When Henrietta Hughes, homeless after losing her home to foreclosure in 2003, pleaded for help from Barack Obama during his town hall meeting in Fort Myers, Florida, she not only received a sympathetic kiss from the president but a helping hand from state Rep. Nick Thompson, R-Fort Myers, and his wife Chene. Mrs. Thompson, a former prosecutor, on the spot offered Hughes, 61, and her son use of a second home they have been unable to sell or rent. Call it a random act of kindness.
But before long, Rush Limbaugh was on the air casting Hughes as an "embarrassing" poster child for Americans expecting free hand-outs from the president ("I mean, as an American, this is embarrassing, and it's sad, but there's a reason why -- there's a reason why this woman takes her one chance to talk to the president of the United States and ask and beg for a car and a kitchen," said Limbaugh). And Rep. Thompson started receiving calls from people across the country bashing him as a disgrace to Republican principles of self-responsibility. Thompson makes no apologies, noting after losing her home to foreclosure in 2003 that Hughes has been paying credit card debt, car insurance, even tithing to her ministry, while living off Social Security and food stamps.
"There is nothing more American or Christian or freedom-loving than someone of their own volition using the resources they have to help someone, and not going through some government program or using tax dollars,’’ Thompson said.
These people, Nick Thompson and his wife, out of the goodness of their hearts, allowed this stranger to live in an unused home while she tries to get on her feet. Kudos to them both.
Rush Limbaugh, giant ass that he is, has the nerve to rant against the Thompsons’ as an embarrassment to Americans. For this comment and many, many others, Rush Limbaugh is an embarrassment to humanity. He views this type of charity only through the eyes of “what is in it for me”. And then his ‘ditto-head flock of sheep’ start bashing Thompson as a disgrace to Republican principles of self-responsibility.
Self responsibility through helping your neighbor in time of need is the greatest show of respect we can offer each other. This is the kind of respectability that far too many Americans have forgotten.
As Mr. Thompson said "Whether Republican or Democrat, the more people do small things like just helping your neighbor the better off we’d be."
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