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GOP State Senator David Hann Scolds, Insults Catholic Archbishop

by: TwoPuttTommy

Thu Jun 16, 2011 at 10:15:52 AM CDT

This one surprises me; David Hann is NOT known for throwing bombs/calling names. He is known for being a conservative extremist, and highly fundamentalist when it comes to religion - which is not a surprise; Hann served in the Chaplain Corp in the Army back in the day's of 'Nam.

And apparently, his theological pedigree trumps the local Catholic Archbishop's:

Now, let's take a look at an opinion on Hann's opinion in the National Catholic Reporter:

TwoPuttTommy :: GOP State Senator David Hann Scolds, Insults Catholic Archbishop

A "socialist" Archbishop?
by Michael Sean Winters
In Minnesota, like many states, the Catholic Church has asked state governments not to balance their budgets on the backs of the poor. The scriptural source for this stance is, well the whole message of the Gospels speaks of compassion for the poor, but most specifically, the 25th Chapter of teh Gospel of St. Matthew: Whatever you do for these the least of your brethren, you do for me."
But, David Hann, a Republican State Senator who is the assistant majority leader of the Minnesota State Senate has discerned a socialist agenda at work in the Church's position. In a letter to Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul, Hann accused the archbishop of endorsing a "socialist fiction."
I am guessing that Archbishop Nienstedt does not, in fact, have a well-thumbed copy of Das Kapital on his bookshelves.
Just when you think you've seen crazy, you discover something even crazier.

I don't know how "crazy" calling a Catholic Archbishop a "socialist" is, but I do know that it's typical for an elected Republican to call people that disagree with them socialists and communists and worse.

For instance, GOP CD-04 Deputy Chair Nathan Hansen called Army LTC Joe Repya a commie - and was rewarded by GOP Party Leadership.

No surprise there; GOP Party Chair Tony Sutton called 13 distinguished and long-time republicans "quislings" - and said there's "a special place in hell" for them.

And just last Thursday, GOP State Senator Hackbarth compared unions with communists, Hitler and Castro.

There's more - plenty of it - and here's the point: there's a pattern here, and GOP Senate Assistant Majority Leader Hann is playing along. "Disagree with us - party leaders - and you're obviously liberal/leftist/socialist/pinko/commie/(fill in the blank)."

Hey, that's what the local GOP leadership did last election, to Eden Prairie Nancy Lukens - label her as a "big spending liberal" when nothing could be farther from the truth.

Just to be clear, Senator Hann isn't big on government spending on social issues; just this spring, he introduced legislation to slash spending for Meals On Wheels. Senator Hann only withdrew that legislation because he HAD to; NOT because he wanted to.

So I'm going to go out on a limb here, and suggest that if - IF - Senator Hann apologizes to the Archbishop, that to will be because he HAS to; NOT because he wants to.

Because Senator Hann's record clearly indicates his theology trumps everyone else's. Even the Archbishop's.

Tags: income taxes, Kochzellerstan, meals on wheels, Eden Prairie, Assistant Majority Leader, SD-42, Socialsim, socialist, theology, Archbishop Nienstedt, Catholic, religion, David Hann, GOP, legislature, (All Tags)

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GOP State Senator David Hann Scolds, Insults Catholic Archbishop | 2 comments

Are screws coming loose... (0.00 / 0)

...from the tightly wrapped Senator Hann? This is the second off-the-wall incident in just a few weeks.

In May, the Senator hurriedly left ongoing legislation in St Paul to talk with Congressional staff in DC. The subject was a Medicaid waiver with little chance of being granted but, while in DC, Hann ignored Administration officials who were his only chance of achieving that waiver.

Now he's written a blistering letter to the local Archbishop, hectoring him with Hann's claims of superior interpretation of Catholic doctrine.

These odd incidents prompt the question of whether Senator Hann is beginning to lose his usual white-knuckle grip. Is there something deeper going on here?

by: username @ Thu Jun 16, 2011 at 16:43:26 PM UTC

Evil (0.00 / 0)

I love the part where he says that poverty is a moral problem and not a financial problem. So people lose their jobs which results in losing their homes because they are not as moral as those who are wealthy.

Now this fits in with the prosperity gospel/republican philosophy that wealth is god's gift to the faithful and poverty is god's way of punishing those who are less holy.

If the poor would just love Jesus more then we wouldn't need all of these social programs and even more importantly: the poor don't deserve programs because they don't believe in Jesus as much as the wealthy. Therefore it's in the poor best interest to deny them basic services so they will come to realize that it's their lack of faith that is causing their problems.

Jerry Falwell use to tell members of his congregation who came to him for marriage and financial advice that the solution to their problems was to give more to the church. The evil of this is hard to understate because it relegates the poor to sub human levels and therefore to help them is to keep them from spiritual fulfillment.

by: taxpayingliberal @ Thu Jun 16, 2011 at 16:50:41 PM UTC