Newsweek Editor Equates Hillary's Spirituality With Abe Lincoln's

Photo of Tim Graham.
By Tim Graham | January 13, 2008 - 23:54 ET

In his new interview with Hillary Clinton, Newsweek editor Jon Meacham compared Hillary’s somewhat morose spiritual views with not only Reinhold Niebuhr, but Abraham Lincoln. In case this seems incidental, please be reminded that Meacham also compared Lincoln and John Kerry in 2004, actually bringing Abe down to Kerry's level as a flip-flopper. (Ronald Reagan would have joked, a la the late Lloyd Bentsen: "I knew Abe Lincoln. Abe Lincoln was a friend of mine. Hillary is no Abe Lincoln.")

NEWSWEEK: My sense of your theological world view, to oversimplify, is that it is more in line with Lincoln and Niebuhr than with, say, more feel-good kinds of evangelism. Life is tragic, and all that.

HILLARY: Yes. Life is tragic, human beings are flawed, you can't take anything or anyone for granted, it may not be there tomorrow, and you have to rely on yourself—and hopefully, if you are a good person, you will also take care of other people on the way and try to give them the opportunities to also withstand the vagaries and vicissitudes of life.

NEWSWEEK: Do you agree with Niebuhr that "the sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world"?

HILLARY: I agree with him that that always has to be one of the missions. I believe that human nature being what it is, our Founders were not only political philosophers but great psychologists, and understood the limits of human power but also the reach of human ambition … But I also believe that human beings are capable of not only the most debasing and terrible actions but ennobling and enlightening ones as well.

NEWSWEEK: How important is Wesley and your faith?

HILLARY: It is the core of who I am. In my family, we were Americans, we were Republicans and we were Methodists. It all kind of combined in me to motivate me in my faith life, in love of my country, in my work in politics. "Do all the good you can"—how do you do that?

NEWSWEEK: A theologian once described Wesley's doctrine as "the push of duty and the pull of grace."

HILLARY: I feel that every day. I have been sustained over the course of my life by prayer, and by those who have prayed for me, by my understanding and commitment to my faith, and by those inexplicable moments of grace. Sometimes you are down as far as you can go, and you are there for a long time before it happens. And you try really hard to make it happen and it doesn't happen, and you have to be willing to let it go … What happened to me last Monday morning in Portsmouth [N.H.] was a moment of grace. It was so touching and so affecting to me. If I had sat down and thought of a thousand ways I can better let people know who I am, and what I care about, that would not have been on the list, but it was who I am and what I care about, and it was a connection that I find often when I am out doing this work. I have been so run through the gauntlets time and time again, I've had my motives questioned, my personality, my performance, everything derided and undermined.

—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center

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Has Meacham ever had a

Has Meacham ever had a sympathetic conversation with a Republican candidate regarding their religious beliefs and spirituality - down to providing leading questions? Really, this is getting to be just too much. Is Newsweek even bothering in pretending to be neutral any longer?

Good grief, Tim!

Good grief, Tim!

Are we going to be subjected to this kind of baseless sycophancy of Hillary for ten more months?

Honestly, I'm not sure I can take it. ns

Yikes, Noel. You're a battle

Yikes, Noel. You're a battle hardened veteran of the media bias wars. What's that say about what's going to happen to the rest of us?

No kidding

I drather spend a year back at the Rock.

It's official, the left has

It's official, the left has no shame.

It must be noted though, the MSM keeps comparing libs to Republicans, or people who wouldn't be allowed in the dim party today. Of course old Abe was a Republican, and his record is well documented. But what about Bubba and Obama? Both of these guys are compared to JFK, who may have been a lib deep down, but sure governed mostly like a conservative. Not sure he would be loved by today's dims.

The question one has to ask is this: Are there no dims out there that they can compare todays dim against?

This had to be a parody of

This had to be a parody of an old Carol Burnett - Harvey Korman skit.  There's just no other explanation for the absurdity of it all.

Or else monkey's just flew out of Hillary's butt and the Cleveland Browns win the SuperBowl.

Killing them with kindness isn't working.  Time to get scrappy with the Donkeys.

In the left's eye's, Abe

In the left's eye's, Abe Lincoln was the only good Republican. He freed the slaves from the cotton plantation's so the Democrat's could put them on their plantation's of dependency.

If our current media and crop of Democrat's were around then how would they have responded to Abe Lincoln's suspension of habeus corpus, military tribunal's and four year war that cost 620,000 American lives ? How would they have reacted to a fellow Democrat thrown into prison for the duration of the Civil War for making treasonous comment's against the president? Would John Brown and his men have been branded crazy evangelical religious zealot's and not champion's of freedom ?

Oh that's right the party of freedom and tolerance was around then:

"Clement Laird Vallandigham, the best-known anti-war Copperhead18 of the Civil War, was perhaps President Lincoln's sharpest critic. He charged Lincoln with the "wicked and hazardous experiment" of calling the people to arms without counsel and authority of Congress, with suspending the writ of habeas corpus, and with "coolly" coming before the Congress and pleading that he was only "preserving and protecting" the Constitution and demanding and expecting the thanks of Congress and the country for his "usurpations of power."19"

18. "Copperhead," a reproachful epithet, was used to denote Northerners who sided with the South in the Civil War and were therefore deemed traitors, particularly those so-named Peace Democrats who assailed the Lincoln Administration. It was borrowed from the poisonous snake of the same name that lies in hiding and strikes without warning. However, "Copperheads" regarded themselves as lovers of liberty, and some of them wore a lapel pin with the head of the Goddess of Liberty cut out of the large copper penny minted by the Federal treasury.

 http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/hl834.cfm#pgfId-1102117

 

Funny the more thing's change the more they stay the same and this party has constantly been on the side of tyranny and oppression.

When they invoke or reference Abe Lincoln I look at as farce and satire. Any other time being compared to a Republican to them would be a heinous insult.

 Politic's and justice rarely inhabit the same plateau  

 

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "

                   - Ben Kenobi on  Liberals, and the MSM.

                               " The Cake is a lie."   

Blazer...Sorry, but I

Blazer...Sorry, but I respectfully disagree with several of your contentions.  At the least, I think most Democrats would hold Teddy Roosevelt in high regard.  As you may know, I have great admiration for Ronald Reagan.  With respect to Presidents in my lifetime who I consider "good Republicans" are included Eisenhower, Ford and the elder Bush.  Frankly, I like George W. Bush, but that may be a minority view in my party.

The present Democratic party would most likely have been aligned with the Civil War era Northern Abolitionists--the radical Republicans, and strongly supported Lincoln, despite his spotty record on civil liberties.

There were many Republicans in the north who were Unionists, and supported the war to preserve the Union, but not the freeing of the slaves.  Likewise there were northern Democrats, some of whom may have been Unionists, but others who favored a negotiated peace with the South, including a willingness to let them go [i.e. secede from the Union.]

The South was predominantly comprised of pro-slavery Democrats, with very few Republicans, although just about every southern state had a not insignificant number of Unionists.

Finally, the suggestion that the Democratic party has constantly been on the side of tyranny and oppression is a laughable absurdity.

Jer

 

 

 

 Actually Jer, it wasn't a

 Actually Jer, it wasn't a suggestion, it's laughable absurd fact.

Now the parallel's are there for you to see in black and white or did you even bother to click the link?

Now I will say I believe that most of the Dem citizenry are slightly left of center or moderate and not the far leftist's that the media and the hi-jacked Democrat party would want us to believe you all are. I was basically using the politico and the pundit's as the example and they are infinitely worse now. 

As you said yourself, some of your view's would probably make you a minority in your party.

One could do a lot with the power's of suggestion Jer, but in my current stature I haven't achieved the ability and talent necessary to re-write history or change the past or the present. The comparison's are undeniable.

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "

                   - Ben Kenobi on  Liberals, and the MSM.

                               " The Cake is a lie."   

Yes, Blazer...I clinked on

Yes, Blazer...I clinked on your link.  It essentially confirmed what I had learned from reading a great number of the several hundred books in my Civil War library, and recalled from my years of study in college when working toward my degree in American History.  But if you have some additional links, I'll be more than happy to look at them, too.

Your statement about the Democratic party constantly being on the side of oppression and tyranny remains as laughably absurd as it was an hour ago.

Jer

 Well since academia is

 Well since academia is certainly on your side I guess the argument's over. Far be it from me to argue with a liberal historian (oxy-moron not intended). The only thing you have left to do concerning my statement is proving it wrong, which just like an hour ago you still haven't done.

Your suggestion, that my supposed suggestion of the Democrat party being constantly on the side of tyranny and oppresion is laughable and absurd, is after all still just a suggestion on your behalf and proves nothing.

The fact is time and again the party of freedom, tolerance and absolute moral authority, along with thier cronies in the media continue to carry water for our tyrannical enemies who seek to oppress us, is that better? That stand's true now as it was then.

You can start perusing the many articles in your vast library or may I suggest to save time and labor you start here and reference back one page at a time, after all that's why your here aint' it.

 

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "

                   - Ben Kenobi on  Liberals, and the MSM.

                               " The Cake is a lie."   

Blazer...if you insist on

Blazer...if you insist on examining your claim, then define the parameters:  It would appear from the manner in which you have couched the allegation, you are referring to the Democratic party from its inception [when it was known, ironically, as the Republican party in contradistinction to the Federalists] until the present day.  Is that correct, or did you have something else in mind?

Jer

BTW, I apologize for mentioning anything about academics.  It was just frustration.  H*ll, I cut more classes than I attended...very fortunate to even get my diploma. 

 Jer, what I basically

 Jer, what I basically was attempting to do, was point out the similiarities the Lincoln and Bush admins. have between them and what was also said about them and the event's taking place around them by the politician's and the media. The comparison's are erie and undeniable, and the fact that any Dem politician or liberal journalist 'today' would invoke Lincoln to thier benefit is gross hypocrisy.

Although not a Civil War historian or a historian of any nature, I am a history buff and have the added benefit of living in the former Capital Of The Confederacy, for whatever that's worth.

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "

                   - Ben Kenobi on  Liberals, and the MSM.

                               " The Cake is a lie."   

Blazer...Well, to that

Blazer...Well, to that extent, I will (with some qualifications) agree with you...and those historical realities--and parallels--are something I point out to my liberal friends when they begin fulminating with near-theatrical indignance over the supposed trampling of civil liberties by the Bush administration.

But, as I said, there are some qualifications, and I'll be happy to discuss those another time.

Later, Jer

 

What happened to me last

What happened to me last Monday morning in Portsmouth [N.H.] was a
moment of grace.
It was so touching and so affecting to me. If I had
sat down and thought of a thousand ways I can better let people know
who I am, and what I care about, that would not have been on the list,
but it was who I am and what I care about, and it was a connection that
I find often when I am out doing this work.
I have been so run through
the gauntlets time and time again..

That's right, Mrs. Clinton, it's all about you.

You had an emotional moment telling someone how you feel, and it was touching and affecting to you. Nice.

As for it not being on the list that's a hoot. For a year we have been hearing about your hopes and dreams for this country, as we have from all the Presidential candidates. (You don't want to see us go backward, you said. How many times have you and your husband said that we WERE going backward under President Bush? Has President Bush, just now, in his last year, begun leading the country backward? Or did you just realize that it's happening?) I guess you meant the "choking up" thing would not have been on the list, because that's the only thing that was new here. Your "I finally found my voice" (and it's a whine) comment in NH gave that away.

I have been so run through
the gauntlets time and time again..

Whine, whine. Yeah, yeah, we know..everyone's against you....it's so hard, but you pick up your cross and go on because you know you're the only one who can save this country.

What solipsism.

 

 

......opportunities to also

......opportunities to also withstand the vagaries and vicissitudes of life.

  ??!    She must be attempting to reach obama's supporters.  Her main supporters are lower educated women who probably are unaware they even have 'vagaries and vicissitudes'.

vagaries and vicissitudes

Aren't those personal enhancement medications?

I think you're on to something about going after the Abe Lincoln portion of the Black vote.  Obviously, Hillary "down fo de struggle"* Clinton is afraid Blacks will vote based on skin color, rather than on the issues...

The sad part is that the GOP has done such a poor job reaching out to Blacks, and everyone else, really, with the message of individual liberty, self-reliance and the dangers of government dependency that they lost a voting bloc that they should easily carry by 70 to 90 percent.

*P.S. That's a reference to her attempted use of a "Black accent" during a speech.

Yes

"The sad part is that the GOP has done such a poor job reaching out to Blacks, and everyone else, really, with the message of individual liberty, self-reliance and the dangers of government dependency that they lost a voting bloc that they should easily carry by 70 to 90 percent."

Aint that the truth.

Jeez, guys, every time

Jeez, guys, every time Republicans "reach out" to Blacks, they come back with bloody stumps. Do you blame them for giving up?

While Republicans are talking about self-reliance and not being government-dependent, the Reverends are talking about "reparations" and what the government and the country "owes" to black people, and why it's not possible for them to succeed (because "Whitey" keeps them down.)

I don't even know any more what Sharpton and Jackson mean when they say Republicans should "reach out." I think it means "give us more...more money, more power...than the Democrats do.

But then again, if they do, they will be accused of "trying to buy our votes."

Republicans can't win. Because the "conventional wisdom" of the race pimps is that they "hate" Blacks. And all the good things they do, and the opportunities they offer are just to hide the fact that they hate blacks.

MB I disagree

The republicans can reach out without pandering to anyone.There are alot of folks that share common values with republicans.The repubs have let the msm and Dems paint them as the party of the rich and racist.It is up to the repubs to do something.It should start locally.Or they can let someone else define them.

well99, here's just one

well99, here's just one example of Republican "outreach" being ignored by Blacks: Republicans favor school choice for ALL. Surveys have shown that 70% or more of Black parents want choice. Democrats, along with the "Righteous Reverends" and the teachers' unions, oppose it.

Why do Blacks keep voting for Democrats who thwart their wishes?

Well

Here is a link with a few clues.

http://racerelations...

Also I not just talking black or minorities.I talking about going after voters no matter the color or any of that other stuff.Were all Americans that is all that counts.Unless the repubs decide to actively put their message out to folks then they will go by what the msm puts out.They need to do it locally but they need the support from the RNC.If you remember the amnesty bill it wasnt defeated by the repubs it was defeated by a grassroots effort.They put enough pressure on Repubs and Dem politicians to stop the amnesty bill.Hell I am a independant.It just I will never support leftist.Not liberals ..Leftist and they control the DNC.

That site is a good read,

That site is a good read, well99. It made a lot of good points, especially about the lack of outreach by Republicans and why they have to do better. But it still doesn't give me an answer to my question: what is so much more important to Blacks than the education of their children in a safe environment (and by safe, I don't mean police patrolling the halls) that they will consistently vote for Democratic candidates who oppose that desire of theirs? What is it that the Democrats offer which causes that to pale in comparison? With the "Righteous Reverends" I know the answer: it's the power they crave, but what about the parents of those kids?

The proof is in the voucher programs: whenever someone offers "scholarships" to black kids for private schools, they get about 100 applications for each opening. They want school choice! Why do they continue to vote for Democrats??? On that premise alone, blacks should be voting Republican.

If I were a black parent with kids in some of the public schools where these kids are, I would vote for Donald Duck if he were in favor of vouchers and school choice for all.

MB

I agree on school vouchers.My point is until the message is put out in the local communities the dems will get more votes.If you look at Clintons adminstration and you look at Bush's.Bush had more minorities then Clinton in key positions.They were there because of merit not as tokens.The Dems talk about equality.George applied it.I not a GB fan but he has done alot of good things and should get credit.

Hillary "spirituality" is

Hillary "spirituality" is worshipping at the grave of Karl Marx.

Dear Senator Clinton:

Dear Senator Clinton:

As a Christian, do you believe "ALL" of Jesus' teachings are applicable today?

rewritng history

Telling that Meacham and russert have a hard time calling clinton are her slander and villiany. She/they slandered obama and MLK and are trying to make it his fault. Then bring in bob johnson , another serial bounder, to imply the drug use issue and she does not have brains enough to distance herself from such comments- when she has already gotten the results[slander] she wants.
They are running the triangulation ploy piting black against brown against white low information voters. TRYING TO BREAK UNIONS WHICH ARE THE ONLY SUPPORT FOR WOMEN WORKERS.
What a sorry excuse for a human being. My friends in the rest of the world are laughing at us for even considering such a specimin...and they have had woman leaders. Women of character,integrity, and courage. This woman? has none of these IN FACT JUST THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE.

Newsweek's INSANE interview with the highly religious Hillary

That's just infantile. And where it's not infantile, it's just insane.
The only question is, Who's more insane -- Hillary for dishing out that twaddle, or the interviewer for thinking up those bizarre, psychotic questions and expecting people to believe the answers?

Jon Meacham

Meacham thinks that because he did a few articles on religion he is now the expert in all things spiritual.

What Meacham did was rewrite actual facts on religion and then spun them to his own "religion", one without any similarities to Christianity.

 He is a disgrace!

Abraham Lincoln! Why we mourned three months for that man!

"And if these young negroes don't quit messing with the democratic bunch
they are going to be right back where we started from. If they only
know as I know they would struggle to keep such from happening,."

BTW, white republicans were subject to violence and lynching also.