Charles Barkley Slams Republicans On CNN: "I Call Them Fake Christians", The Word 'Conservative' "Makes Me Sick"

Basketball legend Charles Barkley appeared on CNN's Late Edition, with Wolf Blitzer, this morning, and made some controversial remarks about Republicans. Barkley, who continues his career in basketball off the court as a TV commentator for the NBA, is supporting Barack Obama for president, and was defending Obama against criticism that he is inexperienced in foreign policy and other areas, when he veered off-course, and began a classic Barkley non-sequitur. Barkley started by saying, as a resident of Arizona, how much he respects John McCain, but then quickly began slamming Republicans and conservatives in general. Barkley said, "Every time I hear the word conservative it makes me sick to my stomach because they're really just fake Christians, as I call them." Blitzer asks Barkley to elaborate a bit on the phrase he used, "fake Christians." Barkley does so, essentially accusing conservatives of being hypocritical. Blitzer warns Barkley that he's probably going to a lot of "feedback" about his harsh criticism of the GOP, but Barkley is unfazed, offering this priceless response: "They can't do anything to me. I don't work for them."

Watch the video from CNN below, and tell HuffPost whether or not you agree with Barkley's explosive comments:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1417325938http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=1178199204

Comments

[dadw5boys]

Christian Conservatives have it made they CHEAT, LIE, STEAL AND SCAM people all week and get forgiven on Sunday.
Jesus had it right throwing the money lenders out of the church!

[maddog2112]

Jesus was a liberal!

[Retrofuturistic]

You go, Mr. Barkley! How refreshing that someone in this country finally speaks out and says exactly what they think. (I happen to agree, by the way.)

[thedirtman]

As a Christian I've considered renouncing Christianity because todays Christians suck. If they are not busy judging people they are writing off entire bodies of scientific knowledge based on something they've misinterpreted in the Bible, or they can't see any connection between God's love of wisdom and scientific theory.

Any atheist can get to heaven by following the Golden Rule. I still believe that there is an important message being ruined by Fundies and Evangelists. One day we might begin to see straighter, but until then heaven must be crowded with atheists.

[dadw5boys]

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!

[LAShores]

There is only one answer:


BILL MAHER!

[AmericanScream]

Good on you! I did the same because O'loofah drove me crazy with the "war on christmas" alongside this administration's and their "faithful" followers evildoing in the name of christianity.

[nonconformistx]

The reason I don't go to church anymore is because when Katrina happened a comment I heard at church was the hurricane because New Orleans is a sinful place. Total insanity! I understand EXACTLY what Charles is talking about; there are many fake Christians who just wanna have the right to judge everyone else.They also want to feel superior in some way & that turned me off to church totally.

[Waitaminute]

I stopped going to church when i was 12. I played hooky. I left home but went to my fathers whorehouse. Where i'd eventually see a lot of the churchgoers anyway. Yeah, i heard a lot of them hollow Jesus Christ, lord have mercy, but it had nothing to do with what Jesus was doing to them.

[Pacific231]

What Sir Charles said is basically the same thing McCain said so bravely and accurately back in 2000: conservative christians are agents of intolerance.

Sir Charles merely repeated the brave words of McCain-the-Y2K-version.

How sad that the present-day-shadow-of-former-self McCain has allowed his spirit to be broken by the conservatives. McCain has been pandering to those conservatives for 8 years, desperately trying to get back in their good graces, committing intellectual and emotional suicide of his very soul in the process.

I believe Sir Charles when he said he has the utmost respect for McCain. How sad that McCain does not have the same respect for himself.

[maddog2112]

I wonder how McCain would explain to Jesus his lates flip flop on torture? Do onto others as they did to you?

McCain will say and do anything to get elected, he does not appear to be the one in control. That is really scary. We are still not sure who is running hte bush administration, but I would gues it is the same people running mcCain today.

[angryoldman]

We need more people like Mr. Barkely to speak out against the REPUGNICANTS. Shame on other prominent PROGRESSIVES for not having the BALLS to do the same! It is troubling to me that the DEMOCRATS , in their lust to win elections,are capitulating and even embracing the R'PUKES bag of tricks. The democrats now are nothing more than REPUBLICAN LITE wannabe's. The REPUKE'S were fierce in their belief's and tactics, we have to admire their tenacity, meanwhile we are weak and unascertive in our own...It's time for the OPPOSITION (progressives) to grow a set of balls and shout our belief's from the "rooftops".

[Angilix]

Uh . . . did Charles Barkely ever say he was no longer a republican?

[myhomeo]

He says he has nothing to lose but I'm sure he knows this could cost him endorsements and other work in the future (just ask The Dixie Chicks). It took a lot of guts to stand up the way he did. Hat's off to Sir Charles.

[Mormondude]

I find it interesting that he never professed to be a 'true Christian' himself.

And he never suggested that liberals are 'true Christians' either.

Nobody is perfect. But I respect people that try to be good Christians and fail than those who never try in the first place.

[thedirtman]

A Christian is not exactly one who professes to be Christian. To be Christian you have to live as a Christian.

[elkabong]

So, in your world bad Christians are better than good Buddhists. It's the branding that's important.

Well, you can have it.

[FirstShirt]

Right, lets see, he was a former republican but now that he can get more press and some stroking he has seen the light and is snuggling up to liberals. His duplicity makes ME sick. Guess a convention of liberals and conservatives together would be a mess to say the least.

[ceasenake]

Barkley is well on his way to becoming a liberal in good standing - he has the two main components already:

1) hatred

2) intolerance

[VitriolAndAngst]

Yes, if he tolerated hate more, he'd be a Republican. I think that brings us full circle.

Maybe you could accuse him of being a Peacemonger because he is angry at hypocrites who talk about JC and preach war.

[Mormondude]

I'm not pro-war. War is a horrible, horrible thing. But in Iraq and Afghanistan, the most direct path to peace going forward is to secure the respective countries using military force.

The point you have to remember is that Iraq is "asymmetric warfare". That means they target markets and religious shrines and bus stops, and we try as hard as possible to limit innocent casualties.

We are essentially on a peacekeeping mission at this point. Libs are quick to cite the number of Iraqis that have died during the course of this war, but slow to mention that the VAST majority of them were killed by terrorists and sectarians, not American soldiers. If we pull out now, there is a very high likelihood that Iraq will descend into a sectarian genocide, which means perhaps a million more unnecessary deaths.

Jesus said "blessed are the peacemakers". Today there is no question that WE are striving to be the peacemakers in Iraq, and that those fighting us are the warmongers. You must have an accurate perspective to come to an accurate conclusion.

[ceasenake]

I'm not accusing him of anything. I'm just stating that he is a good liberal - intolerant of anyone with a differing opinion.

He says conservaties make him sick and then goes on to disparage their religious beliefs for some reason.

Liberals don't make me sick, just curious as to how they come to some of their conclusions. I guess that makes me a lot more tolerant than "Sir Charles"!

News Flash to Barkley: a) not all conseravtives are religious b) if they have a religion it may not be Baptist or even Christian

[Pacific231]

Fixed your post...you're welcome!

Barkley is well on his way to becoming an American of conscience in good standing - he has the two main components already:

1) hatred of hatred

2) intolerance of intolerance

Well done, Sir Charles.

[klmebane]

he didn't say anything about hatred, and he was right on the mark. as much as conservatives talk about christian values (which are supposed to be about love, tolerance, forgiveness, and leaving judgment to god) they expend an awful lot of energy talking about how gays are dangerous and abortion is murder. regardless of what they think about these topics, the only person according to christianity who can make any kind of judgment about these things is god. so instead of trying to get people to rally around keeping a segment of society from having equal rights under the law, or denying women reproductive freedom (whether that be education, birth control, or abortion) they should be telling people that regardless of who they love or what they do god still loves them.

[Mormondude]

The fact is that SOME tactics and strategies used by the gay marriage lobby ARE dangerous.

The way they have litigated their agenda undermines the ability of government to regulate marriage in any way. It undermines the ability of the government to regulate morality in any way. It is a very risky, and a very UNNECESSARY way to promote their agenda.

Whenever I bring up all the unintended consequences of this strategy, such as polygamy, incest, prostitution, gambling, and all sort of other issues, those in favor are always complaining that they are completely unrelated to gay marriage. 10 years ago they were right. But due to the litigation strategy now being pursued by the gay marriage lobby, they are all directly interrelated.

Personally, I would much rather have the gay lobby change their tactics and debate the issue on its merits alone. But unfortunately they are not allowing that to happen.

The sad fact is that most proponents of gay marriage are completely UNAWARE of the tactics and strategies and legal arguments that are being pursued by the lawyers arguing these cases. The reason they don't understand the backlash is because they aren't paying attention.

[spotdawa]

More Orwellian doublespeak. Barkley speaks out for tolerance for gays and support for women's rights, and that becomes "hatred" and "intolerance".

Barkley hates hypocrisy. So should we all.

[ceasenake]

If someone said the word "liberal" - "makes me sick" you would probably consider them a hater, right?

[ceasenake]

... especially if that statment was followed up by deriding the people in questions' reigion.

[AmericanScream]

Project much?

[boredokie]

He shoots from half court..........AND IT'S IN!!!!!!!!!!! Right on Sir Charles!

[thedirtman]

Sir Charles for Vice President. Not only does he make sense in a bold way, but he would be the best life insurance policy for any sitting President.

[KSH]

My husband says Charles is 100% right. Most conservative are the most hypocritical people, they tend to judge until what they are judging applies to them. They don't want pro-choice unless their young daughter gets knocked up and the family name is endanger of being smeared. It does not matter to me who a man and woman want to marry or kiss or sleep with. I have been married 4 times the last time happily - oh damn I might be a republican - since all of them have been married more than once. But you want catch me tap dancing in the bathroom stall on another man's toes...lol

[sagewisdom]

Amen! Charles Barkley. I agree 1000% with everything he said. In fact, his comments were rather restrained. In my discourse on "conservatives" the language is much rougher.

[iswearington]

thats why they bitch all the time about paying their tithes/taxes to help the poor.their continuous mantra is tax cuts...tax cuts.frankly i liked conservatves better in the 50 s and 60 s when the called themselves the klu klux klan and were damned proud of it.at least you knew who you were dealing with then. now they hide behind names like...christian evangelicals...born again...and values voters...fiscal conservatives and social conservatives ... blue dog etc.noat...etc.no matter what euphemisms they hide behind they are still the same old KKK...states rights dixiecrats that migrated enmasse to the republican party in their rage over the passage of civil and voting rights for blacks.

[thefringecenter]

A real straight talker. How refreshing.

[lm945]

Charles, you want some feedback? I have two words for you.

"THANK YOU".

[OneTop]

Well said Charles !

Finally a few words of Candor on MSM

Thanks again

[GeorgeUSA]

Most of the responses here have been positive on this thread. The right wing will try and pretend this is an attack on Christians when just the opposite is true. This is an attack on hypocrites that use Christianity in an effort to win votes. I just hate that the right wing has caused some people to have a negative view of Christians when in fact true Christians have nothing to do with the right wing. A Christian has compassion for all - especially the poor.

[VitriolAndAngst]

I think one day it is going to dawn on Conservatives, that it hasn't just been a debate -- but that they have been consistently wrong on every issue.

I hate to be sounding that Narrow-minded, but, we couldn't get safety locks on guns because of the NRA. The Right was against affirmative action, the space program and fighting the Nazis. They were for unfettered free trade and "opt in" pollution controls. Against labor standards and public schools and the Marshall plan and for GitMO, abstinence only education and "intelligent design."

The Liberals were threatened at one time by Communism -- and they reigned in that extreme. The Conservative have no such rational impulse -- it seems that Liberals must play the part of the adult for all eternity.

And I have to say, that some of the labels of Liberal and Conservative have drifted over the years -- there used to be a lot of Crackers on the Democratic side before LBJ. The better term is "Modernists vs. Romanticists" and this has been a battle throughout history, between those who look forward, and those who just walk backwards.

[localman]

It's my opinion that hearts have no place in the election process. We better stop and think about what's happening and what we need to do, and not grab onto empty rhetoric only to be bamboozled once again. But as usual this all falls on deaf ears as nearly all of the country is partisan hacks that can't see past red state blue state. So in the end we will be fucked.

[localman]

Sorry that went in the wrong place. Thanks HuffPo!