Phil Gingrey walks out on Barack Obama’s prayer address
A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey confirmed this afternoon that the Marietta Republican walked out of President Barack Obama’s address at the annual National Prayer Breakfast, offended by what the congressman said was an injection of political rhetoric into an occasion of non-partisan reflection.
“He was glad that the president attended, but he felt that there were 364 days in a year to give a speech on your policies or campaign rhetoric,” said Gingrey spokeswoman Jen Talaber.
She said Gingrey enjoyed the remarks by the event’s keynote speaker, conservative author Eric Metaxes, who was in South Carolina last month campaigning with GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum.
Here are the opening paragraphs from the Associated Press account of Obama’s remarks:
WASHINGTON — Blending politics and religion, President Barack Obama said his Christian faith is a driving force behind his economic policies, from Wall Street reform to his calls for the wealthy to pay higher taxes.
Obama’s remarks Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast were his most explicit account of how his personal religious beliefs factor into his decision-making on the nation’s pressing problems. The comments came amid election-year criticism from Catholic groups and some Republicans that the president is waging a war on religion following his decision to require church-affiliated institutions to cover free birth control for employees.
Speaking to more than 3,000 people at the annual breakfast, Obama said “faith and values” should play as much as role in tackling the nation’s challenges as sound decision-making and smart policies.
Talaber, the spokeswoman for Gingrey, said the Georgia congressman – a devout Catholic — listened to “several minutes” of Obama’s remarks.
“[Gingrey] said he was disappointed, because he wanted to know what was in the president’s heart, and not just rhetoric,” the spokeswoman said. “So he said that he decided to quietly get up and leave because he felt that it wasn’t the time or the place, and that the president didn’t seem to be aware of the meaning of the breakfast or why so many people came to hear him speak. He was offended by the very tone of the speech.”
Talaber said she didn’t know whether any other members of Congress who followed Gingrey’s example. “He wasn’t trying to rally the troops,” she said.
The AP account backs up one of Gingrey’s points, reporting that the president’s defense of his policies was a “rare injection” of politics into the annual bipartisan event. Here’s the remainder of the piece:
[Obama] said, for example, that his own call for fairness in the tax code — a central tenet of his State of the Union address and his 2012 campaign — is both economically sound and consistent with the teachings of Jesus.
“If I’m willing to give something up as somebody who’s been extraordinarily blessed, and give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy, I actually think that’s going to make economic sense,” he said. “But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.’ It mirrors the Islamic belief that those who’ve been blessed have an obligation to use those blessings to help others, or the Jewish doctrine of moderation and consideration for others.”
He also said the Wall Street reform he championed both “makes the economy stronger for everyone” and abides by God’s command to “love thy neighbor as thyself” because it helped people who had been hurt or treated unfairly by financial institutions.
And Obama said he believed in a “biblical call” to care for the poor and to follow “the responsibility we’re given in Proverbs to ‘Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.’”
The president’s remarks came one day after Mitt Romney, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, created a flap with clumsy comments about the poor.
Romney said wasn’t concerned about the “very poor” because they have a safety net. He also said he wasn’t concerned about the very rich and intended to focus his campaign on the middle class.
“You can focus on the very poor; that’s not my focus,” Romney said.
While the White House said the president’s remarks were not meant to be political, his comments did fit neatly into the Obama campaign’s effort to draw sharp contrasts between the president and Romney.
The former Massachusetts governor is among Republicans who have criticized the president for not exempting religious organizations from a requirement in the 2010 health care law that requires insurers to cover birth control for their employees. Romney said this week that the president was ordering “religious organizations to violate their conscience.”
GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Obama has “declared war on the Catholic Church,” and House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday the mandate violates the Constitution.
Obama never mentioned the controversy in his remarks Thursday, nor did he reference his Republican rivals by name.
But his broader defense of his policies was a rare interjection of politics into the annual prayer breakfast. The breakfast is organized by bipartisan congressional lawmakers, but speakers often avoid overt political references beyond calling for civility and respect in Washington.
While Obama speaks often about his faith, he prefers to worship in private. He said Thursday that he starts each morning with a brief prayer, then spends time reading scripture. Sometimes, he said, pastors come to the Oval Officer to pray with him, for his family and for the country.
He also described his own religious transformation in deeply personal language Thursday, from growing up in a non-religious home to finding Christ later in his life. He recalled a visit a few years ago with the evangelist Rev. Billy Graham, which ended with the president feeling compelled to pray for the aging Graham.
Obama said when he found himself at that moment not knowing what to say, the Holy Spirit interceded.
“I have fallen on my knees with great regularity since that moment, asking God for guidance not just in my personal life and my Christian walk, but in the life of this nation and in the values that hold us together and keep us strong,” he said.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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710 comments Add your comment
Youknowitstrue
February 2nd, 2012
10:30 pm
@ You go Gingrey
Amen!
You go, Gingrey
February 2nd, 2012
10:32 pm
@ Youknowitstrue
Thanks!!
Republicrat
February 2nd, 2012
10:32 pm
InAtl
No, I’m 52. I read the liberals bicker about the conservatives, and the conservatives bicker about the liberals. I hear opinions tossed around as fact, and fact….well…not so much of it at all. Frankly, to differ on policy within the American system is to understand the nuances and to argue them eloquently. No, sir, what I hear on this blog and so many others like it is the sound of the playground.
I was mocking you. You are too stunted to even realize it.
Fishawk
February 2nd, 2012
10:32 pm
Gingrey and Broun need to go. Enough is enough. Wake up Georgians.
jj
February 2nd, 2012
10:33 pm
Grow up “congressman”.
You go, Gingrey
February 2nd, 2012
10:34 pm
No, Fishawk, Obama is the one who needs to go. You are the one who needs to wake up
InAtl
February 2nd, 2012
10:36 pm
I guess it was so “nuanced” that nobody but you knew how eloquent you really were. We must all be stunted.
td
February 2nd, 2012
10:36 pm
Fishawk
February 2nd, 2012
10:32 pm
Gingrey and Broun need to go. Enough is enough. Wake up Georgians
And replace them with whom? John Lewis or Hank Johnson. No thank you. We conservatives like our congressmen as much as you libs like yours.
Gingrey is a chump
February 2nd, 2012
10:37 pm
Seriously….Gingrey is a two-faced fraud….was he “Offended” given that he is allegedly a devout Catholic while all those Catholic Priests were touching little boys???? Never heard anything from him….grow up or go away you fraud
Republicrat
February 2nd, 2012
10:38 pm
Thanks for proving my point.
atlfunlver
February 2nd, 2012
10:39 pm
No more blue hair grandad politicians…speak clear english or stay on the farm…stay out of Washington
You go, Gingrey
February 2nd, 2012
10:40 pm
I wish one of you Obama-ade drinkers would tell us all ONE thing that Obama has done that has benefited this country in any way.
Obama Ade Drinker
February 2nd, 2012
10:42 pm
He replaced George W. Bush.
Yellow Dog Dem
February 2nd, 2012
10:42 pm
Yet another embarrassment for the state of Georgia. This two-bit rethuglican con artist showed what a piece of garbage he is. He, like all rethuglicans, can’t handle it when the truth is thrown in their hateful little faces. What a moron this jerk displays himself as.
Maybe someday Obama will be President?
February 2nd, 2012
10:42 pm
He’s such a nice man. And here he’s been running for President since the 2004 Democratic Nat’l Convention.
Maybe someday he’ll be the President and he can try to accomplish something.
The cute little bugger!
RUSerious?
February 2nd, 2012
10:43 pm
You go, Gingrey
February 2nd, 2012
10:28 pm
Republicrat, you can hate the man who beats Obama all you want, but I bet you’ll have more money OF YOUR OWN in your pocket when it happens.
Please specifically list how/why there will be more money in ones pocket if Obama is defeated?
Now you've done it
February 2nd, 2012
10:44 pm
All the republicans should walk out…they have very little (if anything) positive to add to any event.
You go, Obama
February 2nd, 2012
10:44 pm
The auto industry in Detroit would have folded had it not been for Obama….and before a crybaby republican cries about “bailing out the auto industry”…….reagan did the same for Chrysler in 1980
MEB
February 2nd, 2012
10:46 pm
For Representative Gingrey to say that he wanted to know what was on the President’s heart is very disingenuous. He doesn’t care about what’s on the President’s heart. Who does he think he is fooling? What is what is on the President’s heart is caring for the poor and middle class? Would Gingrey want to hear that? Probably not, because he would labeled it as being political.It may be inconceivable to Gingrey that caring for the poor and middle class might be what’s really on the President’s heart. Why doesn’t Gingrey reveal what is on his heart and let’s see if it is political.
Bye Bye Republithugs
February 2nd, 2012
10:47 pm
When you lose the presidency…Again….and the House….maybe you will stop focusing on hate/scare politics and start focusing on your constituents…those that you actually have left
RAMZAD
February 2nd, 2012
10:47 pm
Dr. Gingrey is no Obama fan, and it would not be out of character for him to walk out on an Obama address.
Gingrey is a center pin of Georgia’s Obama hate brigade, and why anyone would expect courtesy and human decorum from Gingrey while Obama is speaking is beyond me.
Of course, it is also a way for Gingrey to attract national media attention to himself. He is a third rate legislator from a bottom rated State, so duh!
The Guy Who Owns Toyota
February 2nd, 2012
10:47 pm
Obama bair out Detroit not good for me. Not good for Amelica!
td
February 2nd, 2012
10:48 pm
You go, Obama
February 2nd, 2012
10:44 pm
The auto industry in Detroit would have folded had it not been for Obama
Not true. The auto industry would have survived if they had just filed bankruptcy. All Obama did was to save the unions and gave them the corporations as a payoff for getting him elected.
Maybe someday Obama will be President?
February 2nd, 2012
10:49 pm
I hope if this nice Obama gets elected, he’ll close down Guantanamo Bay!
And no more bombing muslims all over the world. First its Afghanistan & Iraq. Then it’s Pakistan, Libya, Somalia & Yemen.
We need a nice man like Obama who won’t go all over the globe dropping bombs on muslims.
Mike
February 2nd, 2012
10:50 pm
Does anybody really care what Gingrey does? Has anybody ever listened to him speak? For an alleged Dr., he speaks as if he has a 9th grade education, is petty (much like Mr. Westmoreland from Newnan) and is an embarrassment to his district. The fact that I don’t agree with his politics is irrelevant. Were I a Republican, I would seriously consider challenging him in the primary.
Barbie Republican
February 2nd, 2012
10:52 pm
Gingrey needs to get over himself.
I’m tired of disrespectful politicians.
Buford Sowega
February 2nd, 2012
10:52 pm
What about the passage in Acts 4, where it talks about the early christians sharing what they had with those who had need. They didn’t consider anything their own. I guess after two thousand years, the stark realization that you truly own nothing has lost its beauty and has been subsumed by the church/state/power groups’ prosperity gospel. I don’t want to argue, I would just like some to consider it.
Jason
February 2nd, 2012
10:53 pm
Some please remind me…who is Phil Gingrey?? Has he done anything important? What district is that…Marietta,Georgia?? HE’S NOT IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO BE FRONT PAGE!!!
td
February 2nd, 2012
10:54 pm
Bye Bye Republithugs
February 2nd, 2012
10:47 pm
When you lose the presidency…Again….and the House….maybe you will stop focusing on hate/scare politics and start focusing on your constituents…those that you actually have left
You are dreaming if you think the Dems will take back control of the house. It is to early to tell about Obama but if you would have read the testimony of the director of the CBO today and the Gallop poll research then it is not looking to good right now.
Todd
February 2nd, 2012
10:54 pm
Obama is a socialist loudmouth with a walnut sized brain. Hats off to Gingrey for having the self respect to not sit and listen to Obama’s dimwitted rantings. I do the same thing everytime he is on the TV – I walk out of the room or turn it off. Gingrey has my vote for life.
Bye Bye Republithugs
February 2nd, 2012
10:54 pm
Gingrey went to the Medical College of Ga…..people who were to dumb to get into Emory/Vandy go there…..guess we know the level of intellect he is bringing to the table
You go, Gingrey
February 2nd, 2012
10:54 pm
RUSerious? I said more money OF YOUR OWN in your pocket. That means that the money in your pocket will be YOURS, because you were able to get out and get a job and EARN it, rather than it having been GIVEN to you out of the pocket of somebody else who actually WORKED to earn it. Can you seriously look at the unemployment in this country which has INCREASED under Obama and think that you (or somebody who is currently unemployed) will be able to provide for your own needs as long as he keeps stifling job opportunities in this country by taking money from those who are in positions to hire people and attempting to ship off government contracts to Brazil (fortunately that one failed) and other countries, and single-handedly vetoing the pipeline from Canada, which, it might surprise you to know, even ticked off Democrats and the unions.
Cherokee
February 2nd, 2012
10:55 pm
I used to think it took a certain level of ’smarts’ to be a medical doctor. Dr.s Gingrey, Price, and Broun have sure disabused me of that silly notion.
honested
February 2nd, 2012
10:55 pm
Now that the children under the Gold Dome have had our way, I will face having an intelligent gentleman as a Congressman (Hank Johnson) replaced by a petulant jackass (tom price).
What is it you republiclowns find so entrancing about being the biggest ahole in the room in a public situation where adults should know how to behave?
Bye Bye Republithugs
February 2nd, 2012
10:56 pm
I guess that Ronnie Reagan did not bail out Chrsyler and save those union jobs….to bad TD has no concept of two men doing something similar and he only disagrees when its the other party doing it
Dam Buford
February 2nd, 2012
10:56 pm
Humans are consumed by greed. Christians too. How ironic that some of those who hoist the Bible the highest are the least Christian of all of God’s flock.
Higher Power
February 2nd, 2012
10:57 pm
The devil will always get up and walk out when it is confronted with the power of Christ.
td
February 2nd, 2012
10:57 pm
Barbie Republican
February 2nd, 2012
10:52 pm
Gingrey needs to get over himself.
I’m tired of disrespectful politicians
And how many disrespectful Dems did you call out during the Bush years?
honested
February 2nd, 2012
10:57 pm
By the way, it is long past time for this stupid ‘prayer breakfast’ nonsense to disappear.
We send representatives to Washington to work, lead and compromise not to ‘believe’ that everything will be OK.
Bye Bye Republithugs
February 2nd, 2012
10:58 pm
Todd, go back to ringing up people at the local Quicktrip during the 3rd shift. Obama went to Columbia and Harvard…..two schools nobody in your racist family could have never gotten in to
My Name
February 2nd, 2012
10:59 pm
Obama is such a hypocrite. He says “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves” but he insists that slaughtering hundreds of thousands of innocent unborn children every year is perfectly fine. He just doesn’t understand that it’s not about the mother’s choice but about the rights of the unborn who “cannot speak for themselves.”
You go, Gingrey
February 2nd, 2012
10:59 pm
Buford Sowega everything that was said both by Jesus and His disciples said that we should VOLUNTARILY SHARE AND GIVE with the needy. NOWHERE in the entire Bible does anyone tell the governments to TAKE the money from those who have it and REDISTRIBUTE it to others. Do you know one reason, other than the obvious, why that is never taught? It is because God knew and knows that when one person or group of people TAKE from one group under the pretense of giving to another, the only ones who benefit are the ones doing the taking, i.e., the government. This country has been, rightly or wrongly, called a Christian country, but the government of this country has certainly never been called a Christian government. Don’t kid yourself, man, the only reason socialists want to redistribute the wealth is to fatten their own pockets.
InAtl
February 2nd, 2012
10:59 pm
“Gingrey went to the Medical College of Ga…..people who were to dumb to get into Emory/Vandy go there…..guess we know the level of intellect he is bringing to the table.”
That would be “too dumb,” not “to dumb.” Glad to know you’re monitoring everyone’s intellect though.
td
February 2nd, 2012
11:00 pm
Bye Bye Republithugs
February 2nd, 2012
10:56 pm
I guess that Ronnie Reagan did not bail out Chrysler and save those union jobs….to bad TD has no concept of two men doing something similar and he only disagrees when its the other party doing it
1: Did Reagan give the company to the unions for political payoff?
2: Did Chrysler pay back the US government with interest?
Hello Dimascraps
February 2nd, 2012
11:00 pm
@
Bye Bye Republithugs
February 2nd, 2012
10:54 pm
“people who were to dumb to…”
Ha ha, you are cute! You say Gingrey is dumb but you’re so stupid you don’t know the difference between “too” and “to”.
Look, we get it, people who have never had a job think Obama is awesome. it makes sense. He’s our first President that never had a job before becoming POTUS. Pretty remarkable accomplishment when you think about it.
honested
February 2nd, 2012
11:01 pm
You go,
I have equal disrespect for the bible as any other document codifying superstition…..
However, I do recall something about ‘rendering unto Caesar’.
Did you read that part?
You go, Gingrey
February 2nd, 2012
11:02 pm
honested, the National Prayer Breakfast is NOT a government function; it is a privately funded gathering. Nobody has to attend, and when someone is asked to speak, then, although many times what they say has political overturns, it should definitely never be a campaign speech, and that’s exactly what Obama was doing.
matthew hates georgia
February 2nd, 2012
11:03 pm
after 32 yrs in georgia the embarrasement continues to mount..so embarrased that i wont take calls from friends in places like very educated Seattle,boston,chicago,Rome,London,Portland,SAN FRANCISCO..because they always talk about the negative backwater state of georgia..AND ITS 1950,S attitude and racism..it always begin with HOW DID YOU FOLKS GET THE OLYMPICS WITH THOSE BACKWARDS ATTITUDE
You go, Gingrey
February 2nd, 2012
11:03 pm
honested, that simply means when “Caesar” taxes us, then we should pay. What about that do you not understand, and in what way does that possibly support redistributing the wealth, i.e. socialism?
InAtl
February 2nd, 2012
11:04 pm
Honested (what the heck does that mean anyway) says:
“Now that the children under the Gold Dome have had our way, I will face having an intelligent gentleman as a Congressman (Hank Johnson) replaced by a petulant jackass (tom price).”
Hank is so intelligent he thought Guam would flip over with too many people on it. Just brilliant.