Republicans Say the Darndest Things: Noah Didn't Retire So Neither Should You

Greg Gianforte (R)

Potential Candidate for

Governor of Montana

Greg Gianforte speaking in Bozeman in March 2015

Multi-millionaire entrepreneur Greg Gianforte said he is "seriously considering" challenging Montana Governor Steve Bullock (D) next year. His announcement and his 30 city tour have drawn attention to his conservative stance on social issues, including his call for the elimination of Social Security.

In February, he spoke at the Montana Bible College about the "godly purpose" in work, explaining that Bible does not teach about retirement.

"There's nothing in the Bible that talks about retirement.  And yet it's been an accepted concept in our culture today,  Nowhere does it say, 'Well he was a good and faithful servant, so he went to the beach.'  It doesn't say that anywhere." 

"The example I think of is Noah.  How old was Noah when he built the ark? 600.  He wasn't like, cashing Social Security checks, he wasn't hanging out, he was working .  So I think we have an obligation to work.  The role we have in work may change over time, but the concept of retirement is not biblical."

Soon after the Huffington Post reported Mr. Gianforte's Noah speech on June 9, the audio link to his speech, along with any mention of its contents was removed from the college's website.

what eye thynk:  You know what else isn't in the Bible?  Airplanes and the Internet; but Mr. Gianforte is a tech entrepreneur; and I'll bet he isn't wearing sandals and walking to those 30 Montana cities.

His family foundation supports a Montana creation museum that displays dinosaur fossils "in the context of biblical creation."  Mr. Gianforte proudly believes that the earth is only 6,000 years old and that dinosaurs and people lived on the earth together until Noah's biblical flood, when all the dinosaurs drowned.

I guess Noah forgot to send them an invitation to join the Arc's maiden voyage.  Quite an oversite on Noah's part; but I guess we should forgive him.  I'm sure his 600-year-old memory wasn't as sharp as it was when he was merely 60. 

Mr. Gianforte unsuccessfully lobbied the city of Bozeman in 2014 before the city council approved a non-discrimination ordinance to protect its LGBT citizens.  He wrote to the council members and to Mayor Jeff Krauss:

"Homosexual advocates try to argue that businesses are leery of locating in towns that aren't friendly to homosexuals.  I believe the opposite is truer."

As one pundit said, Mr. Gianforte just "may lack the flexibility, the adaptability, and the empathy for the less fortunate, that successful governing and honoring of human rights require."

Amen to that.