Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Bobby Jindal exploits 'religious liberty' for public office


Don't be fooled by Bobby Jindal's false piety in the above ad. When Jesus was preaching the Sermon on the Mount and such, he wasn't doing it to gain power or get elected to any office. How sad it is that demagogues like LA Gov Bobby Jindal is exploiting Jesus' name. The ad may seem innocent, but let's not forget that "religious liberty" is a code word to anti-gay discrimination as much as "welfare queen" was a code word to black woman.

 McKay Coppins of Buzzfeed says the following:

Jindal has been out front in the religious freedom debate ever since December 2013, when Phil Robertson, the bearded family patriarch in A&E’s hit reality show Duck Dynasty, came under fire for the crude quotes he gave to GQ about homosexuality. After the cable network, facing boycott threats, announced it was suspending Robertson, Jindal rushed to his defense. Though often a punchline in secular political and media circles, Duck Dynasty — with its overt emphasis on Christian faith and family values — is hugely popular among religious conservatives in middle America. It also happens to be filmed in Jindal’s home state of Louisiana.

 . . .  Since becoming the face of the Robertsons’ conservative booster club, Jindal has set about expanding his religious freedom argument, speaking out forcefully in numerous public settings against legal compulsion for religious bakers and wedding photographers to participate in same-sex ceremonies, and condemning liberals who he says are trying to bully conservative people of faith like the Robertsons into submission or silence.

Jindal’s argument hasn’t always gotten through to the political class, where he is often viewed as a third-tier 2016 prospect prone to pandering. Last month, in a New York Times op-ed, he framed the debate over controversial religious freedom laws like the one in Indiana as a battle between conservatives and an unholy alliance of social progressives and big business. It was a uniquely populist pitch — aimed not just at social conservatives, but also blue-collar workers and middle-class Republicans who have little respect for the billionaires in their party’s business wing — but the point was largely lost to the news media, thanks in part to the Times’ headline: “Bobby Jindal: I’m Holding Firm Against Gay Marriage.”

I know a huckster when I see one and it's written all over Jindal's face.

Related posts:

Bobby Jindal's hypocritical spin on 'religious liberty' vs. anti-gay discrimination
  
Bobby Jindal wants to change the Constitution to suit his religion 

Bobby Jindal wants you to pray with THIS MAN

Bobby Jindal sidesteps controversy about rally by playing 'war on Christians' card 

The video Bobby Jindal probably doesn't want you to see before his prayer rally
 

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