Glenn Beck Interviews David Barton This Morning – Barton Says The Time Is Not Right For Him To Run

A somewhat vague post on the Draft David Barton for Senate Facebook page has me wondering if Barton is going to disclose his decision whether or not to challenge John Cornyn for the Texas Senate seat. The author of the post wrote:

Listen to Glenn Beck’s radio program tomorrow morning for an interview with David Barton and check this page right after the interview.

Rick Green has been holding out for 5,000 likes as a test of interest in a Barton run. Today, the page stands at 2,995. However, if Barton is getting the green light from those he considers important in Texas, he may go ahead with a challenge.
On the other hand, if Barton and company look at last night’s rejection of tea party politics such as occurred in Alabama and Virginia, they might pull back and decline to challenge Cornyn who has significant conservative bona fides. According to several new reports, tea party supporters make up a sizable chunk of Barton’s support.
Beck’s show begins at 9am and can be heard here. During the first hour of the program, Beck said Barton will announce his decision during the second hour of the show. Watch this space…
UPDATE: On Glenn Beck’s show this morning, David Barton said he does not plan to run for Senate. Earlier, Barton told Beck that he had to check with his family and with God. Barton told Beck God didn’t tell him to run.
Barton released a written statement to The Blaze.
 

Abortion and David Barton’s Theometeorology

It is all over Twitter. Salon and Right Wing Watch have stories about David Barton’s claim that legal abortion has triggered climate change and all sorts of other weather problems. Barton’s theometeorological pronouncement came during an appearance on Kenneth Copeland’s television broadcast. You can watch the segment here where he begins talking about abortion and the weather at about 18:55. Watch until the end to get the context.
At that point, Kenneth Copeland says that storms and hurricanes and murders don’t just happen. Barton agrees and adds that since we (meaning the U.S. I suppose) have embraced a wicked policy (legalized abortion), then God will take away his hand of protection. Because of God’s absence, then Barton claims:

Whap! Here comes storms like we’ve never seen before, here comes floods like, and here comes climate stuff that we can’t explain, all the hot times and all the cold times. Too much rain and not enough rain; we’re flooding over here, and we got droughts over here. And you know back in the early America days, when something like that happened, first thing they did was issue a call for a national day of prayer, repentance, humiliation, fasting and prayer. We have screwed up somewhere. We gotta get God’s help to get blessings back on this nation. And today we’re saying ‘oh no, it’s global warming.” No, we opened a door that lost God’s protection over our environment and that’s our choice.

Even if there was some theological merit to this line of thinking, the facts don’t support the link made by Barton and Copeland, as far I can tell. Just looking at hurricanes (this seems fair since Copeland specifically mentioned hurricanes), the worst hurricane in the U.S. was the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. The National Weather Service ranks U.S. hurricanes by number of deaths, cost and intensity. Most of the deadliest hurricanes happened before Roe v. Wade.


In fact, Katrina is the only hurricane after Roe v. Wade in the top ten. I only count seven hurricanes which happened after Roe v. Wade in the top 52. When it comes to cost (see the NWS report for that), the most recent hurricanes top the list because the amount of the losses are not adjusted for inflation. However, in terms of intensity, only two of the top ten storms occurred after Roe v. Wade. In terms of numbers of hurricanes, there has not been an increase in recent years. In fact, the NWS report says: “Table 6, which lists hurricanes by decades since 1851, shows that during the 40-year period 1961-2000 both the number and intensity of landfalling U.S. hurricanes decreased sharply.”

No support for the thesis there.

The murder rate (also mentioned by Copeland) does not support the theory. As I pointed out in an earlier post, violent crime including the murder rate has been falling since the early 1990s. The murder rate now is lower than it was in 1961.

When it comes to floods, prior to the current Colorado floods, the worst flood in history is the 1927 Mississippi River flood, followed by the 1937 Ohio River flood (this flood is famous in my home town of Portsmouth, Ohio since flood walls were built in response). While climate change may indeed bring about long term weather changes, including increased flooding, it does not appear that one can accurately associate meaningful weather disasters with the Roe v. Wade decision.

David Barton For Senate: Status Report With More From Politico, Glenn Beck, First Things, Mother Jones, MSNBC, Newsweek, RNS

A little over four days since Rick Green declared 5,000 Facebook likes to be evidence of a public call to David Barton to run for Senate, the effort has garnered 2,228 as of early Monday morning. Apparently, not satisfied with the pace of the draft, Green posted a challenge on the page yesterday.

Couple thousand likes in a couple of days is good, but if you want David to run, now is the time to like and share this page and get it up to 5K in the next few days. Get the word out!

By my calculations, at the present rate, he will get to 5,000 likes by about Saturday which I guess could qualify as “the next few days.”
Politico made the whole thing even more real with a story out yesterday, calling Barton “Ted Cruz 2.0.”  The article also noted just how conservative John Cornyn is. Maybe there is a reason why the draft Barton movement doesn’t have the 5K likes by now.
Mother Jones hits Barton hard on credibility issues while citing yours truly.
First Things’ Greg Forster weighs in on David Barton’s Traveling Medicine Show.
Glenn Beck says he called Barton three weeks ago and pitched the idea of a Barton primary run against John Cornyn. Barton’s response: “If the Lord tells me to do it, I’ll do it, but so far I haven’t heard.”
Watch:

Apparently, the Lord may speak through 5,000 likes on Facebook.
MSNBC talks over a possible Barton candidacy…

Newsweek: “A Battle for the Heart of the GOP breaks out in Texas
And finally for today, the Religious News Service provides commentary.
Is this a sign of the future?


Related Posts:
David Barton For Senate?
Could David Barton Win The Texas GOP Senate Race?
Rick Green: 5,000 Likes On Facebook Could Trigger A Senate Run For David Barton
Janet Mefferd: David Barton Has Too Much Baggage On Historian Credentials To Run For Senate

Janet Mefferd: David Barton Has Too Much Baggage On Historian Credentials To Run For Senate

Janet Mefferd is a conservative radio talk show host who believes Texas Senator John Cornyn needs an opponent in the upcoming GOP primary. However, despite the buzz building to draft David Barton, she doesn’t think he is the guy for the job. On her Facebook page, Mefferd declared:

I heartily agree that Texas Sen. John Cornyn needs to be primaried, but not by David Barton. He has way too much baggage on his “historian” credentials.

She then links to MSNBC’s article on the subject (which in turn links to a review of Getting Jefferson Right).
One of her readers then takes her to task for referring to MSNBC, as if left leaning folks are Barton’s only critics. Mefferd could have (and could still) link to Gregg Frazier’s World magazine piece on Barton’s view of Jefferson’s religion.