Bill Maher on Friday evening once again displayed a level of ignorance and intolerance that should completely disqualify him as a political commentator.
On HBO's Real Time, the vulgar anti-theist said Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney doesn't give to charity. "All his charitable donations are to Mormons. He gives to his cult. That’s not a charity. They're not poor people" (video follows with transcript and commentary, serious vulgarity warning):
S.E. CUPP: Let's make the distinction though, just real quick, between Mitt Romney the person and Mitt Romney the politician, because Mitt Romney the person has donated millions of dollars to poor people.
BILL MAHER: To Mormons.
CUPP: To poor people.
MAHER: Not poor people. No, no, no. Wait, wait, I gotta call bullshit on that one.
CUPP: Yes.
MAHER: All his charitable donations are to Mormons. He gives to his cult.
CUPP: So what?
MAHER: So what? That’s not a charity. That’s not a charity.
CUPP: So we can’t help certain poor people.
MAHER: They're not poor people.
CUPP: Yes, they are.
MAHER: Name one poor Mormon. Alright, I’ve got to move on.
Now watch one of the most shameless liberal shills in the nation - someone completely comfortable with lying on television without batting an eye to promote his agenda! - actually disagree with Maher and agree with Cupp:
PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST AND CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The church does do a lot of good. The church does a lot of good for a lot of poor people.
MAHER: That is some serious bullshit. That is some bullshit.
CUPP: So we're judging charity now based on religion?
MAHER: I don't really think you should judge charity. I don’t think giving to opera is charity either, or giving to Cornell which has plenty of fucking money and never needs any…
CUPP (Who also went to Cornell University): Plenty of our money.
Now watch another liberal expose Maher as being a selfish, greedy millionaire:
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN, NEW YORK TIMES: Are you a giver?
MAHER: Never.
SORKIN: Never. Okay.
MAHER: Why should I be? They have a giant endowment - as does President Obama.
Yes, they have a giant endowment because people give money to them. That's how you get an endowment.
But Maher as usual was demonstrating that his ignorance on a variety of subjects knows no bounds.
Observe Romney's charitable giving as reported by the Christian Science Monitor in January:
While Romney is not thought of as a great philanthropist, his rate of giving is considered high. For example, in 2010 he gave $2.9 million or 14 percent of his income to charity. A typical person gives 2 to 3 percent of their income. And people who made $10 million or more typically gave 6.5 percent to charity, according to Roberton Williams of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington.
“Romney’s rate is very high,” says Mr. Williams.
Part of the reason for the high rate of giving is Romney’s contributions to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church. According to the church, members are expected to tithe 10 percent of their income. In Romney’s case, in 2010 he gave $1.5 million, closer to 7 percent of his adjusted gross income. In 2011, he gave $2.6 million, or 12.4 percent of his income.
But Romney and his wife also gave a considerable amount of money – some $1.5 million in 2010 and $500,000 in 2011 – to other charities, mainly through the Tyler Charitable Foundation, apparently named for a street Romney and his wife lived on in Belmont, Mass. In 2010, the foundation had more than $10 million in assets.
In 2010, the largest beneficiaries of the Tyler Charitable Foundation included the Mormon Church ($145,000), the Friends of George W. Bush Library ($100,000), and the Center for Treatment of Pediatric MS ($75,000). However, the foundation also made contributions to organizations including the US Equestrian Team Foundation ($10,000), Harvard Business School ($10,000), and Homes for Our Troops ($20,000).
As is plainly evident, Romney doesn't only give to the Mormon Church as Maher ignorantly claimed. But even if he had, like most churches, Latter-day Saint Charities gives substantially to the poor:
Latter-day Saint Charities helps people become self-reliant and improve their quality of life through initiatives such as clean water, health, and food production. Latter-day Saint Charities also relieves suffering by providing life sustaining support during emergencies...100 percent of all donations go to help those in need. No administrative costs are deducted by LDS Philanthropies or our affiliated charities
LDS Charities actually has six charitable categories:
- Humanitarian Aid Fund
- Clean Water
- Humanitarian Food Production
- Neonatal Resuscitation Training
- Mobility (wheelchairs, artificial legs, etc)
- Vision Treatment Training
Click on any of those links and you'll find tremendous services for the poor.
Mormon.org elaborates:
Much of what is done in the Church is to bless and help those who are not Mormon. The Mormon Church has donated more than $1 billion in cash and material assistance to 167 different countries in need of humanitarian aid since it started keeping track in 1985. Many of these countries have few to no Mormons, but are also non-Christian. More than 53,000 Mormon missionaries serve through the world today. All of their service is to help those who are not Mormon. Joseph Smith himself taught that we are "to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all."
As such, Maher was 100 percent wrong - AGAIN!
