the Tim Keller brand of evangelicalism. It’s one that works hard to be intellectual, non-confrontational, and generally non-offensive to the liberal culture all around them. But she’s still wrong. As Al Mohler observed, “Christians will recognize that Robertson was offering a rather accurate paraphrase (emphasis mine) of 1 Corinthians 6:9-10″.

If your concern is the reference to bestiality, it’s true that you have to go to the Old Testament to find this sin referenced, but it is there clearly enough (Exodus 22:19, Leviticus 18:23, Leviticus 20:15-16). If you think that Robertson was suggesting that homosexuality leads to bestiality and you dispute that, go ahead and make your case. But I don’t think that’s what he was saying. I’m more inclined to think he was summarizing the many sins that fall under the 7th commandment.

If you are irritated by the Robertson clan’s statement that Phil was “expressing his faith”, I would make two observations: First, “faith” is a word that can be used to denote a body of doctrine. A good example of that is Jude verse 3. Secondly, I don’t think that the gospel of redemption by faith in Christ can be adequately communicated without mention of the law and sin.

In short, I think this whole business was a very big deal, and I am bewildered, saddened really, that some in the evangelical community don’t see it. Worse, they have in some instances chosen to attack or discredit Phil Robertson as opposed to supporting the truth that he expressed, however crassly. I remain convinced that A&E took the action they did simply because of the biblical condemnation of homosexuality that Robertson conveyed in the GQ piece. Robertson could have read Romans 1 and I Cor. 6 word for word, said nothing more, and gotten the same reaction.

Maybe you don’t have much use for Robertson. Maybe you think he’s kind of like the town drunk, and you’d just as soon ignore him. But if he comes along and tells us our house is on fire, perhaps you shouldn’t throw him under the bus. Maybe you should help him carry some water.

Wedding Cakes, Wheaton College, and the Word of God

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Jan_Brewer_by_Gage_Skidmore

Gov. Jan Brewer
Photo credit:
Gage Skimore
(CC-By-SA 3.0)

It’s in the news almost constantly now, and I’ve grown weary of it: Gay marriage, gay divorce, gay adoption, gay politicians, gay athletes, gay entertainers, and legislation dealing with all things gay. I’d much rather be writing about something else, like Obamacare’s stranglehold on job creation for instance. Or maybe the truly stunning fact that Eric Holder still has a job. But for me, as an Evangelical Christian, the subject of homosexuality is perhaps the most important of our day, and so here I am writing about it again just like everyone else.

This morning’s headlines are filled with mention of the proposed Arizona law which seeks to grant liberty of conscience to businesses who want to deny service on religious grounds. Everyone is breathlessly waiting to see if Gov. Jan Brewer will veto the bill.

Then there’s the aforementioned Attorney General Eric Holder, who this morning told a gathering of state attorneys general that they don’t have to defend laws they consider discriminatory. If your state has legislation in place banning gay marriage, just ignore it. That is classic Holder, and there’s much more to say about that, but that’s a subject for another post.

kirsten

Kirsten Powers

With regard to the Arizona law, Judge Andrew Napolitano reminded me again why I am not a Libertarian, denouncing the bill as “profoundly unconstitutional” and apparently said it was about hate and not religion. The Judge’s remark amply demonstrates that even someone brilliant can occasionally be a buffoon.

And we can’t leave out Kirsten Powers, who was nearly apoplectic when Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson made his now infamous remarks in GQ magazine. Powers recently played theologian for USA Today: “Whether Christians have the legal right to discriminate should be a moot point because Christianity doesn’t prohibit serving a gay couple getting married. Jesus calls his followers to be servants to all. Nor does the Bible call service to another an affirmation,” she said. She finished her dissertation with this: “Maybe they should just ask themselves, “What would Jesus do?” I think he’d bake the cake.” There are plenty of articles that have been written critical of Power’s piece, so I won’t dwell on it except to say this: When a certain point has been reached, “service” most certainly does imply affirmation. I suspect she knows this. That’s why she stopped short of asking the obvious question: Would Jesus have officiated the ceremony?

wheaton

Wheaton College

I think the recent protest/demonstration of Rosaria Champagne Butterfield’s lecture at Wheaton College may have been a watershed moment for Evangelicalism. Wheaton, one of the best known Christian liberal arts schools in the country and a standard bearer of Evangelicalism, was the last place I would have thought such a protest/demonstration would have taken place. Butterfield’s story, detailed in her book The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, is a compelling one. She was formerly a lesbian and tenured professor of feminist studies at Syracuse University who converted to Christianity and is now an Evangelical pastor’s wife. One would think that the singular interest in this story at Wheaton would be its uniquely delightful manifestation of the transforming grace and mercy of Christ toward sinners, but, for some, it wasn’t. Anna Morris, Assistant News Editor of The Wheaton Record wrote this about Wheaton junior Justin Massey (who helped organize the demonstration):

Massey said that he feared that students would be isolated or marginalized by Butterfield’s story of transformation from “radical, lesbian, leftist professor to this morally good Christian,” which could make LGBTQ or feminist students feel that those two identities were “oppositional” or mutually exclusive.

I had read a blog post last December in which a youth pastor emphatically stated that our beliefs about homosexuality don’t matter. If the truth on that subject ever could be known (a notion he finds dubious), that time is past. Gay teens are committing suicide at an alarming rate, and that’s what we need to concern ourselves with. He sets up a false choice between what he calls being “theologically correct” and “morally responsible,” absurdly attempting to make his point by a reference to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He finishes his diatribe with this:

We no longer have the luxury to consider the original meaning of Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church. We are now faced with the reality that there are lives at stake. So whatever you believe about homosexuality, keep it to yourself. Instead, try telling a gay kid that you love him and you don’t want him to die. Try inviting her into your church and into your home and into your life. Anything other than that simply doesn’t matter.

This is why the Wheaton demonstration may mark a watershed for Evangelicalism. If we think we can dismiss the clear teaching of scripture and still call ourselves Christians, we are deluded and sadly mistaken no matter what allegedly noble motivation may guide us. And if such a delusion exists openly among even a handful of students at a place like Wheaton, we are in dire straits.

Truth does matter. The theology of the Bible does matter. The Gospel is at stake here. If the Bible can’t be trusted to tell us anything about human sexuality what makes us think it can tell us anything reliably about our creator, our existence, our condition, or our redemption in Jesus Christ?

Francis Schaeffer

Francis Schaeffer

Here’s the real problem with Evangelical Christianity today, and it’s really quite simple: It says in Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” We’re conforming to the world. It’s easier that way. No one will call you a hater or a homophobe. You can bake your cake and serve it too.

The late Dr. Francis Schaeffer wrote:

Here is the great evangelical disaster– the failure of the evangelical world to stand for truth as truth. There is only one word for this– namely accommodation: the evangelical church has accommodated to the world spirit of the age.

Schaeffer wrote that thirty years ago. One can only wonder what he’d write today. Three words come to my mind: Lord help us.

Video: CNN Panelists Say House Dems Effort to Investigate Trump a ‘Wall to Wall Failure’

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CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, a former federal prosecutor, during a panel discussion last night on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 admitted that the House Democrats’ effort to investigate President Donald Trump has been a “wall to wall failure.” CNN contributor and USA Today columnist Kirsten Powers, a liberal, agreed.

Watch:

Toobin: “You know what might be a good idea for the Democrats in the House of Representatives is to find out something. You know remember they won control of the House of Representatives and they were going to do investigations, name one thing that any of these investigations uncovered.

“Now we are almost at summer recess. I mean, I mean what are they doing? They have been stymied by the President, they have run into unprecedented interference from the President, but let’s not kid ourselves, this has been a wall to wall failure on all of these committees.”

Cooper: “Do you see this as a ‘wall to wall failure’?”

Powers: “Yeah, definitely, I mean I agree with everything you are saying.”

Yeah, I have to concur. The Mueller investigation and report as a political matter has been a big fat nothing burger. I don’t think Robert Mueller’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday changed anything. We certainly did not learn anything new. Those who already had their minds made up did not change their minds, and for the vast majority of Americans, we get a big collective yawn on the matter.

People likely won’t be going to the polls with the Mueller investigation on their minds. As Democratic Presidential candidate John Delaney noted during the last debate – in all of his campaign stops, primarily talking to Democratic voters mind you, he has not received a single question about Russia.

That’s telling.





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