Category: politics

Marco Rubio Again Leads World Magazine's Evangelical Insider Survey

Ted Cruz surged to second place among candidates for President in the survey.
Marco Rubio continues to enjoy strong support from evangelicals surveyed with 44.8% of the respondents choosing Rubio as their first choice. Cruz increased to around 25% with the rest of the candidates lagging behind. Ben Carson’s stock fell and Donald Trump is near the bottom with apparently one respondent picking Trump.
The World survey has made some enemies in recent weeks. Ann Coulter exploded about it because Trump isn’t doing better. World’s J.C. Derrick replied to her rant with some facts.
Although Cruz supporters may take hope in this month’s results, I doubt they will have much more to celebrate. Said plainly, I believe a Cruz nomination assures a Hillary Clinton win. Cruz is not center-right as he implies he is; rather he is far right with supporters who want U.S. law to reflect Old Testament injunctions. He cannot back away from this and maintain any integrity with his base. In the general election, all of the pandering to the right wing fringe will be remembered.
 

Politico's Story About Ben Carson's West Point Claims Ignite Allegations of Media Bias

UPDATE: Earlier I titled this post, “Ben Carson Admits Fabrication in Bio.” I have changed the title because Carson now says he didn’t admit a fabrication. Politico has now changed their title to reflect the specific nature of the claims regarding a “full scholarship” to West Point.
I have significantly updated my post to address criticisms in the comments section.
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According to Politico, on more than one occasion, Ben Carson claimed he was offered a full scholarship to West Point. Politico has evidence that he was not offered a full scholarship in an official manner and never even sought admission there.
Carson and others are accusing Politico of biased reporting against Carson. According to Politico, Carson told Bill O’Reilly that perhaps he could have been clearer in his descriptions.
I agree. Here is the section from the 2008 book, Gifted Hands.
CarsonWestPoint
 
It appears Carson brought together two events (the Memorial Day parade and a later dinner where Medal of Honor winners were present) in his book (see the Politico article for their fact checking on that aspect of the story). Carson says he met with Westmoreland and then “later” was offered a “full scholarship to West Point.” The use of the word “later” makes it seem that West Point actually offered him something. As the story is being told now, Carson was encouraged to apply because his chances of getting in were good. This, however, is not the same as the offer of a full scholarship. To have such an offer, a young person much be recommended and apply. Perhaps Carson didn’t understand the difference between being a good candidate for application and being officially offered a slot at West Point (as his book says).
On analysis, this isn’t as serious as Brian Williams or David Barton. However, I am surprised that Carson didn’t know the difference between being a worthy applicant for West Point and getting an official invitation to attend. It is possible that there was an intent to embellish the story but it is also possible that Carson didn’t understand the difference between informal encouragement and a formal scholarship offer. People who support him will probably lean toward the latter possibility and people who don’t might go for the embellishment narrative.
UPDATE – The Wall Street Journal raises even more questions about Carson’s descriptions of his own history.
 

Prosperity Pastors Pray for Protestant Presidential Prospect Donald Trump (VIDEO)

This is not from the Onion.
Trump looks bewildered.
(The embed feature appears to be glitchy right now, so if the video doesn’t show up, click here)
[youtube]https://youtu.be/Yua1a2iHTGk[/youtube]
David (New York Times Best Seller Professional) Jeremiah is doing the praying at the beginning. I think his dad must be turning over in his grave.  Did Jeremiah just call Trump the next president of the U.S.? Talk about your Agents of the Apocalypse…
Kenneth Copeland is there.
One of them is trying to mind meld with Trump. I think he must be a Messianic Jew (anyone know who he is?). He thinks America and Israel are the only special nations.
Readers: Supply the caption for Paula White laying hands on the Donald.

Vatican Confirms that Kim Davis Met with the Pope (UPDATED)

UPDATE: According to NY Times reporter Laurie Goodstein, the Vatican has now confirmed that the meeting between Davis and the Pope took place. While I still think Davis is wrong in her stance, this has to be considered a major PR win for her and her team.
On the other hand, this may compromise positive feelings surrounding the Pope’s visit here. I don’t understand the secrecy. Her lawyer Mat Staver said she disguised her hair style on the way to the meeting. Why did the Vatican neither confirm nor deny the meeting initially? Why not let people know while he was here that he supported Davis? I suspect one answer might be that he would face questions about it during the rest of the trip. Makes him look less than Papal to me.
Back to Davis, I puzzled by what violates and doesn’t violate her conscience. She refuses to affix her name to a same-sex marriage license in her official capacity as clerk but she will in her personal life accept a blessing and rosaries from the Pope which would appear to violate her religion as well. The founder of Apostolic manifestations of Christianity such as hers S.H. Froehlich has very little good to say about the Pope.
Her position has been that she doesn’t want anyone to think she supports gay marriage. However, she seems less concerned that people will think she supports Catholicism.
I suspect some of her supporters will not care how consistent her actual beliefs are, but rather that she sincerely holds them. Other supporters might draw the line if she starts to balk at issuing marriage licenses to divorced Christians.
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In an odd turn of events, the Vatican press office won’t confirm or deny that the Pope met with Kim Davis during his U.S. trip. According to a tweet from the NY Times Laurie Goodstein, verification is in limbo.


According to ABC News, the Vatican Press Office released this statement:

The Holy See is aware of the reports of Kim Davis meeting with the Holy Father. The Vatican does not confirm the meeting, nor does it deny the meeting. There will be no further information given.

Given the exaggerations which regularly come out of the Liberty Counsel camp (e.g., Peru, Mat Staver thinks David Barton is a credible historian), confirmation is necessary. In essence, the Vatican is tossing her under the bus at this moment.
Davis claims to have photos. If those surface, then the Vatican may need to say something or could just let them speak for themselves.
To me, if he did meet with Davis, he has undone a lot of the bridge building image he has cultivated. Davis is a divisive figure right now and by aligning with her, he will appear to lack consistency and genuineness.

Twitter Reacts to Attorney's Report that Kim Davis Met with the Pope

Yeah, that Pope.
Did the Pope really meet with Kim Davis? There is still doubt about it, but Davis’ lawyers claim it is true. It was reported by Inside the Vatican which has crashed. Update: The page on the Inside the Vatican website is back up.
The Vatican has not commented and the story now rests on what Robert Moynihan says Kim Davis told him.
Twitter reacts to the news:


David Gibson at RNS:


Brandon Ambrosino is skeptical:


Michael Dougherty:


More to come.