Hat tip to Sandefur for catching this. President Bush was at Monticello for a 4th of July celebration and he delivered an address. But it’s quite telling that his speechwriters, in quoting Jefferson, cut out an anti-religious statement from a long and famous quote. Here’s the way Bush put it:
Thomas Jefferson understood that these rights do not belong to Americans alone. They belong to all mankind. And he looked to the day when all people could secure them. On the 50th anniversary of America’s independence, Thomas Jefferson passed away. But before leaving this world, he explained that the principles of the Declaration of Independence were universal. In one of the final letters of his life, he wrote, “May it be to the world, what I believe it will be — to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all — the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.”Now let’s look at the full quote, including the part that was cut out. This is from a letter he wrote to Roger Weightman reflecting on the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (which, it turns out, was the day both he and John Adams died):
May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.Jefferson made many such statements, of course. Clearly they are best edited out by those who advocate nothing if not monkish ignorance and superstition.
President Jefferson was indeed a good heathen. Leave it to Bush to pick-and-choose quote him as other fundamentalist Christians have done. (Fundies have not only pick-and-choose quoted Mr Jefferson but also Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, and others). Do you fellow Atheists think Mr Jefferson could be elected today?
I think his ownership of slaves would come up at some point on the campaing trail.
Cynic
I doubt think BushCo’s moronic followers can rightly be called slaves according to the usual definition … but … then again.
When making posts like this, perhaps one should think twice before referring to others as ?morons.?
OK, so What is 1 for 2. He screwed up the word ‘don’t’ with doubt, but he did get the part right that BushCo followers are morons.
BushLite is as the blog stated a puppet reading preprepared speeches… badly. Although Im sure his writers did in fact remove the “offending” section from the quote I still would not put it past BushLite to have simply muffed the line. Thanks to all for keeping the words of the Atheist on line.
Has anyone read Liars for Jesus? My local boy Texas David Barton is getting more press and he’s the master of revisionism concerning xianity in our heritage.
Bush is a poor puppet, Maybe next time we can vote in Kermit a much better puppet and more loved. Remember the famous bush quote : Fool me once shame on me Fool me Twice ummmm I won’t be fooled again ” !!!!! Classic Bush right there !!!!!
If you think President Bush edited Jefferson to have him promote a position he never would have while living, then you should see the hash they made of his words on the inscriptions inside the Jefferson Memorial! The memorial, which was completed in 1943, picks and chooses snippets from a variety of Jefferson letters and documents, then strings them together in a way that has him endorsing God as the inspiration for everything American. It’s a travesty!
TXatheist,
No, but that will be on my summer reading list
“…monkish ignorance and superstition …” I like that. Where are the Jeffersons of today? We need them.
Man, we got people trying to put religious quotes in where they don’t belong:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/memorial.asp
..and others trying to remove secular quotes where they do.
In all fairness, if the bursting the chains quote was to be read as a “hint..hint..Iraq..Afghanistan”, then the monkish ignorance part could really open up a political can of worms. The statement would have been twisted to mean “anti-muslim” by focusing on “ignorant” and “superstitious”, despite the fact the statement should be read as pro-secular (which, for many islamists, IS an anti-muslim stance).
I can see the fox headlines now,
THOMAS JEFFERSON FATHERED A BLACK BABY,
and maybe add on some fiction
AND LIKES TO KICK PUPPIES
Is there anyone here who has not made an error in spelling, grammar, and syntax? To criticize such minor mistakes is petty, stupid and moronic. I remember someone else doing this…oh yeah…the pussbucket whose name shall not be mentioned…
Thoz dat crittersize spel’n n da coment secshun of a blog r INANE DRONES.
This place is starting to smell like the daily Kos… reeeeeetcccchhhhh
Christ on a cracker! Catholics in Florida lose their minds over a stolen Christ on a cracker:
http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=912931E6387D06E86603288C86CA66A1?contentId=6932236&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1
I think its fucking hilarious.
A quote from the article Alex referred to.
I used to steal these things and make little sandwiches. These people are loons.
A hate crime is getting your head bashed in on the street because you are gay. Someone taking a tiny cracker from a church isn’t a hate crime; it’s not even worthy of mention.
I can just see bill donahue getting all red faced and sputtering mad over this.
How did we wind up with a president that acts so stupid for so long. you would think the corporations that choose our presidents would at least try to put someone that seems sane in office. That doesn’t mean Honest. In order to ellect a rational and honest president the public needs to be much better educated instead of listening to the corporate media.
CNN article about atheist Jeremy Hall:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/08/atheist.soldier/index.html
Zach
Because a lot of lemming religious right dolts thought they could trade a few 100 thousand dead Iraqis for a couple of supreme court justices sympathetic to their one and only issue. But in the end they were duped – they got pro-corporate fanatics instead and a bill for a multi-trillion dollar occupation of Iraq and an unregulated banking industry turned Ponzi scheme.
Have you ever met a more gullible bunch than xians?
Alex
Never a truer thing said.
Has there ever been a gay oriented vigilante movie akin to Death Wish?
OT
Atheist soldier sues Army for ‘unconstitutional’ discrimination
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/08/atheist.soldier/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
Wow…speak about editing.
How much effort would it have taken to redo the original thread to repair the block quotes?
That in itself speaks volumes…
I’m lovin’ it…McDonalds makes jesus cry:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/mcdonalds-makes-jesus-cry_b_111421.html
Alex
That was hilarious! My favorite comment from the column:
Sand, alex? Why, oh why the sand? What is your horrible homosexual argument against sand? Without sand, there can be no family! (???)
So let’s see…everyone’s upset because Bush took a few words out of context from a private letter from Thomas Jefferson.
Wow…at least he didn’t claim it was “law”.
AA does the same everytime they proclaim the “myth”…
Resurrection story re-hash of earlier Jewish story:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4295804.ece
justme-
You know damn well the MSM will do everything they can to suppress this news.
This will be very interesting to watch.