Or do you want to debate whether taking on child abuse cases and doing volunteer work for a legal aid service is helping “the people?”

What this was about — I mean, to you, since when Michelle Obama said “this race” it was pretty clear she meant “the Democratic race for the nomination” — was your easy pass to someone whose religious mission stood in for actually helping people. It’s a far cry from taking a neighborhood organization job after graduating Harvard Law School.

But since you won’t admit the possibility that you’re wrong, we’ll leave it where it lays.

“She also took the time to totally mischaracterize the background of most of the candidates in the Presidential race, namely Mike Gravel, Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, and even Republican frontrunner John McCain, none of whom are lawyers:

“Barack’s a lawyer I’m a lawyer…but everybody in this race is a lawyer. And most of them made their millions before they decided to help the people, but not Barack.” – Michelle Obama

Incidentally, that second part about making “their millions before they decided to help the people…” just isn’t really true. (Even Mitt Romney did a 30 month stint as a missionary when he got out of college and most likely wasn’t worth “millions” at that point, and Hillary Clinton, did some “help the people” stuff before she and Bill made their fortune).”

Whether or not Mormons preaching the gospel and doing community service helps people, I can’t argue that point with you anymore, I relent because you’ll never admit that you could possibly be wrong, so I’ll concede that point to you, Al, your point that Mormons on missions are just there as a right of passage, they don’t give a crap about helping people, and it’s all a joke.

Now, that being said, Michelle Obama’s statement was still false.

You were the one making the original point, not me. You equated proselytizing door-to-door with “helping people.” I’m not the one who had to resort to the “if it helped just one person” argument to make his point. That was you. If you don’t understand how flimsy that argument is, you’re beyond my help.

And Al, I’m not a very religious person, but unlike you, I don’t pretend that religion hasn’t helped people to make my points look valid.

I posted the context of the “made their millions” quote. It wasn’t, in any way, shape, or form, just directed towards Democrats OR Hillary OR just the primary, and it is not a valid statement.

Preaching the Gospel? Sorry, doesn’t count as helping people in my book — well, OK, it doesn’t in most cases actually HURT, but it doesn’t help as much as, oh, holding a door open for someone about to enter the Wawa.

Obviously you value preaching more than I do, and probably more than Michelle Obama does. I think we’ve cleared that up now.

“I was pointing out that “helping people” is not the reason Mormons go on missions.”

http://dearelder.com/index/inc_name/Mormon_Missionaries/

“Proselyting missionaries are simply those that devote the majority of their time to teaching the Gospel. They do, however, spend time in community and personal service to others. The majority of Mormon missionaries are proselyting missionaries.”

The Mormons think so. Teaching the gospel and community service can be interpreted as “helping people.”

“If his religious message uplifted one of the people who opened their door to him, and he gave them hope, he helped people.”

Oh, OK, I didn’t realize the bar was set so low. How about all the people who found it annoying, however briefly? Does that count against him on the great karmic wheel?

–As for his work being nothing more than a “rite of passage,” many religions have “rites of passage” that “bind” their youth to the church. For example Catholics have Confirmation. Is that just a joke to you, too, or again, do you just have a problem with Mormons?–

There’s a world of difference between a young Catholic — too young to truly understand the rite, in many cases — studying for Confirmation once a week and sending kids off to the ends of the earth for two years. The latter is the sort of ritual designed to emphasize the group member’s otherness to all but his fellow adherents and their leaders in the church. It’s similar to what you’ll see in other institutions seekinga measure of mental control — the Army leaps to mind, but so does MBNA.

There is a difference between taking note of a religion’s customs and “having a problem” with those customs. I was pointing out that “helping people” is not the reason Mormons go on missions. I have seen many church missions that visit poor countries, and poor areas in this one, to “help people.” They don’t go door-to-door peddling something — in this case, religion. I have no problem with them doing this, only with you proclaiming it “helping people.” I was suggesting your standards there were rather low, which you have now confirmed. Thank you for playing.

–And Al, thanks for letting me know that I need to play by your rules or I shouldn’t “play at all.” But I need to know if that only applies to this blog, or if you control all of the blog commenting in the state.–

Oh, lighten up. It was a reference to the phrase “play dumb,” and all it means is don’t bother responding if you don’t want to engage in any meaningful dialogue.

I posted Michelle Obama’s quote, in its entirety, and in context. Here it is again:

“See, in this society we value people who have worked in the upper eschalons and made tons of money and run big Fortune 500 companies and we call that experience somehow better than folks who work with regular folks on the ground. And that’s confusing to me. But I hope it’s not confusing to you. See, Barack’s a lawyer I’m a lawyer everybody’s a lawyer, hopefully all you all won’t be lawyers, but everybody in this race is a lawyer. And most of them made their millions before they decided to help the people, but not Barack.”

It speaks for itself.

And George, I want you to know that your long line of baseless and inflammatory insults have not gone unappreciated. You have very interesting opinions and that’s special.

An interpretation, that I might add, is not shared or expressed by anyone else in the national media or even the Clinton campaign, who covers these things all of the time…

But, I mean, they have an education, so they probably don’t have time to read your bright insights. They’re too busy talking about crew regattas.

“See, in this society we value people who have worked in the upper eschalons and made tons of money and run big Fortune 500 companies and we call that experience somehow better than folks who work with regular folks on the ground. And that’s confusing to me. But I hope it’s not confusing to you. See, Barack’s a lawyer I’m a lawyer everybody’s a lawyer, hopefully all you all won’t be lawyers, but everybody in this race is a lawyer. And most of them made their millions before they decided to help the people, but not Barack.”

Next?

And Michelle Obama was doing the “class warfare thingie”?… please. That, in combination with bringing up Mike Gravel makes it clear that your intellect just borders on the pre-literate.

All of this from the crack journalism squad that brought you “Girls Gone Wild” in Dewey Beach… Oh, and don’t forget running the Jewish kids out of town who don’t want to pray in a public school.

Oh yes WGMD, who would of thought that you guys wouldn’t like a black Democrat running for President… Fair and Balanced.