You knew it was coming.
Before we continue, a claim: I speak with absolutely no authority on Jesus, or his views, but I would bet a few days in purgatory that if Jesus were alive today, he would tell his followers not to watch any more cable news in August. Just going with my gut on that one.
MSNBC’s Pastoral-stand-in Ed Shultz got the ball rolling last week by commanding evangelical mega-church leaders in an on-air segment to support universal health care and the public option, because the Lord himself wants it. “When Jesus walked the face of the earth, he was feeding the hungry, he was clothing the poor and healing the sick,” preached Shultz. “He didn’t ask anybody for their health insurance card, and he didn’t heal anybody for profit.” No doubt Jesus also wants people to watch Ed Shultz, because, as we know from the bible, Jesus never asked anybody to watch Fox News, either. Read your bible. You won’t find it.
Fox, of course, could not just let this pass without comment.
So this morning the fair-and-balanced network had on Bishop Harry Jackson, who was told by God in 2004 to work for the reelection of George W. Bush. (The Lord works in mysterious ways.) I don’t have a video of the exchange, but Mediaite grabbed a screen shot with the precious chyron: “WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?/ JACKSON: UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE AMORAL.”
The only proper response to this sort of stuff is the one the actual pastor Mike Huckabee delivered in late 2007, when he was asked what Jesus would do about the death penalty. “Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office,’’ Huckabee said. “That’s what Jesus would do.” Amen.
Next up on Fox, MSNBC and the rest: Will Jesus-Shaped Shark Attack Bites Driven In High Speed Car Chases Rescue Health Care From The Coming Swine Flu Pandemic?
UPDATE: Here is the Bishop Jackson video.