I usually ignore Rush Limbaugh because he’s intentionally provocative, and I don’t feel like being a puppet on his string. But, sometimes, he says something so savory and satisfying that I can help gloating. His response to Pope Francis’s critique of unfettered capitalism is an example of this:
“I mentioned, last night — I was doing show prep last night — usual routine. And I ran across this — I don’t actually know what it’s called — the latest papal offering, statement from Pope Francis. Now, up until this — I’m not Catholic. Up until this, I have to tell you, I was admiring the man. I thought he was going a little overboard on the “common man” touch, and I thought there might have been a little bit of PR involved there. But nevertheless, I was willing to cut him some slack. I mean, if he wants to portray himself as still from the streets of where he came from and is not anything special, not aristocratic, if he wants to eschew the physical trappings of the Vatican — OK, cool, fine.
“But this that I came across last night — I mean, it totally befuddled me. If it weren’t for capitalism, I don’t know where the Catholic Church would be. Now, as I mentioned before, I’m not Catholic. I admire it profoundly, and I’ve been tempted a number of times to delve deeper into it. But the pope here has now gone beyond Catholicism here, and this is pure political. Now, I want to share with you some of this stuff.
“”Pope Francis attacked unfettered capitalism as ‘a new tyranny.’ He beseeched global leaders to fight poverty and growing inequality, in a document on Tuesday setting out a platform for his papacy and calling for a renewal of the Catholic Church. In it, Pope Francis went further than previous comments criticizing the global economic system, attacking the ‘idolatry of money.’ “
“I’ve gotta be very caref– I have been numerous times to the Vatican. It wouldn’t exist without tons of money. But, regardless, what this is — somebody has either written this for him or gotten to him. This is just pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope. There’s no such — “unfettered capitalism”? That doesn’t exist anywhere.
I’m not Catholic, either, but I do admire the Church’s dedication to giving assistance to the needy. When the pope calls on the world’s leaders “to fight poverty and growing inequality,” he isn’t saying that government should get out of the way to make space for more Catholic or Christian charity. This wasn’t a call for more private sector solutions. It was a near-total rebuke to conservative economic ideology.
As ProgLegs points out, it’s quite a turnaround from El Rushbo’s recent assertion that Pope Francis is a conservative. Now, because he doesn’t approve of Reaganomics, the pope is a Marxist.
Pardon me while I enjoy this.
