Whoo boy! Martin Bashir is SPANKING Joe Barton! He's relentless!

[gateley]

Forcing him to say yes, he's cutting funding for Meals on Wheels rather than raising taxes a smidgen for the uber wealthy. Barton's squirming, but fighting back.

ETA: (Paraphrasing) How can you be a Christian when Jesus said to feed the poor?

Barton: The Lord helps those who help themselves.

Bashir: Which piece of scripture says that?

Barton: Well that's what my father always told me.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day which nailed it: God helps those who help others.

[libinnyandia]

1. I had to turn off the tv. He is so sickening, another preacher for the relgion of trickle down

economics.

[gateley]

3. He makes my skin crawl. But then Bashir started in on him about being Christian -

see my edit.

[butterfly77]

8. I should have changed the channel...

I was getting so angry my head started hurting.

I am getting so damn tired of these ignorant ass republiCONS who seem to think that their policies won't come back to bite them in the ass. I can't wait I am hoping.

[Politicalboi]

2. That POS

Had the nerve to deliver food to fool people who need it into voting for his shit ass. Oh no we can't ask the rich for that 1%. They might not be able to buy that extra yacht for Jimmie this summer.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

5. Bashir sure made him look like a POS - he wouldn't answer yes or no as to cutting meals on wheels

Another Republican coward for all the world to see.

[Politicalboi]

6. Yup

Martin and Rachel are the best.

[gateley]

11. I wasn't all that fond of him initially -- but lately he's wowed the socks off of me!

I've of course loved Rachel since Day One.

And now, I'm with you -- he and she are the best!

[PatSeg]

32. I adore Martin Bashir

When his show was still new, I saw him hand a republican his ass and the guy didn't initially realize what had happened. It was so skillful and classy at the same time.

Martin was a great addition to MSNBC and I go out of my way to watch him, as I do Rachel. This particular interview was excellent and he pulled it off without sounding mean or angry. When Laurence O'Donnell does the same thing, he often makes me uncomfortable because he comes across as angry and rude.

[spanone]

4. barton is a fool. republicans don't give a fuck about people.

[gratuitous]

7. What piece of scripture says that?

Whoa, where did Bashir come up with that insightful, total squelch, gotcha of a question? Is he, like, some super-duper question-asking guy? What would you even call it? Can any one of the gazillionaires on the major media outlets ask a question like that? Betcha it takes some special training, like submerging yourself and holding your breath for 20 minutes or sumpin'.

Good for Bashir for asking the question and exposing Barton as a lying sack of hate. Bad on the rest of the talking chuckleheads for failing to ask such bone-simple questions that put the lie to whatever their guests are trying to spout.

[gateley]

9. Yeah, I was impressed! Hopefully others will take note. nt

[hifiguy]

10. Benjamin Franklin said that, not Jesus.

And Franklin may have been saying it tongue in cheek, Ben being Ben.

What a moran Barton is.

[gateley]

13. I never knew that. And apparently neither did Barton. Good for Bashir! nt

[FiveGoodMen]

21. Yeah, I'm pretty sure there was a nod and a wink implied

As in, "Gee, isn't it funny how 'God' always seems to 'help' those who help themselves!"

[JitterbugPerfume]

12. I got in on the end of it

and it was brutal!

[Uncle Joe]

14. That piece of scripture is BPsalms 23$

"Yea, though I swim through the gulf in the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil"
"For I have apologized to the ultimate evil; the bringer of death"
"Let they whose livelihoods and health have been destroyed by that which is dead help them selves"
"For my palms have been greased and my conscience is clear"

Thanks for the thread, gateley.

[leftyohiolib]

15. God helps the helpless! Isaiah 25:4

Whatever the original source of this saying, the Bible teaches the opposite. God helps the helpless! Isaiah 25:4 declares, "For You have been a defense for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat..." Romans 5:6 tells us, "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."

[gateley]

16. But it doesn't say I should help the helpless -- God will help them. (Just thinking like

a Republican here.)

I don't understand why so many of these loudly self-professed Christians are so unloving. It's surreal.

[lunatica]

18. They call themselves Christians secretly hoping they can fool God

into thinking they are Christians.

It's real childlike magical thinking. God asks, "What are you doing?" and they answer just like children, "Nothing." And they're convinced God believes them.

[DearAbby]

19. Who said they were Christians?

They are MONEYTHEISTS.....

[mitchtv]

17. It was worth watching

Martin exposed him for the hypocrite and fool that he is

[Icicle]

20. Barton is a tool

He's the guy who apologised to the BP executives when they were testifying about the oil gusher in the Gulf. Apologised to them for everyone else in the world wanting them to put up a fund to pay for the damage they caused.
Tool.

[gateley]

22. I literally gasped -- I'd totally forgotten about that! What a weasel! nt

[eShirl]

31. THAT twit!

Rep. Joe Lickspittle

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

23. It's a 'phantom quote' from a non-existent book in the Bible

"God helps those who help themselves!"
Hezekiah 6:1

This verse, of course, is not in the Bible. Hezekiah sounds plausible enough, but is not a real book of scripture. "Yeah! That's from the book of Hezekiah, isn't it?" is the code-word for these kinds of phantom texts.

source

[JDPriestly]

24. Barton is quoting ancient pagan literature.

The phrase "God helps those who help themselves" is a popular motto that emphasizes the importance of self-initiative.

The phrase originated in ancient Greece, occurring in approximately equivalent form as the moral to one of Aesop's Fables, Hercules and the Waggoner, and later in the great tragedy authors of ancient Greek drama. Although it has been commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, the modern English wording appears earlier in Algernon Sidney's work.

The phrase is often mistaken for a Bible quote, but it appears nowhere in the Bible. Some Christians have criticized the expression as being contrary to the Bible's message of God's grace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helps_those_who_help_themselves

[progressoid]

33. Yup. n/t

[elleng]

25. Missed it, but friend told me about it.

LOVE Martin Bashir!

[marmar]

26. Fish in a barrel. Joe Barton is dumber than an empty box of rocks.

nt

[DCKit]

28. Besides Rachel or Ed, name one other MSM talking head that would have done the deed.

It's not about Joe Barton, it's about Martin Bashir.

If the GOP refuses to allow any of the Goopers to go on his future shows, all the better for us. There's been a shortage of Dems on all of the shows for over a decade now.

[SemperEadem]

27. did anyone ever tell barton that his father ain't jesus

and that bit of tripe isn't scripture?

so he basically bases everything upon something some human said, not what his god commanded he do. That isn't' being a christian.

The lord helps those who help themselves to what, exactly? The 1% to the wealth of the entire 99% combined?

good for Bashir for challenging barton all the way down to the mat.

[uponit7771]

29. AMEN!!!

[mazzarro]

30. Now I understand the rePIGlican support for the likes of the Koch brothers

By rePIGlican logic "The Lord helps those who help themselves" this means if you can financially rape the government, or the poor, or shareholders via cronyism etc. you are then helping yourself to wealth and it is the Lord that is sanctioning your actions. So if you are poor and cannot help yourself to other people's money, then it is your fault and you can live in your poverty!

[PA Democrat]

34. Bashir was great when he asked Barton if he is suggesting that the elderly

need to go get jobs.

[gateley]

35. He had a LOT of zingers! He was outstanding!! nt