THERE’S A COMMANDMENT ABOUT FALSE WITNESS, TOO…. Last week, Sharron Angle (R), the extremist Senate candidate in Nevada, suggested that taxpayer-financed social programs are a violation of the First Commandment. Since her campaign has now expounded on the subject, it’s only fair to note the clarification.
If you’re just joining us, Angle told a Christian radio talk-show that public programs are intended to “make government our God,” and as such, America’s social safety net is “a violation of the First Commandment.” She went on to say that America is “entrenched in idolatry,” adding, “I need warriors to stand beside me. You know, this is a war of ideology, a war of thoughts and of faith.”
In other words, Sharron Angle is a Senate candidate who considers her campaign a holy war.
With these remarks coming to the public’s attention, Angle’s campaign is now accusing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) campaign of injecting religion into the race.
Agen also criticized Reid for playing the God card in the Senate race. He said Angle’s point was that the Obama administration had become “all powerful” by passing legislation over the objections of a majority of Nevadans and Americans, including the health care law and divisive stimulus spending.
“It’s shamefully hypocritical of Senator Reid to attack Sharron for discussing her religion, since Reid has publicly boasted that his faith and his political beliefs are deeply intertwined,” [Angle campaign spokesperson Jarrod Agen] said. “The same man now attacking Sharron Angle is the same guy who not long ago said that he doesn’t think he can separate his religion from his politics. Once again, Harry Reid is running from his record.”
It’s good to know Sharron Angle’s campaign is about as mentally sound as Sharron Angle.
Look, her remarks were among the craziest I’ve ever heard from a Senate candidate. She wasn’t “discussing her religion”; she was arguing that basic public services violate the First Commandment and constitute “idolatry.” For crying out loud, Angle, in public and on the record, urged “warriors” to join her in a “war of faith.”
Talking to voters about how religion influences political beliefs is obviously fine. But that’s not even close to what Angle said. From her truly bizarre worldview, the nation’s elected leaders are actively involved in a plot “to make government our God.”
By any reasonable measure, this is tin-foil-hat/deranged-person-on-a-sidewalk kind of nonsense. Her campaign aides — whom I genuinely feel sorry for — can do their best to spin it, but there’s only so much a political professional can do with pure madness.
