Well, she seems to do well in front of cameras, but in front of law students?
Perhaps just when all she has to do is smile and repeat the lines she was taught earlier? She was caught out by why should be fairly basic knowledge even if the crowd aren't law students.
It would not be as noticeable if she were talking only to tea party activists, methinks. We would still be mocking her, but she would not have had the painful moment of misjudging her audience, which is the part that has me blushing on her behalf here.
Yes, separation of church and state is a settled matter; no, it is NOT in the Constitution. I assume by this point you've read the text at least once or twice and saw the non-establishment clause, and that's great; it means we can't have a state religion, and we can't tell people how to practice religion. It does not mean we can't have religion in government, per se; it means a religious basis is not, in itself, a legitimate legislative one. That's not to say laws against murder and rape are unacceptable because they also happen to appear in most religious texts, or even because the primary motivation of the men who passed that legislation was a moral and in most cases deeply religious one. The laws are good and valid in themselves, precisely due to their operation in a larger than religious sphere. How well they serve that role is the real test of the law, and the Constitutional test here is that it do so without promoting or favoring one or more religions over one or more others.
Part of the religious objection today is the impression the First Amendment is being used in various ways to actively marginalize religious thought, and when that includes the government it is itself a serious First Amendment violation. There's a feeling, to put it in British terms, that we'll soon have an "Anti-Test Act" whereby politicians will have to renounce all religious opinion or be declared unfit for office. "Jacobin" has always had a pejorative connotation in America, even with men like Jefferson and Madison; the closest thing we had to a Robespierre sympathizer like Fox was Thomas Paine, whom the French almost executed for his trouble (and supposedly had a deathbed conversion.)
Essentially, they're making fun of her for bringing up a valid argument they long ago won, but they're disingenuously pretending the point itself is invalid and ignorant when they know very well that it's not.
*MySmiley*
structured procrastinator
structured procrastinator
"Where in the Constitution is separation of church and state?"
20/10/2010 12:33:05 AM
- 875 Views
You don't want her?
20/10/2010 01:21:20 AM
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I have decided for the first time in my life to not vote this year.
20/10/2010 01:27:13 AM
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Now there's an answer
20/10/2010 01:47:28 AM
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And most of those posts are a guess at best.
20/10/2010 03:02:04 AM
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Local bonds/ballot initiatives? Want the only major road within 10 miles of your house tolled?
21/10/2010 01:50:41 PM
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Can you not spoil your ballot?
20/10/2010 10:19:54 AM
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I don't think so but an intentional no vote is just as valid as voting IMHO. *NM*
21/10/2010 02:45:35 AM
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When you don't vote the bad guys win. That simple.
20/10/2010 01:53:23 PM
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The bad guys? That implies that there are some "good" guys somewhere in politics.
20/10/2010 05:43:06 PM
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I didn't say that, just that the bad guys automatically win if you don't vote.
20/10/2010 05:49:43 PM
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Re: I have decided for the first time in my life to not vote this year.
20/10/2010 02:54:04 PM
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She is a buffoon of course. But what I am speechless about is...
20/10/2010 01:25:43 AM
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Re: She is a buffoon of course. But what I am speechless about is...
20/10/2010 01:35:48 AM
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i feel kinda bad for her
20/10/2010 03:31:03 AM
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What is odd about this is that everyone is used to the 'separation' idea that they don't bother to
20/10/2010 06:44:48 AM
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Or, you know, the letters on the topic written by the people who drafted the Constitution *NM*
20/10/2010 07:04:47 AM
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She's right.
20/10/2010 12:27:55 PM
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I'm less concerned about what she said than why she said it. *NM*
20/10/2010 01:32:38 PM
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It is on youtube
20/10/2010 02:40:12 PM
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Jesus Christ
20/10/2010 03:03:30 PM
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Re: Jesus Christ
20/10/2010 03:32:02 PM
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Re: Jesus Christ
20/10/2010 03:36:48 PM
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Re: Jesus Christ
20/10/2010 03:53:46 PM
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Re: Jesus Christ
20/10/2010 04:01:49 PM
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Because she knew her audience, she expected them to know better, not be deliberately obtuse.
21/10/2010 02:31:19 PM
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Re: Because she knew her audience, she expected them to know better, not be deliberately obtuse.
21/10/2010 02:40:23 PM
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If the subsequent rulings aren't Constitutional they don't matter.
21/10/2010 03:03:11 PM
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Re: If the subsequent rulings aren't Constitutional they don't matter.
21/10/2010 03:57:45 PM
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She focused on the First Amendments text, and ignored the rest as commentary.
21/10/2010 04:49:22 PM
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Ok.
21/10/2010 05:01:22 PM
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I certainly don't think she deserves the scorn being heaped on her this time.
21/10/2010 05:14:03 PM
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See Dreaded Anomaly's reply below.
21/10/2010 03:03:02 PM
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Done.
21/10/2010 04:50:52 PM
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The last statement is the only relevant one, and still a bit ambiguous.
20/10/2010 03:51:35 PM
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I think it is clear that that argument is beyond her capabilities. It was not what she was saying. *NM*
21/10/2010 02:50:33 AM
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Separation of church and state is not in the Constitution, so she's right.
21/10/2010 03:41:27 PM
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I see we have replaced the PDS with ODS
20/10/2010 03:05:58 PM
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It only depends on just how finely one wants to split hairs.
20/10/2010 04:02:28 PM
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no it depends how far you want to stretch the Constitution to say things it doesn't say
20/10/2010 04:19:04 PM
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Treaty of Tripoli through the Establishment clause fairly explicitly affirms this. Sorry. *NM*
21/10/2010 03:56:09 AM
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OK which clause allows for amending the Constitution by treaty? I can't seem to find it *NM*
21/10/2010 02:59:01 PM
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Supremacy clause, not establishment clause. My mistake.
21/10/2010 05:07:18 PM
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Sorry, but the Treaty of Tripolis relevant section still seems like commentary.
21/10/2010 05:18:00 PM
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This is quickly becoming infuriating.
22/10/2010 01:41:18 AM
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No, it's part of the treaty.
22/10/2010 02:02:42 AM
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Take it up with the Supremacy Clause.
*NM*
22/10/2010 02:12:11 AM
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So from 1797 we've been at "perpetual peace" with Libya?
22/10/2010 02:25:44 AM
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Fair enough as regards the treaty being broken.
22/10/2010 02:38:37 AM
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Seems to apply to the Tenth Amendment only, not the Constitution as a whole.
22/10/2010 02:56:27 AM
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When a treaty is ratified by the senate, its provisions become federal law via a few processes.
22/10/2010 03:02:24 AM
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Even if we take that at face value, a law can still be unconstitutional.
22/10/2010 03:19:07 AM
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it was a poor decision anyway since Amendments should be seen to modify the original
22/10/2010 02:11:22 PM
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no your mistake was misreading the clause
21/10/2010 05:48:52 PM
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Very difficult not to lose my temper here.
22/10/2010 01:39:21 AM
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Then you should argue it violate a treaty with a country that no longer exist
22/10/2010 02:03:32 PM
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She's so... bewildered!
20/10/2010 06:40:04 PM
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that is what I think when I read a lot of the responses here
20/10/2010 07:44:40 PM
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She was still confused when he clarified what he meant, is what's funny *NM*
20/10/2010 08:56:56 PM
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Because the logical conclusion is obvious.
21/10/2010 03:08:39 AM
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I think it is logical that it means what is say not want some want it to say
21/10/2010 03:02:08 PM
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Nonsense. The nature of the nation was already changing in the first generation.
22/10/2010 12:35:26 AM
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I think it funny that so many people can't see that what she was actually saying was true
20/10/2010 09:23:23 PM
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I think it is funny that you think that she could argue that angle when she clearly can't. *NM*
21/10/2010 03:10:43 AM
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For those who think O'Donnell is correct, even on a technicality:
20/10/2010 10:49:40 PM
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She reiterates her question about "separation of church and state" and he repeatedly dodges.
21/10/2010 03:19:56 PM
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or she wasn't really paying attnetion to him and was still trying to argue her first point
21/10/2010 03:24:06 PM
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Heh...reminds me of Obama claiming to have visited all fifty seven states.
22/10/2010 12:44:58 AM
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My favorite bit is how people are attacking the judicary because they disagree with rulings.
21/10/2010 05:12:01 PM
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so you believe we all should just accept what the courts say without question?
21/10/2010 05:54:42 PM
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Given that it's you, Joel and Christine O'Donnell versus two centuries of jurisprudence? YES. *NM*
22/10/2010 01:49:01 AM
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Y'know, an alliance as unlikely as that one ought to give you cause for a second look.
22/10/2010 03:03:05 AM
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yes we are the only ones who don't think the courts can rewrtie the Constitution at will *NM*
22/10/2010 02:04:44 PM
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yes we are the only ones who don't think the courts can rewrtie the Constitution at will *NM*
22/10/2010 02:04:44 PM
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Come, my brethren! All Hallows Eve approachs, and we have much to do!
22/10/2010 05:34:01 PM
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