Mark Tapscott, the editorial page editor of the conservative Washington Examiner, has nothing but fire and brimstone for Joe Biden.
In an op-ed last week, Tapscott expressed outraged over the vice president's use of the phrase "Jesus Christ" in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Speaking about Iran's nuclear program, Biden had said, "I can see Putin sitting in Moscow saying, 'Jesus Christ, Iran gets the nuclear weapon, who goes first?' Moscow, not Washington."
The language may seem innocuous enough to a layman. But to Tapscott, the blasphemy comes across loud and clear. The public silence in the face of this "hate speech," Tapscott claims, has revealed a glaring double-standard:
"Either way, had Biden used the name Mohammed in this manner, Muslims would be crying foul. Quite possibly rioting in the streets, to boot. And if the vice president had used "gay" or "Black" as swear words, folks would be rightfully angry about that, too.
Hate speech is hate speech, whether it is aimed at Christians, Muslims, Gays, or African-Americans."
The writer is incredulous over the lack of outrage from religious leaders. (He has managed to stir up some anger on conservative blogs.)
"So where is the outrage about Biden's hate speech against Christians? We've not heard a peep of protest from the Southern Baptist Convention. Nothing from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Nothing from the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. Nothing from the United Methodist Church."
Certainly it cannot be that these organizations have better things to do than go after Biden for using a phrase that Tapscott himself admits to using ("Having myself uttered such words on too many occasions..." ). According to Tapscott, the reason for the religious authorities' silence is more nefarious.
"Biden's uncorrected cursing is indicative of the slow strangling by the unrelenting forces of political correctness of the religious tolerance that is Christianity's greatest gift to America.
Right.
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