Paul Begala Theologian

A reader sent along this from a transcript of today’s Crossfire.

He further defended his view of having wealthy people paying higher taxes as a doctrine of Jesus, referring to a passage from the Gospel of St. Luke, stating, �to whom much has been given much is required.�

Citing a passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew, Begala stated that where one puts his or her treasure is where one�s heart is as well. He then referred to Bush�s budget, with �tax cuts for the rich� as well as the cutting of pensions and �flexibility for governors to cut Medicare and HeadStart.� �We can�t know where Bush�s heart is but we certainly can see where the treasure is,� Begala said.

Well how about John Kerry’s heart when one year he contributed a whopping $135 to charity? Or Al Gore who contributed around $300 dollars one year? It is no surprise that the “Red States” give more to charity then Democratic strongholds. If one were to go looking for where the heart of the Democratic Party they would probably need to look around in an abortion clinic somewhere. This just reminds me that the Devil also cited scripture.

He also maintained that redirecting tax money of the top one percent of the population to the lowest one percent would have much more impact in life or death situations for the lowest percent and would have virtually no effect on the highest.

Begala then addressed the absurdity of Bush�s campaign to end affirmative action as he got into Yale by way of affirmative action. �Why should poor blacks and Hispanics not be permitted when non-studying, heavy-drinking Bush is?� Begala said.

With regard to abortion, Begala said that he does not like when fellow Catholics reduce all sanctity of life issues to simply the abortion issue. �What about the injustices in the death penalty, health care and lack of housing � Why have people never chastised a Catholic politician for supporting the death penalty or war?� Begala said.

Why do I cringe when Begala says “fellow Catholics?” I wonder if there was a murder in progress and Paul Begala informed a policeman of this fact and the policemen replied “Not right now, I am writing a ticket on this substandard housing.” Would Paul Begala not see that these two things were not equal? But with someone like Begala it is no use arguing over distinctions about something that is intrinsically wrong in every case and something in the realm of a prudential decision.

Here is another article on Begala’s views on faith.