"I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian, but you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school. As president, I’ll end Obama’s war on religion. And I’ll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage. Faith made America strong. It can make her strong again. I’m Rick Perry and I approve this message."-- Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), December 7, 2011.
Comment: There's not really a war on religion being conducted by President Barack Obama, is there?
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"We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere: It is the Tea Party. And you know, there's only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They've got a war, they got a war with us and there's only going to be one winner: It's going to be the workers of Michigan, and America! We're going to win that war ... President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of a bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong."-- President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters James "Jimmy" Hoffa, Jr., September 5, 2011.
Comment: The "son of a bitches" language is name-calling. In addition, Hoffa is indulging in "war" rhetoric, as well as "real Americans" rhetoric.
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"Our war in Afghanistan may be ending, but our war against our children continues in full force. ... the assertion by some prominent politicians that our fiscal problems are long-term and that we have time to fix them is, economically speaking, mindless. Time may be on our side, but it's certainly not on our kids' side. ... the longer we wait to address the problem, the larger the bill our children must pay either in higher taxes or lower benefits. This is the awful zero-sum nature of our generational dilemma and the moral challenge of our day.-- Economist Laurence Kotlikoff, June 29, 2011.
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"This war on workers' rights is an assault on the middle class, and it is undermining the American economy ... The current Republican assault on workers' rights continues a 30-year war on American workers' wages. That long-term war has finally taken its toll on the American economy. It's time to fight back."-- Economist and political commentator Robert Reich, June 26, 2011.
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"Now, America, as you know, is facing grave challenges. And when times get tough, some politicians try to turn the American people against one another. Regrettably, President Obama is a champion practitioner of class warfare. Elected with a call for unity and hope, he's spent three years dividing our nation. He's been fanning the flames of class envy and resentment all across this country, to deflect attention from his own failures and the economic hardship they have visited on America. Class warfare is not who we are. I come from a working class background. I didn't grow up with wealth. But I've never resented those who have it. The top ten percent of income earners already pay more than 70% of the income taxes in the country. We could jack that up to 80 or 90% as President Obama would have us do. But that's not the point. While it might make the class warfare crusaders feel better, it wouldn't create a single job in America. And it would destroy many."-- Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), June 7, 2011.
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"There is no recovery. If this isn't a depression, then what is? And the sad thing is, what's even worse, Obama's entire motivation is to destroy what's left. ... There is no private sector growth. ... Obama looks out across the fruited plain and he sees a recovery. This is what a recovery looks like. He is at war with the private sector and he's winning, folks. The president of the United States is winning his war against the private sector. He is destroying it. That is his mission. His administration is succeeding. So for Obama this is a recovery. ... While this economy is causing great suffering and while Obama will pretend he actually cares about you, he will continue full speed ahead with his war on the private sector, his war on the middle class, and his promotion of socialism and authoritarianism. This is what Obama wants. This is his recovery. We take him at his word."-- Radio pundit Rush Limbaugh, June 3, 2011.
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"Stop the war on workers"-- Signs displayed during protests in Wisconsin, some of which were created by The Teamsters Union, June 2011.
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Charlie Gasparino: "It's just proving that this administration is anti-business, and that's scary when you have 9% unemployment."-- From "Cavuto on Business", during a discussion about President Barack Obama and his administration's economic policies, May 28, 2011.
Neil Cavuto: "Charles?"
Charles Payne: "The war against business has been ratcheted up tremendously."
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"It's just so hard for me to grasp how they could be so anti-women as they are ... The pushback and the guttural reaction from women against the Republican's agenda out of the gate, the war on women that the Republicans have been waging since they took over the House, I think is going to not only restore but possibly help us exceed the president's margin of victory in the next election ... So if you look on balance at the entire record, their record is anti-women, their record is a war on women and it's a priority for them ... The voters got a glimpse of what it would be like under Republican control, an extreme radical social agenda that was noting short of an assault on women".-- Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), May 26, 2011.
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"I think if you look at states like mine, in Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, that are being led by Republican governors ... there is such a dramatic contrast being set up, between the direction that the Republicans would take us, really right off the deep end, essentially waging war on the unemployed, as if somehow them being out of a job is their fault, and rewarding businesses."-- Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), May 10, 2011.
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"Governors and others in state houses across this country on the Republican side have decided what they want to do is wage a war against their own employees ... Against public employees who are teaching our kids, who are caring for our parents in nursing homes, who are patrolling our neighborhoods."-- Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, February 19, 2011, on the topic of the Wisconsin labor negotiations.
Comment: There's been no acts of violence committed or even proposed by Republican governors against union members. To say that "war" is being waged -- as if unions are innocent victims of violence -- is hyperbole and exaggeration. Does such rhetoric incite violence? Wouldn't many people naturally resort to violence to defend fellow citizens from war?
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"On February 11, Wisconsin's new Republican Governor Scott Walker made what amounts to a declaration of all-out war on public sector workers in his historically progressive state, moving to deprive them of the very right to bargain collectively on matters essential to their economic security."-- Jane McAlevey, February 16, 2011, writing in The Nation on the Wisconsin labor dispute.
Comment: War? Their last stand? Their very existence is threatened in the sense of being violently eliminated? This is exaggeration.
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