[MD] Tea Bagging

[Steven Peterson]

Hi Platt,

On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 4:00 PM, Platt Holden <plattholden at gmail.com> wrote:
> Here is the text of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
>
> "Congress shall make no law respecting and establishment of religion, or
> prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
> or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
> petition the Government for redress of grievances."
>
> Note that "separation of church and state" is not in the First Amendment.
> O'Donnell was correct. Further, when she asked her opponent for the senate
> to name the other rights listed in the First Amendment, he could not. By
> DMB's criterion, that should disqualify him as a senator.


"The government shall make no establishment of religion," Coons said,
summarizing the gist of the specific words in the First Amendment's
establishment clause.

"That's in the First Amendment?" O'Donnell asked again, eliciting
further laughter from the room.

While there is room for legitimate debate on the meaning of the
establishment clause, it is clear that O'Donnell doesn't understand
the issue. She clearly thought that the audience was laughing with her
as though she had just scored a big hit with a clever question. She
was clearly under the false impression that the Constitution does not
institute a separation of church and state as any fifth grader ought
to know.


>
> The fact that O'Donnell's correct statement elicited mocking laughter from
> the audience of law students illustrates their group ignorance. Not
> surprising since the academy these days is under the direction of the
> political left whose bigoted views of religion are amply revealed in DMB's
> post.



If O'Donnell had pointed out the specific "wall of separation" phrase
is not part of the Constitution, she would have been correct.  It
seemed like she picked up on some part of the issue but misunderstood
completely. You really have to watch the video to get the picture of
her ignorance. It is no wonder why the Republicans didn't want her and
are embarrassed by her candidacy.