He just can't stop himself. Fox's Bill O'Reilly never misses an opportunity to bash the poor as lazy, listless, drunken drug addicts who are just a bunch of moochers who just want to lay on their ass and suck off of the government teet at the expense of those hard working tax payers like Bill-O.
O'Reilly decided to enlist the help of one of Fox's regular wingnut priests, Father Gerald Murray, who was more than happy to help O'Reilly with his talking points that Jesus somehow wouldn't have been down with "big government" stepping in to help feed the poor, but they both actually got some decent push back from the other guest, Obama spiritual adviser, Joshua DuBois. As DuBois pointed out over and over during the segment to the hard headed O'Reilly, most of the people receiving food stamps and some sort of government assistance are the working poor.
That seem to faze O'Reilly one bit though. From Fox's blog: O'Reilly Factor Debate: Would Jesus Have Supported a Nanny State?:
Would Jesus have imposed a system that hurts one group to help another? That was the debate tonight on The O’Reilly Factor between Father Gerald Murray and Joshua DuBois, a spiritual adviser to President Obama.
Father Gerald said part of Christ’s teaching is to take care of the poor and “we do so for spiritual motives.”
Bill O’Reilly pointed out that we haven’t taken care of the poor if there’s 41 million Americans uninsured. Referring to ObamaCare, the Factor host said, “The problem I have […] is that you’re helping one group by hurting another group – and a bigger group. So I don’t know if Jesus is going to be down with that."
DuBois responded, “The bottom line is, if you add up every single private charitable dollar that feeds hungry people in this country, it’s only 10 percent of what we would need to make sure everyone has food in their stomach. The rest comes from the federal government.”
The mistake with that argument, O’Reilly countered, is that some people are the cause of their own poverty. “If you’re an [addict] and you can’t hold a job, and you can’t support your children, […] then you’re bringing the havoc. You’re asking people who may be struggling themselves to put food on the table to give their tax money to you, […] and then you’re going to buy booze and drugs with it.”
DuBois pointed out the majority of people who receive food stamps are the elderly, the disabled and working families with children.
O’Reilly worried that the system creates dependence. “What’s my financial responsibility to their children?” he asked.
