Jonathan Turley says Ron Paul’s response to Kayser endorsement is inadequate

Prominent attorney Jonathan Turley has called on Ron Paul to do more than remove the endorsement of Christian reconstructionist pastor Phil Kayser.

Turley thinks highly of Paul but is critical of his handling of the endorsement and the removal of the endorsement from the website.

Turley calls Kayser, Paul’s preacher problem, writing

Now Ron Paul has his own embarrassing association. The preacher is Rev. Phillip G. Kayser, a pastor at the Dominion Covenant Church in Nebraska, who has a following in Iowa. The Paul campaign issued a press release (that it later removed from its site) heralding the endorsement of Kayser. The problem is that Kayser believes that gays should be executed according to biblical law. It was a a highly destructive endorsement for Paul who is attracting civil libertarians to his campaign. No one can stop someone from endorsing you, but the campaign clearly sought this endorsement from an extremist with reprehensible views. Unlike Wright, Kayser is not Paul’s personal minister, but the press release made him Paul’s problem in reaching out to civil libertarians.

While the campaign was right to pull the press release, it now should take responsibility and disassociate from Kayser. This is, in my view, another example of the dangers of faith-based politics, something that I have long condemned as inimical to separation principles.

Turley is right. Paul appears to be ignoring this and hoping no one will ask or hold him accountable. He may get out of Iowa without dealing with it, but this is only the first contest. I think GOP voters in other states will want answers.

Related:

Kayser endorsement flap not having much impact on Iowa campaign

Several national news outlets covered the Phil Kayser endorsement story this week, but it may not be having much impact in Iowa.

I spoke earlier today with another pastor who has endorsed Ron Paul, Brian Nolder, who said that the big stories there are the Kent Sorenson defection and to a lesser degree Ron Paul’s newsletters from the 1980s and 1990s.

Rev. Nolder, who does not hold the same theonomic views as Phil Kayser, had heard of the matter but did not think it was having much impact on the campaign at present.

According to Nolder, evangelicals in Iowa are divided between those who want top down solutions to moral issues and those who want a smaller Federal government. He has opted to support Dr. Paul because he believes Paul has better solutions to our dept crisis. Many Christians are gravitating to Santorum because those Christians want the Federal government to reflect Christian morality, something they perceive Santorum to favor.

Earlier this week, I noted that Paul himself may not hold theonomic views himself but is attractive to Christian reconstructionists because they want to see the dismantling of a strong Federal government.

One group that might experience difficulty because of Kayser’s endorsement is his own church. A group called Progressive Oasis is calling on the University of Nebraska at Omaha to stop the Dominion Covenant Church from meeting on University grounds.

Ron Paul quietly removes Phil Kayser endorsement from website; Kayser removes link to his death penalty book

UPDATE (12/29): As commenter Jessica Naomi points out, now Kayser has removed a link to his death penalty booklet. It is still hosted on his website read it here. Even though I think Paul should have to answer for the glowing words about Rev. Kayser, I can understand Paul’s action to remove the endorsement from his website. However, I am puzzled that Kayser would make his book harder to find.

After Talking Points Memo and Huffington Post covered Christian reconstructionist Phil Kayser’s endorsement of Ron Paul (first reported here), the Paul campaign has quietly taken the controversial press release from their website.

The Google cache is here, a screen capture is here and a pdf of the page is here.

The TPM reporters called Kayser and he acknowledged the beliefs he posted in his book defending the death penalty.

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