Martin Bashir   |  February 06, 2013

Bashir: GOP shows little ‘faith’ in its own policies

Martin Bashir demonstrates how Republican’s loud drumbeat of religious testimonials belie their actual policies, which end up hurting poor Americans.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> it's time now to clear the air. while the gop tries desperately to rebrand and remake its public image, one of the things that became abundantly clear during the last election is that the church in this country is not simply the republican party at prayer. after decades of claiming that they were the truly devout political entity, voters started to compare republicans with some basic tenets of christian teaching and found them to be far apart. there were the obvious like newt gingrich who never ceases to sell his membership of the catholic church but is the serial adulterer. then there was herman cain who claimed the mantle of faith but had to drop out after sexual harassment and disgraceful behavior toward women. then there was this guy.

>> this catholic deer hunter is proud of that and i'm guilty as charged . that's who we are, this country. i happily cling to my guns and my religion.

>> that, of course, was congressman paul ryan . aiming a cheap shot at the president who in 2008 spoke about people in small towns who may have felt em bitered and overlooked by governments. while mr. ryan flogged his faith throughout the campaign, he was exposed as a hypocrite by a number of catholic bishops who implied that his budget had about as much to do with christian compassion as a crate of acid. and others like sister simone campbell who led a 17-city nuns on the bus tour highlighting all of the faith-based programs that would be destroyed if mr. ryan 's budget were ever to be implemented. once again mr. ryan spoke with forked tongue and the people were not having it. which brings us back to the challenge facing the gop. republicans like paul ryan are now trying to wash their brutal policies in a kind of fabric conditioner. but they're still offering the same hair shirt to the nation. and until their policies properly reflect some essential aspects of the christian gospel , then they should spare us all the religious clap chat. because as the new testament makes clear, faith without works is