The venue was the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta where 60 years ago, Martin Luther King issued thundering sermons against discrimination and segregation.
For the president's close friend and top aide Valerie Jarrett, it was the site of something far more mundane and probably illegal; a highly partisan political speech that bashed Republicans and praised President Obama.
Weekly Standard:
Teachers, and firefighters, and policemen, whose jobs are now in jeopardy because Congress--well let me be specific--because the Republicans in Congress," Jarrett told the crowd. According to the CBS affiliate in Atlanta, at this point, "Before she could finish her sentence, people in the congregation were laughing, and applauding."
At the Sunday service, Jarrett also brought up Osama bin Laden's death in order to praise the president. "We all sleep a little better at night knowing Osama Bin Laden and his lieutenants are not plotting a terrorist attack against the United States," Jarrett said. Then she pivoted to Iraq: "I saw so many soldiers returning home from their last tour of duty in Iraq, in time for the Christmas holidays."
At the end of Sunday's sermon, after Jarrett had delivered her remarks to the congregation, the church held a voter registration drive.
Yes, a church maintains its tax exempt status as long as it doesn't engage in partisan politics. And Jarrett's speech was about as partisan as it gets.
But we're talking about the Ebenezer Baptist Church - akin to the Vatican for African Americans and many liberals. So all we can do is call out Jarrett and the left for their towering hypocrisy in going after the tax exempt status of religiously conservative churches that they accuse of bringing politics into the mix.
Hat Tip: Ed Lasky
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