Jan 31, 2016

Sunday Focus: Religion and The Candidates

     PEW Research reports all but one of the GOP candidates appear to be religious to voters. 
     The one exception is....Donald Trump.

    Meanwhile Democrat Bernie Sanders told The Washington Post he "isn't involved in organized religion":

“I am what I am,” he said. “And what I believe in, and what my spirituality is about, is that we’re all in this together.”
“I want to be treated with dignity and respect, and I want other people to be treated with dignity and respect,” he said.
“I think it is important that a sense of morality be part of our politics.”

     Republican Marco Rubio is among the candidates using his religious beliefs to sell him to voters.  He is a Catholic.

"As a Christian, I am called to share my faith whenever asked, and I am proud to do so," Rubio told reporters after the campaign event, when asked why he believes Iowa voters are asking him about religion. "I hope that I influence others that perhaps have become stagnant in their faith to kind of rediscover [their faith]."

     John F. Kennedy has been the only Catholic American president. 

     GOP candidate Ted Cruz's Father is a pastor:

"America is a country that was founded on the Word of God. Founded by men and women seeking the freedom to worship God. And yet we have seen for decades now a decay of conscience, we've seen secular humanism take over," said Cruz.

     And speaking of tomorrow's caucus voting, the Cruz campaign mailed out an "Election Violation Warning" according to a story in the Washington Post. It listed the voter's neighbors, supposedly indicating which ones had failed to caucus. That lead one voter to post this:

 

     The "warning":
You are receiving this election notice because of low expected voter turnout in your area. Your individual voting history as well as your neighbors’ are public record. Their scores are published below, and many of them will see your score as well. CAUCUS ON MONDAY TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE and please encourage your neighbors to caucus as well. A follow-up notice may be issued following Monday’s caucuses.
     Iowa's Secretary of State immediately complained about the mailing. Can you imagine a candidate in Alabama pulling a similar stunt?



[Sunday Focus is a regular feature of www.timlennox.com]



1 comment:

  1. I certainly can imagine such a thing happening in Alabama.

    A couple of elections ago, a right-leaning radio station in Huntsville announced that because of the expected large turnout of voters, Republicans were to go to the polls on Tuesday and Democrats on Wednesday.

    This caught the attention of the Federal Election Commission!

    ReplyDelete