GOP Rep. Trent Franks Calls Obama "An Enemy Of Humanity"

A Republican member of the House of Representatives accused President Barack Obama of being "an enemy of humanity" during a conservative values forum this past weekend.

In a speech Saturday before the How to Take Back America conference, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) made comments that went far beyond the limits of traditional White House criticism. At one point, Franks demanded that Obama release his birth certificate to prove his constitutional eligibility to hold office. The bluntest charge, however, centered on the president's position on abortion, which the congressman derided as "insane" and godless.

WATCH:

"Obama's first act as president of any consequence, in the middle of a financial meltdown, was to send taxpayers' money overseas to pay for the killing of unborn children in other countries," said Frank. "Now, I got to tell you, if a president will do that, there's almost nothing that you should be surprised at after that. We shouldn't be shocked that he does all these other insane things. A president that has lost his way that badly, that has no ability to see the image of God in these little fellow human beings, if he can't do that right, then he has no place in any station of government and we need to realize that he is an enemy of humanity."

A Franks spokeswoman clarified that he was referring only to the president's position on abortion.

Bethany Haley said the congressman was referring to "unborn humanity" and should have clarified his statement. She also said that Franks meant to say that Obama's abortion-related policies have no place in government, rather than that Obama has no place in government.

"He was just referring to the way President Obama has set himself up as the most pro-abortion president in America's history," Haley said.

The video, which went largely unnoticed before being passed along to the Huffington Post by People For the American Way's Right Wing Watch, is the latest in a line of extraordinarily blunt and personal attacks on the president by his Republican critics.

It is also one of the sharpest jabs taken at Obama on cultural issues by a sitting member of Congress. Much of the conservative angst with the president to date has centered on matters of government spending, health care, and judicial nominees -- the logical extension of the White House and Congress's intense focus on those three issues. But it is also, in some ways, a reflection of the extent to which religious conservatism has been marginalized in recent months.

"Rep. Trent Franks' remarks at the How to Take Back America Conference show a stunning lack of respect for our president and the office of the presidency itself," said Michael B. Keegan, President of People For the American Way in a statement. "Rep. Franks is following the lead of Glenn Beck, but he's a member of Congress, not a talk show host, and he should act like one. Americans, and especially members of Congress, should be able to disagree passionately about politics without making wild and irresponsible accusations."

"President Obama's views on reproductive rights are supported by a majority of Americans, and it is outrageous for Rep. Franks to claim that anyone who holds such views is unfit for public office and an 'enemy of humanity,'" Keegan added. "Rep. Franks, like Rep. Joe Wilson before him, owes President Obama an apology."

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[Write4U]

Trent Franks is an "Enemy of Reason"

[Cattycat]

this "Take Back America" conference reminds me of an old madTV's Darlene McBride "Take Back America" tour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqZaQKskP-A

LOL!

[richardgordon]

Another example of how despicable Republicans can get. If anything, its the Republican Party and their totally distorted view of reality that is the enemy of humanity. It is their values of wanton greed and reckless indifference that will be responsible for destroying Gods most beautiful creation: Earth and all its inhabitants.

[hhayden]

If anything k'ills the Earth it will be overpopulation, not a political party.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw

How is republican greed any different than democrat greed? There are plenty of wealthy corporate types in both parties.

[LeftOfCenter44]

It's not how much you can get your hands on, it's what you do with it. Rep. Grayson went to Harvard and built up a multi-billion dollar business. That's not stopping him from fighting for the rights of his fellow man. Therein lies your "difference"

[riff4u]

Let's see........ Senator Franks you are a Republican. That means you must have some kind of sex scandal in your closet somewhere like all good family values guys. We will wait for it to come out then we will really have fun with you.

[hhayden]

You mean like Bill Clinton, Daniel Inouye, Barney Frank, Brock Adams, Fred Richmond, John Young, Wayne Hayes, Gerry Studds, Mel Reynolds etc?

[democracy7]

No, more like Ensign, Sanford, Giuliani, Gingrich, McCain, Vitters, Craig, etc.

[gouge]

Daniel Inouye.....funny you should mention this particular guy as the whole group of repuglicans in the senate combined and square-rooted don't add up to this one single man -a hero, a great man -you really have no business sir, draging this Congressional Medal Of Honor recipient through your slimey attempt at justicfication.

-sure dems have sex scandals as do all members of the human race-but they dont live in glass houses---

[riff4u]

The difference is that the Republicans are centered around the" purer than thou approach"........ until they get caught. Barney Frank is out and open about being gay. Larry Craig still won't admit it even after being busted in the men's room at an airport. Bill Clinton is a known lady's man. Many Republicans who condemned him were later caught with their own pants down.

[hhayden]

Time to go after another one of your own.


Sen. Thomas Carper (D.-Del.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, told CNSNews.com that he does not “expect” to read the actual legislative language of the committee’s health care bill because it is “confusing” and that anyone who claims they are going to read it and understand it is fooling people.

“I don’t expect to actually read the legislative language because reading the legislative language is among the more confusing things I’ve ever read in my life,” Carper told CNSNews.com.
Carper described the type of language the actual text of the bill would finally be drafted in as "arcane," "confusing," "hard stuff to un derstand," and "incomprehensible." He likened it to the "gibberish" used in credit card disclosure forms.

Last week, the Finance Committee considered an amendment offered by Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) that would have required the committee to post the full actual language of the proposed legislation online for at least 72 hours before holding a final committee vote on it. The committee defeated the amendment 13-10.

[norman60]

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) is crazy.THE RACISTS ARE KILLERS. In the campaign, Barack said of the racists in America that these people cling to gun and religion and dislike those who don't look like them. They got angry like the jews who wanted to stone Jesus. Why are these people angry with the truth about their evil ways? It is cowardice and an unwillingness to repent. A good man wants to mend his ways when confronted with the truth. Don't they still cling to gun and religion today? Are they not the ones who killed Dr Tiller in the name of God? Would Jesus have killed Dr Tiller? No. One of their "pastors" is praying for Barack to die. It is painful because this is not the God we christians serve. This is what Jesus will say of them "O vipers' brood, how can you speak what is good when you are evil?" It is evil because they claim to serve the God they don't know. If they claim to be christians and to serve Jesus, this is his disclaimer on them: "For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Luke 9.57". Disliking those who don't look like you is not mark of greatness, yet American claims to be a great nation?

[hhayden]

And what do democrats cling to besides big government and social engineering? Handouts and the Granny State? The give it to me because I don't want to bother improving myself.

[LeftOfCenter44]

You show me a bill from Republicans that allows someone to better "themself". You can't. Shut the fucc up.

[SiameseTrainer]

And because you assume that everyone would revert to being a lazy unmotivated slob, as you KNOW you would, we should have no Government Programs to help motivate people and improve their lives? You assume too much.

[riff4u]

The Republicans are out to improve themselves at the expense of everybody else.

[russrpm]

First, let's just agree that Frank's has lost sight of his position and responsibilities as a U.S. Congressman. There is no place for this type of utter nonsence in our country. The level of hate from the right escalates every day, and there is no end is sight. We should remember each of these bastions of democracy, and then remind them what democracy is on election day.

Second. since everyone on here seems to have an opinion about abortion, here's mine. I wish that there were no abortions; I think we all do. But I am not going to impose my moral beliefs on everyone else. In the case of incest or rape , I do not believe that anyone should object, if it is the mother's true desire to end the pregnancy. I haven't adopted any children in order to prevent an abortion, and if you are not going to, butt out.

[hhayden]

Frenks is just the republican counterpart of Alan Grayson. Both sides have folks who should think about what they say before they say it.

As for abortions, I am for free abortions for anyone who wants one.

[kevwells]

Ahhh... another "ReTHUGlican" conference. "How to take back America". Hmm. I thought that was why we held elections, not conferences attended by whack jobs wielding kevlar coated bibles. This is outrageous behavior by an elected official. Leaders lead by example and this is woefully lacking in anything remotely worth emulating. Free speech does not mean free of respect, a sense of decorum, etc. Not to mention downright lies and distortions so common now from these gatherings.

It is sad that these people are led to legitimacy by the iresponsible rhetoric of people like Rep. Franks.

[hhayden]

That "th'ug" thing has been worn out yonks ago. You need some new material. Should conservatives call you a demoncrats? What would that serve? Where is your "respect, a sense of decorum"? There is plenty of "iresponsible rhetoric" right here on the HP, from democrats like Grayson and media like MSNBC and Air Americe. Dare I use the H word on you?

[boden]

Legislating morality... sigh... the religious right can't seem to understand is inherently contradictory in a free country. They cry about freedom for all Americans while simultaneously trying to inject theocratic ideals on the American people. The religions right spend so much time trying to stop behavior that is perfectly normal in the natural world, it baffles my mind. But the one that bothers me the most is their fascination with keeping women pregnant. I wonder if it's the old "The more children my followers "serfs" have the more followers "workers" I will have". Which was the philosophy of medieval lords, kings, cults etc...

[hhayden]

They just think that an unborn baby has the right to live, just like you do. They can try to get favorable legislation if they want, just like leftists do.

[democracy7]

But once born does it have a right to health care?

[MadMaddie]

hhayden said: "If one out of three infants die in the US, how come I've never known a single person who lost a new born? I"m sure it happens, but one out of three seems unlikely".­..........­.......
1. Have u ever had the misfortune of spending any time at a NICU? My husband and I unfortunately had to with the birth of our first child in 2002. Plenty of those poor kiddos do not make it.

2. Have u ever opened a newspaper and perused thru the obituarites in your entire life? I'm only in my 30s and I've seen plenty of infants listed in my lifetime.The bereaved families almost always include a photo of their poor beloved yet very dead baby in the obit or sometimes simply list the child's name followed by these heartbreaking words: infant daughter/son of so and so.............so that might make it easier for ya hhayden to tell these poor dead babies from the usual old people who are listed.


The facts... although I know facts and truth never seem to matter.
6.3 deaths/1,000 live births in U.S.
male: 6.95 deaths/1,000 live births in U.S.
female: 5.62 deaths/1,000 live births in U.S.
Healthcare matters. Bigtime. Our infant mortality rate is double that of Japan or Sweden.... utterly shameful.
Feh.... but who needs healthcare for all of our legal citizens when we live in a nation that thinks torture is good and healthcare is bad?

[BrickSykes]

Hhayden and his bunch only associate with each other so that don't meet many 'regular' people through the course of a day. He's never met anyone who left a dead child at the hospital because most of those poor unfortunates don't go around blabbing about it. I've left two. My first was a daughter who lived for seven hours. We even had to name her.....

Brick

[MadMaddie]

That is utterly heartbreaking, Brick. Words escape me to say more.
Not a day goes by that hubby and I do not look at our now much stronger and healthier 1st grade daughter (and our 2 yr old son, too) and not count our enormous blessings..... and thank the heavens above that we were fortunate enough to have decent health insurance that allowed my daughter and I to survive a very difficult pregnancy and premature delivery, and subsequent neo-natal care.
But we were lucky.
It is beyond shameful that our nation only lets those lucky enough to have healthcare survive and thrive.

[hhayden]

I have a bunch?

Sincerely sorry for your loss, or anyone elses.

I was questioning the 30% mortality rate that was alleged.

[hhayden]

I didn't say it never happened, I just think that almost 1 in 3 was was extreme and I think we'd hear about it beyond the obits if it were anything like that. 6.3 out of a thousand if a far cry from 30% which was the allegation.

As for tor'ture, they just had a story on where baseball bats were used to beat kids in a college hazing. Water boarding and temperature adjusting seems mild in comparison. You could easily get much worse at the hands of the LAPD. Why no condemnation of the real torture the enemy uses?

[jeff90125]

Who ever said Healthcare was bad? Personally I think it's just overpriced. Why it is overpriced I'm not sure exactly. Here are some contributing factors:

Too much paperwork. When you have a job title of medical coding specialist you know you've got to pay for them somehow. Pushing around paperwork costs money

Medical malpractice insurance. Face it, America is sue happy. Any problem, sue the doctor, they have money. Even if you lose, it still costs money.

Doing un-necessary tests to prevent being sued. I'm sure there are lots of those. An MRI costs a small fortune.

People using the emergency room as a doctors office. People do this who don't have insurance and it is also used by illegal aliens. That costs a fortune.

HIPPA regulations. I know this one personally. The more regulations there are the more it costs to implement them. Any regulations costs money to implement. Some of these are necessary, some are not. They ALL are expensive.

We may be one of the few countries without socialized healthcare but we have many people coming here to get care becasue it's either better here or they can't get the care they need in their own country.

yes, we need to change something to make it affordable like it once was but let's not reduce the level and quality of care we have now.

[BrickSykes]

Okay, let's open the bag, okay? Trent Franks has been living with a birth defect his entire life. I didn't realize there was a practice in the UK until 1967 where fetuses with some forms of cleft palate, or other clefts, were ABORTED because of the potential for lifelong treatment. I think this is important with regard to Franks because there have been Psychosocial issues when dealing with these victims of the phenomena. Read this from Wiki:

"In some countries, cleft lip or palate deformities are considered reasons (either generally tolerated or officially sanctioned) to perform abortion beyond the legal fetal age limit, even though the fetus is not in jeopardy of life or limb. Some human rights activists contend this practice of "cosmetic murder" amounts to eugenics. British clergywoman Joanna Jepson, who suffered from a congenital jaw deformity herself (not a cleft lip or palate as is sometimes reported), has started legal action to stop the practice in the UK [22][23] (although in the UK, such an abortion would not be permitted under the 1967 Abortion Act, because a cleft lip and palate is not considered a serious handicap)."

So, who here knows for sure that Rep. Franks isn't on a 'Personal Vendetta' against President Obama because he supports (which he doesn't) abortion? See? No One Does! Come on, some of us think about that!

Brick

[hhayden]

Wow. With ideas like that, it's amazing that you can communicate at all.

[BrickSykes]

Oh, I see. Never known any humans with 'ulterior motives', huh?

Brick

[jeff90125]

I believe that Ron Paul is right. He certainly believes that life begins at conception, however, he also believes as I do, that it is not the federal governments responsibility to decide. As far as abortion goes, it should be up to the states whether or not to allow it or anything else to do with abortion.

Anybody disagree with that?

[hhayden]

Only in that I don't thinks it's the state's business either.

[Beca]

So these Republican neanderthals think a) that America has been taken from them, and b) the way to "get the country back" from the majority of Americans is by raising the level of hatemonguering against our President. Smart! Representative Alan Grayson (D) of Florida was correct when he described Republicans as nuckle-dragging Neanderthals on CNN. By the way, Rep. Grayson is a new member of Congress, yet he has shown more guts, courage, intelligence, and fire in his belly than any other sitting Democratic member of Congress--he is my new hero, and I hope the rest of the Dems. follow his lead. In fact, he should replace Pelosi, he would whip the Dem. Congress into shape!! But I digress.
The reason they feel the gop has to have a conference to figure out how to "tale America back", is because they feel they are the only legitimate citizens of America, and the rest of us (those of us who are not Wasps) are pesky insurgents. This is also why they show not only unbelievable disrespect to President Obama, but why they de-legitimize him as our legitimate President so easily. Before we elected a non-white President, it would have been unthinkable for sitting members of Congress to question the legitimacy of a sitting President, let alone, insult and disrespect a sitting President as they have been doing to President Obama so publicly.

[hhayden]

If a friend of yours was about to jump off a bridge, you would speak out about it, would not? You might even raise your voice in your effort to save them. That's how we conservatives feel about America today. I don't think it's a good idea to at'tack Obama personally, but on policy I think it's open season. Seems I remember 8 years of ha'tefull and disre'spectfull commentary about the last president and his administration and while two wrongs don't make a right it's rather hypocritical to be so overwrought about the way Obama is treated. You guys set the bar so to speak.

[BrickSykes]

That is a LIE! And your misconceived notions about the "Right" of Conservatives to "Save the World" are hilarious! Someone has to elect you to be the 'Catcher in the Rye', hhayden, you can't just all of a sudden proclaim yourself CAPABLE of 'guiding' humanity into anything no matter how hard your 'leaders' have tried to convince you!

How dare you! How dare ANY of you 'Conservatives' try to 'Save My Life!' See, you guys DO Believe you're GOD!

Brick

[Onbothsidesnow]

hhayden - first, one can clearly appreciate your tone of respectful dissent. from my own personal recollection, disrespectful commentary about the last president seemed *mostly* about his intelligence, his ability to speak in coherent sentences, his 'good old boy' network, etc. etc.... the hate that is spewing forth from the right is the most vile I have ever witnessed. can you share with us examples of the same unmitigated foaming-at­-the-mouth attacks on mr. bush? i suggest you take a little trip over to foxnation and check out the seething posts over there. you will be amazed and aghast at the level of pure filth hate that lives on those blogs. it is truly unbelievable. 'the bar' has been raised x1000.

this country is not becoming socialist/­marxist/le­ninist/sta­linist/any other ist they can come with. I believe it is becoming a "Mediacracy" thanks to the likes of Faux Newz/Nation and their personalities over there who are clearly whipping everyone into a frenzy for the sake of viewership.

[Khirad]

Seriously, I don't know why this guy hasn't gotten more national press. He is as extreme and loopy as Bachmann. He also comes from what has to be one of the most ridiculously obvious gerrymandered districts in the nation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AZ-districts-109-02.gif

[hhayden]

If they went around and reported all the nu'tty things politicians said as they go about there day and to meetings or speeches, there wouldn't be room for any other news. I don't know what sort of congressman this guy is, but I would judge him more on what he does in office (Whatever that is. I have no idea) rather than what he says. Would you like republicans getting all worked up over what someone like Pelosi says?

[SocialistBoy]

franks has a disability and I'm not talking about his lip!!