Pages

June 12, 2011

#RickPerry: $90 religious hypocrite

Yep, $90 is all he gave to his church in 2007, during which he reported an income of more than $1 million. Of course, as the pull quote will show, that was a good year for his donations.

Of course, it's far short of a 10 percent tithe that used to be a distinguishing mark of the true conservative evangelical, but apparently, per the story, no longer is. (It's easier to practice the "success gospel," I guess, if the right minister will OK you being "tight" even with the divinity of your choice.)

Anyway, here's the opener about Rick the Cheapskate:
From 2000, when Perry became governor, through 2009, he earned a total of $2.68 million according to his tax records. Of that amount, he gave half a percent to churches and religious organizations, or $14,243.

By comparison, Americans averaged gifts of nearly 1.2 percent of their income to churches and religious groups from 2004 to 2008, according to Empty Tomb Inc., an Illinois-based research firm specializing in U.S. church-giving trends.

In 2007 — a year in which Perry reported an income of more than $1 million — he gave $90 to his church, according to the Perry family's tax return. Twice since becoming governor, in 2000 and 2009, he reported no contributions to churches or religious organizations.
Fucking bastard. The paper notes the average cash donation for people in his tax bracket is $6,529 a year.

PLEASE run for president so the whole nation can see your fucking hypocrisy. AND so that (below) they can also see your "Hillary Clinton problem."
His track record could be a problem said Michael Lindsay, incoming president of Gordon College and author of “Faith in the Halls of Power,” about the growth of evangelical politics.

“He's going to have a hard time with this,” Lindsay said. “While that may be acceptable for someone who does not aspire to leadership, evangelicals get very concerned when their leaders don't walk the talk.”
Bullshit.

First, "on the street" evangelicals don't make massive campaign contributions. Second, as long as a Perry utters the magic words on abortion and homophobia, many 'on the street" evangelicals are too insular, paranoid, etc. to care he's a fucking financial hypocrite.

Meanwhile, the Perry spin game is already ON, and full speed ahead:
In a prepared statement, deputy press secretary Catherine Frazier said: “Gov. Perry agrees tithing is important and what he has given to the church should not be discounted. Additionally, tithing is only one aspect of a person's faith, and the personal decision of each family.

“Gov. Perry has followed his words with action regarding his own faith, having taken many opportunities to stand up for people of faith and promote values important to the church, including signing legislation that protects religious expression, protects unborn life and promotes adoption.”
What did I just say? I typed my response to Lindsay even before reading on down in the article.

At the same time, Tricky Ricky knows this is a problem. The "straight shooter" refused an interview with the San Antonio Express-News; he refused everything but the press release above.

So, he is a chicken-shit hypocrite, too.

He's also a hypocrite about being hypocritical:
“He never talks about his faith,” Perry spokesman Mark Miner said.
Bullshit squared. He's talked and hinted about it relentlessly the past week. Even today, while Miner was lying about this, Perry was giving a religiously-driven anti-abortion talk in Southern California.

And, here's yet more hypocrisy: He claims that like Joseph in Egypt, or like the "Sabbath years" of Leviticus (it appears he's mangling two different things together), we need to sock away money for lean years.

However, he claims that if we don't we'll be slaves to the government.

Well, you asshat, Joseph was working for the government of Egypt. The Leviticus plan has Israel as state as well as church.

For Perry lovers, I say the same as I do to Obamiacs. He's Just.Another.Politician.™

Beyond that, Perry has a Hillary Clinton underwear donation problem, too!
A large chunk of Perry's charitable contributions compiled during his years in the governor's office has come in the form of noncash donations — mostly clothing drops — that he valued at $30,768. From 2000-2009, the family's tax returns show at least 21 trips to Goodwill and The Settlement Home for clothing drops.
Remember Hillary Clinton's donations of the Slickster's underwear (pre-Monica Lewinsky scandal ... could you imagine THAT?) at $5 a pop or whatever? Wonder what value the Trickster put on his Goodwill donations?

Oh, have some fun and crash the poll about Perry on the homepage of this newspaper.
Do you think Gov. Rick Perry should try a run for president of the United States?
Yes, he'd make a great president and could turn this country around.
No, he's more valuable guiding Texas the next three years.
No, Perry has been bad for the state and he'd be worse for the nation.
Need I say more?

1 comment:

Your comments are appreciated, as is at least a modicum of politeness.
Comments are moderated, so yours may not appear immediately.
Due to various forms of spamming, comments with professional websites, not your personal website or blog, may be rejected.