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
carol
February 3rd, 2012
5:08 am
IGNORANT AND DISRESPECTFUL.
Frederick Douglass
February 3rd, 2012
5:14 am
Joe The Plumber Too.
Feb.3rd, 2012 2:33 am
“urkle obama and his ol lady mee-shell are about to get served eviction papers”
Sounds like so much false bravado to me. If you’re so confident of your statements, then sit back and let nature take its course. You have ONE VOTE, be sure to use it. I will add this though, Romney’s a dog of a candidate, and it’s going to be hard to sell that high born gaffe making flip flopper to a general public that doesn’t feel as if he understands their plight.
superiorblogman
February 3rd, 2012
5:18 am
Typical Georgia backwood white clowns. Newt Gingrich running around so ignorant not to know that more white people get food stamps than blacks. Typical republicans I should say,but most look and act like typical Georgia ignorant white backwood americans. Just ignorant beings.
Joe The Plumber Too.
February 3rd, 2012
5:26 am
stupidblogman, Gingrich never said Blacks get more food stamps than Whites. Idiot. He just said urkle the food stamp President has more people on food stamps than any previous President. Even a fool such as yourself can learn to be honest. barry boy is a failure and he is done.
superiorblogman
February 3rd, 2012
5:36 am
Joe The Plumber Too.
You retarded snuff dipping, wet dog smelling beings can go back to your caves where Bush gets 2 terms because he sold you special ed students on how you were in the middle of a war on terror and he was the only man that could handle it. Meanwhile, Bin Laden the accused one roamed as free as can be. You know why? Because he never wanted to get him. He wanted to get your ignorant vote. After Bush’s stunt’s there are fewer ignorant voters this time. They fully understand to not expect miracles. Just face it, it will be a while before a Republican ever sees the white house again. All these little temper tantrums that they are showing will be remembered for generations to come. I say there will be another Republican in 2020 at the earliest.
Enough2012
February 3rd, 2012
5:48 am
Georgia! Stop it! You have in the past been considered the Gateway to the South. You public officials are now leading you to the Gateway of Comic Insanity. Let’s see, this week alone: Newt, Gingrey, Karen Handel, Barbour. Oh scratch Barbour, that’s Mississippi.
Gingrey could have just put his angry thoughts in a safe place and reported his displeasure to the AJC reporter. Enough drama queens and kings from Georgia.
babs
February 3rd, 2012
5:52 am
Rep. Gingrey’s presence surely was not missed.
Siouxsie
February 3rd, 2012
5:53 am
If Rep. Gingrey disagrees with President Obama on this point, he is NOT a “devout Catholic”.
JPfromtheA
February 3rd, 2012
5:54 am
Where do we find these hicks to represent us in GA?
American
February 3rd, 2012
6:18 am
I totally agree with you Debbie! It is time we get some of these embarrassing politicians OUT OF OFFICE!!!! I’d really appreciate RECALLING them from office NOW. You can disagree with RESPECT! I don’t think they understand RESPECT until it’s done to them. Hey now there’s a thought…Peace
Justin
February 3rd, 2012
6:24 am
Let call a spade a spade , this congressman is a racist perio!. One can have a legitimate polical disagreement without resorting to hatred and bigotry
GodHatesTrash, p.b.u.h.
February 3rd, 2012
6:24 am
He’s a peach, that Gingrey!
dcstan
February 3rd, 2012
6:30 am
you played right into this Snot-rag hand, never heard of this chump, now he got the publicy that he craves. It will be the only accomplishment of this sad pathetic creep. What a hypocrits you Gop people are, you invoke your so call Christianity in everything you do while do a great job of hating, you people make me sick
American
February 3rd, 2012
6:50 am
Reprehensible Gingrey is a little man with a big job and his conduct reflects this fact. His conduct shows his contempt for the President of the United States. I am insulted by his bad behavior but recognize that this is how Republicans in general have behaved for the past four years….like petulant children.
luckjoe
February 3rd, 2012
6:54 am
It is time for America to walk out on Obama.
me
February 3rd, 2012
6:54 am
Good for President Obama. He does not need this jerk’s attendance any way. I agree with Shine…to hell with these nut cases who want a spotlight, any spotlight. Glad his nutty ass walked. Maybe more of those nuts will find their places underneath a rock and stay there. Real News, you never had any respect for President Obama. You are an idiot. Joe Mama, you get the prize this time. Obama in 2012!
Joe The Plumber Too.
February 3rd, 2012
6:57 am
urkle obama, idiot without a cause……four and out. Then he can go back to his little leather gay bars in chi-town. What a disaster he has been. stupidblogman must have a closet crush on getalife.
Bill Orvis White
February 3rd, 2012
6:59 am
I just watched that clip, Jimbo and threw some sausage links at the computer. What? This “man” is so arrogant and incompetent! What?! I personally think this installed-”leader” has a drug problem. Saying that Jesus would tax the daylights out of those who earned their keep? What?! Can we not have speedy impeachment and removal proceedings right this very second?
Amen,
Bill
Dawged
February 3rd, 2012
7:02 am
Phil Gingrey is a great American and a Hero of Freedom loving Americans everywhere.The whole country needs to walk out on this imposter.If we have to contend with four more years of this imcompetent Socialist/Proggresive the USA will self implode.Obama is a deadly cancer that needs to be removed and sent back to Chicago,Kenya or Indonesia.Anywhere but Washington.
Weetamoe
February 3rd, 2012
7:03 am
Obama said *so me and Jesus decided you should pay higher taxes….*
Who Cares?
February 3rd, 2012
7:04 am
Man, after reading these posts, I guess the Al Jazeera Constipation is a magnet for the bed wetting liberals after all! Obama must have found his bible under his birth certificate. “Christian” with socialists policies,…first one I’ve seen. I hear what he says, and see what he does. And,….actions speak louder than words. Lenin and Marx would be proud of ‘ole Oh-Bummer.
Edward Ruffin
February 3rd, 2012
7:06 am
I attended the National Prayer Breakfast in 2004. Speakers included Pres. Bush, Joe Gibbs, Cong. John Lewis and several others. The only one who made political comments were John Lewis, Atlanta’s own dumb as a rock Cong. Now, let me add, personally John Lewis is very nice and friendly, but he ain’t got it upstairs. Might have lost it at the bridge in Selma. Oh, by the way, I was there, too, on the March, 1965 day.
Anne
February 3rd, 2012
7:07 am
People need to realize that you don’t demand respect you earn it and Obama has not earned one bit of repect. He is trying to bring this country to it’s knees, they he will be able to control you it’s all about CONTROL.
zoe
February 3rd, 2012
7:07 am
I live in Gingrey’s district and this is his typical behavior. It’s all about him or his doctor and insurance buddies.
Traffic Headache
February 3rd, 2012
7:07 am
To paraphrase Will Rogers, when Congress spews out rhetoric, they want to make it a law.
Lee
February 3rd, 2012
7:07 am
I guess now it is ok for a President to inject his faith, but when George W. did it, somehow it was not ok? Also, taking scripture out of context is dangerous.
gtfanfrom1951
February 3rd, 2012
7:11 am
jackass = Obama
ND
No I will not stop declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Feed up with liberals telling its all right to be everything but Christian.
Sunshine
February 3rd, 2012
7:13 am
Just another example of the lack of respect & CLASS shown by Rupublicans
ozzfest
February 3rd, 2012
7:14 am
CONGRATULATIONS ALL POLITICOS,
YOU HAVE RUINED THE UNITED STATES AND WE ARE DOOMED TO EAT OURSELVES.
HOW IN THE WORLD DID EITHER PARTY END UP BREEDING THESE KIND OF IDIOTS?
IDIOTS WHO WALK OUT ON AN ELECTED OFFICIAL. IF I HAD BEEN A FELLOW REPUBLICAN, I WOULD HAVE SNATCHED HIM BY THE ARM AND TOLD PHIL TO “SIT YOUR ASS BACKDOWN”.
WE ARE ALL SCREWED…..ALL OF US…..PHIL GINGREY INCLUDED.
T. B.
February 3rd, 2012
7:16 am
Gingrey has proven once again that he is just simply a fool.
tiger
February 3rd, 2012
7:17 am
GINGREY WAS DISRESPECTFUL TO THE PRESIDENT & TO THE STATE OF GEORGIA. I PRAY THAT PEOPLE EYES ARE OPEN NOW TO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. HE IS SUPPOSE TO BE A DEVOTED CATHOLIC. THE GOD I SERVE IS “GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION”….I CORINTHIANS 14:33. IS GINGREY PRAYING FOR PEACE IN OUR COUNTRY OR IS HE AN AUTHOR OF CONFUSION????
gtfanfrom1951
February 3rd, 2012
7:19 am
If disagree with liberals they start calling you names….
Allie F.
February 3rd, 2012
7:20 am
For a man that has only been to church three or four times in over three years, Obama’s claims are laughable….the man is hardly a Christian. I agree with Gingrey in this instance….just more BS and political posturing by our faux president. The man hasn’t uttered a word of truth in his life.
Wundrin'
February 3rd, 2012
7:20 am
Why would anyone vote for Gingrey anyway? I’m sorry. Was that disrespectful? Like walking out on the President of the United States?
Amazing how Republicans use religion for their own purposes but ignore basic tenets (like “thou shall not commit adultery” ) when it’s politically convenient.
Give me a break
February 3rd, 2012
7:21 am
Liberals are beyond hypocritical. Where is your outrage here?????…
High School teacher Al Levie refused to accept an MLK award from Rep. Paul Ryan because, well, Paul Ryan is a conservative no matter how Levie tries to frame it. Levie stated that “Paul Ryan has no business being at an MLK event.”
jayone
February 3rd, 2012
7:22 am
Again another GA. Politician using his position to make the news against the President. Just like the one that shouts you lie during the President speech. There should some respect and decors even if you disagree with his politics you don’t get up and leave like that. Gingery is an idiot to boot that’s wants to draw attention to himself and his own cause.
Confusted...
February 3rd, 2012
7:22 am
Wow….
I don’t get it….
Repubs want less goverment regulations but wants to use the goverment to tell you.
1. You can’t have an abortion.
2. You can’t marry who you want.
3. You must speak English.
Dems want to tax the *&(^ out of everyone…
When are our elected officials going to learn how to get along and stop acting like little kids…..
We are all in this together…………WAKE UP “A DIVIDED HOUSE WILL NOT STAND.”
sogooden
February 3rd, 2012
7:23 am
Republicans have based their entire cause around hatred and predjudice. They hate the fact that our president is black. Pure and simple. Anything he says or does, they are against it. They would rather hurt the majority of Americans just to have their way. They want control of “their” country back and to hell with the rest of us. There is nothing more to their rhetoric. Their God, their country, and their money, all of the backs of every one other then them.
grow up
February 3rd, 2012
7:24 am
GOP grow up and stop acting like a bunch of spoiled brats! We all have to and had to endure not liking what we hear. Walk out on yourself because I’m sure your not saying everything someone like!!!
Ol' Timer
February 3rd, 2012
7:24 am
Gingrey’s classless act was politically motivated and will earn him a few votes back home. I don’t find it objectionable for the POTUS to explain the religious justification for some of the decision he’s made. And, I’d be interested to hear the religious justification for some of the decisions the GOTP has made.
My objection is why they’re having a Prayer Meeting in the first place. If they want to pray, let ‘em pray — if they want to worship, let ‘em worship. I just don’t agree with the organized National Prayer Breakfast concept where religion and politics merge and an idiot politician get’s his feelings hurt.
jayone
February 3rd, 2012
7:25 am
Allie F.
Again your one of the ones that likes to show your about as dumb as an jack a……… to state that the man has no utter the true in his whole life. I guess you been around him since the man was born to base your views on that fact that your voicing.
Demetrius
February 3rd, 2012
7:28 am
Politicians act like children. When someone says something that disagree with (nothing offensive or combative is even necessary), they storm out. Then attempt to call their temper tantrum a “campaign act”. Also, the President mention his faith and values, EVERY president makes decisions based on their faith and values. The constitution was written based on faith and values. For those republicans that claim religion should have nothing to do with politics, you do remember that you are the same ones making false claims about the President being Muslim and therefore America shouldn’t vote for him. The problem of these disrespectful politicians towards our President is quite obvious.
ray strenger
February 3rd, 2012
7:29 am
Good Comment–”"Another white conservative hypocrite, he rather listen to 3 times adultery, 30 page ethic violiations Newt , just when you think the klan and prior southeners filed with stupidity were worse here comes the new southnern rep conservatives””
Honest Ingine
February 3rd, 2012
7:29 am
Democrat, when you are in school, Republician when your working, Democrat when you retire. It’s the way of the land, because they do not want other policial parties to get in on the benefit the politicians have. Remember its a job with pension, health benefits, paid vacations and easy street for the rest of their lives. They do not want any other people eating from their plate. How can a country with a population of over 312 million people only have 2 sides. Even Mitt realized the only way for him to be elected was to change from Independent party to the Republican party. So his roots are not true Republician, just a mix in order for him to run for President.
loy
February 3rd, 2012
7:30 am
Know i see why young kids dont have respect for other people.
WHAT
February 3rd, 2012
7:31 am
I am a Republican and proud of it. But to be honest, I have never seen a President that has been so disrespected as President Obama. I am a Christian first, then an American, then a Republican. If you really sit back and look and listen, people are showing their true colors. No, I do not agree with 90% of what he says but still. I don’t agree with my boss but I respect him for his position. Some people have taken their hoods out of closet and are wearing them proud.
Marie
February 3rd, 2012
7:33 am
That was very rude of Gingrey. Please be more respectful of the Commander and Chief, the PRESIDENT of the United States. If it was anybody else, he would have stayed and listened. It’s time for Obama to put these rude individuals in their place. He only walked away to get publicity.
Newt, my name is Newt
February 3rd, 2012
7:35 am
If Gingrey had any class he would have stayed and let his opinions be known in the proper fashion: statements to the press afterwards.
Walking out is a bush-league tactic and stinks of grandstanding. What a tool. I’m ashamed to be represented by such retarded republican drama queens.
Mark God
February 3rd, 2012
7:35 am
Keep your made up god and all that bs out of my government. Idiots don’t understand separation between church and state. I bet if Obama was talking about anti abortion and the taking of other female rights he would have stood up and cheered. He is from marietta, enough said.
Dbow
February 3rd, 2012
7:36 am
I agree with Catlady – throw Gingrey out of office asap before he embarrasses us again!