On “Jesus Is a Liberal Democrat.”

[The Colbert Report.]

Back in 2010, Stephen Colbert did a funny bit entitled “Jesus Is a Liberal Democrat,” which I watched again recently. He did it round Christmastime. When it came out, there was much rejoicing among the Christian Left blogosphere, and one of the lefty blogs I glance at re-posted it for fun. It still applies.

[Update, 10/20/24: Paramount has taken it down, so you’ll have to settle for my transcript.]

COLBERT. Just seems to me the Democrats don’t get Christmas. Another example: Congressman Jim McDermott, who used the baby Jesus to push his pro-poor people agenda. Jim?

MCDERMOTT. [video clip from Hardball] This is Christmastime. We talk about good Samaritans. We talk about the poor, and the little baby Jesus in the cradle, and all this stuff, and then we say to the unemployed, “We won’t give you a check to feed your family.” That’s simply wrong!

COLBERT. Of course it’s wrong! We should’t be talking to them at all! They’ve got unemployment cooties.

And I am not the only one upset by McDermott’s flagrant injection of charity into the Christmas season. So is Papa Bear Bill O'Reilly. In his weekly column, he wrote, “Every fair-minded person should support government safety nets for people who need assistance through no fault of their own. But guys like McDermott don’t make distinctions like that. For them, the baby Jesus wants us to ‘provide’ no matter what he circumstance. But being a Christian, I know that while Jesus promoted charity at the highest level, he was not self-destructive.”

Good point, Bill. Jesus said we only have to love those who deserve it.