By

Stephanie Condon /

CBS News/ November 19, 2013, 5:33 PM

White House explains why Obama didn't say "under God" in Gettysburg Address

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

President Obama irked some conservatives with his recitation of the Gettysburg Address, which he read aloud as part of a project celebrating the 150th anniversary of famous Lincoln speech.

For the project, spearheaded by documentarian Ken Burns, a number of politicians and other high-profile people recorded themselves reading the Gettysburg Address.

Some conservatives took offense to the president's reading.

"Lincoln added 'Under God' as he was looking out over battlefield. why would Obama remove?" Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Twitter.

Conservative Christian leader Bryan Fischer added "Obama's omission of 'under God' is more evidence of his anti-Christian bigotry. He honors Islam but disrespects Christianity."

White House spokesman Jay Carney on Tuesday gave a simple explanation for the reading.

"He read the version of the address that Ken Burns provided," he said, noting that Burns is a "noted Civil War scholar."

Specifically, Carney said that Burns gave Mr. Obama the "Nicolay copy" of the Gettysburg Address -- the first draft of the speech, named after John Nicolay, the White House staffer who preserved it.

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Granpallew says:
Personally, I believe Obama is a muslim and a tool being used to destroy America from within. Soros and his other radical friends are pulling the strings and providing the cash. He's also as Anti-Christ as any other radical muslim.

This is the raw truth and we better listen......

Obamacare was never meant to help America, or heal the sick, or lower healthcare costs, or lower the debt, or expand the economy.

The GOP needs to stop calling Obamacare a "trainwreck." That means it's a mistake, or accident. That means it's a gigantic flop, or failure. It's
NOT. This is a brilliant, cynical, and purposeful attempt to damage the
U.S. economy, kill jobs, and bring down capitalism. It's not a failure, it's Obama's grand success.



Obamacare is a raving, rollicking, fantastic success. Stop calling it a
failure. Here is what it was created to do. It is succeeding on all counts.


#1) Obamacare was intended to bring about the Marxist dream-
redistribution of wealth. Rich people, small business owners, and the
middle class are being robbed, so that the money can be redistributed to poor people (who vote Democrat). Think about it. If you're rich or middle class, you now have to pay for your own healthcare costs (at much higher rates) AND 40 million other people's costs too (through massive tax increases). So you're stuck paying for both bills. You are left broke; Brilliant.

#2) Obamacare was intended to wipe out the middle class and make them dependent on government. Think about it. Even Obama's IRS predicts that health insurance for a typical American family by 2016 will be $20,000 per year. But how would middle class Americans pay that bill and have anything left for food or housing or living? People that make $40K, or $50K, or $60K can't possibly hope to spend $20K on health insurance without becoming homeless. Bingo. That's how you make middle class people dependent on government. That's how you make everyone addicted to government checks; again, Brilliant.

#3) As a bonus, Obamacare is intended to kill every decent paying job in the economy, creating only crummy, crappy part-time jobs. Why? Just to make sure the middle class is trapped, with no way out. Just to make sure no one has the $20,000 per year to pay for health insurance, thereby guaranteeing they become wards of the state. Brilliant.

#4) Obamacare is intended to bankrupt small business, and therefore starve donations to the GOP. Think about it. Do you know a small business owner? I know hundreds of them. Their rates are being doubled, tripled and quadrupled by Obamacare. Guess who writes 75% of the checks to Republican candidates and conservative causes? Small business. Even if a small business owner manages to survive, he or she certainly can't write a big check to the GOP anymore. Money is the "mother's milk" of politics. Without donations, a political party ceases to exist. Bingo. That's the point of Obamacare. Obama is bankrupting his political opposition and drying up donations to the GOP. Brilliant.

#5) Obamacare is intended to make the IRS all-powerful. It adds thousands of new IRS agents. It puts the IRS in charge of overseeing 15% of the U.S. economy. The IRS has the right because of Obamacare to snoop into every aspect of your life, to go into your bank accounts, to fine you, to frighten you, to intimidate you. And Obama and his socialist cabal have access to your deepest medical secrets. By law your doctor has to ask your sexual history. That information is now in the hands of Obama and the IRS to blackmail GOP candidates into either not running, or supporting bigger government, or leaking the info and ruining your campaign. Or have you forgotten the IRS harassed, intimidated and persecuted critics of Obama and conservative groups? Now Obama hands the IRS even more power. Big Brother rules our lives. Brilliant.

#6) Obamacare is intended to unionize 15 million healthcare workers. That produces $15 billion in new union dues. That money goes to fund Democratic candidates and socialist causes- thereby guaranteeing Obama's friends never lose another election, and Obama's policies keep ruining capitalism and bankrupting business owners long after he's out of office.


Oh and one more thing...Conservatives aren't "terrorists." We are patriots and saviors. We represent the Constitution and the Founding Fathers. We are the heroes and good guys. Unless you get all this through your thick skulls, America is lost...forever.
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theflyswatter1 replies:
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Does Wayne Allyn Root of Fox News know you are plagiarizing his work?

Just curious.
EmpireGeorge--__--__-- replies:
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Is this blog being published or is someone handing this in for a term paper ? of course not, it's a comment board.....while I use quotation marks myself, it's not a requirement as it would be in publishing and speeches.....you do know something about publishing, right Slow ?
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EmpireGeorge--__--__-- says:
Here Butty,

http://www.yorkblog.com/yorkspast/2013/11/18/president-lincoln-was-interrupted-five-times-with-applause-during-his-gettysburg-address/

The newspaper account the following day, (Courtesy of 7Lucky)

So you didn't have to "be there" or listen to Newt !!
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--BAD-RANGER-- says:
Come on Ya'll -- You really think this Disciple of Reverend Wright would forget God?
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Think4times replies:
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Forget who?

You have to have had a memory of something in order to forget it right?
EmpireGeorge--__--__-- replies:
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Hey Ranger....hope you are doing well.
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EmpireGeorge--__--__-- says:
Another point....they call it a speech, because of the words Lincoln spoke....and when he verbally spoke, he used "under God".

So if you are going to recite the "speech" it needs to be the exact words he used when he spoke....THE END !
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theflyswatter1 replies:
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God help anyone trying to recite a GWB speech...
EmpireGeorge--__--__-- replies:
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Some reason you needed to mention Bush ???? or is it just your obsession showing again ?
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EmpireGeorge--__--__-- says:
Zann, I wonder why cbs never reported about this incident/article about the pope ? I thought you might like it....it shows we are getting back on the right path....relevant since God and religion is the topic of this article.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2509528/Vinicio-Riva-disfigured-man-met-Pope.html
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Dancing_Zann replies:
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I'll have to read it.

I saw headlines about the Pope saying something back to Palin about her remarks about him being too liberal...haven't had a chance to read that one yet either.
EmpireGeorge--__--__-- replies:
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Dancing_Zann, thanks....it was very touching and reminded me of something Jesus would have done (similar to the lepers, etc.).a

But he is going to upset many in the church, and he said that if a gay person accepts jesus in their heart then who am I to judge....and I feel that way too....that doesn't mean he or I approves of their lecivious actions, that's another story.

Here is another similar incident, just days ago.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pope-francis-embraces-man-disfigured-face-article-1.1523437
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irishsweetpea40 says:
Ok, so he gave him one of the first two original copies that Lincoln wrote that did not include the under God portion. One of which he took with him to Gettysburg. He added under God while giving the speech and it was included in the three copies he personally made for people thereafter. So, Obama did not give the speech as it is was given or as it has been known since. As in everything else he has done in office, it was a poor attempt at being American.
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ButIPlay1onTV replies:
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"[Lincoln] added under God while giving the speech"
Yet more Secret Unknowable Conservative Knowledge (SUCK).
You've been conned.
EmpireGeorge--__--__-- replies:
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ButIPlay1onTV, What's with this "secret unknowable" nonsense ?

They actually invented pens already at that time, they recored what Lincoln said, and wrote the speech in the newspapers...exactly as he said it....not the god-less atheist approved version that Obama used.
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SteveSpurrier says:
Why did he have to read it? Don't they memorize the Gettysburg Address at the madrassa's in jakarta?
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PGHFOGLESONG replies:
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Steve, I'm a Republican, so I can safely say your comment is stupid, ridiculous and ignorant. The reality is that his staff screwed up and that is what happened. Yes, your ignorant comment probably drew what you wanted, a reaction. But hey I had a colonoscopy yesterday, and I'd show the pictures of my *******, but all you have to do is look in the mirror.
ButIPlay1onTV replies:
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foggy, the only thing Obama's staff 'screwed up' is not catering to the usual Phoniest of Phony Outrage ginned up trivia for the Conservative Media Cult.
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theflyswatter1 says:
I still believe we should rotate the name of the god each time it's used...

"Ganesh bless the United States!"

"One Nation Under the Flying Spaghetti Monster!"

"In Zeus We Trust!"


You know, just to cover the bases.
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Dancing_Zann replies:
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Wonder what would happen if we all got Baptized into every different religion, just to cover the bases?
theflyswatter1 replies:
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Well, you'd prune up, for sure! That's one helluva lotta baptisms!
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Think4times says:
I'm convinced that the purpose of "God" on this planet is so that humans can have something to fight about until the end of time.

So silly
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samlaf1 replies:
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Well, aren't YOU an idiot. Fortunately for you, God still loves you.
Think4times replies:
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Unfortunately for you, you insult others for believing different than you.

P.S. Thank you for proving my point.
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Orion-__ says:
Meanwhile, our 43rd President, (no) WMD Bush spent his Thursday last week converting old Jews into the new Jews at an Irving church (while he wasn't painting portraits of Jay Leno). Bush must be up for Billy Graham's job now...the Great Converter.
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Non-Political replies:
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orion-,

Another limited thought process capable person. Bush this, Bush that. Bush, Bush, Bush. People like you elected that POS and now America is paying for it.
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