Christianity,  Politics

Carson going “off-brand” and Rubio going back on

Senator Marco Rubio was criticized last week for going “off-brand” in his attacks on Donald Trump. I was really heartened to see his humble admission last night that he was wrong to make the off-color “hands” joke (see above). Rubio admitted that it not only embarrassed his wife and kids, it also went against his Christian faith. He promised last night that he would never go back to that “gutter” again. You have to respect his humility and candor. I do.

Speaking of “off-brand,” I can hardly think of anything more “off-brand” than a professing Christian hitching his wagon to the likes of Donald Trump. Sadly, that is precisely what Ben Carson has done this morning. I had hoped for better from him. I think many of his supporters did too. Today, tens of thousands of them are making their disapproval known on Carson’s Facebook page (read them at the link below), and I am glad they are. I agree with them. Supporting Trump goes against all the principles that Carson’s campaign supposedly stood for. Carson will bear the ignominy of this decision for years to come.

Perhaps Justin Taylor has best summed up the true import of this endorsement:

Our country is at a crossroads and in the midst of a moral crisis. We must be careful not to continue our current path,…

Posted by Dr. Ben Carson on Friday, March 11, 2016

29 Comments

  • Ian Shaw

    I was equally surprised to see Carson endorsing Trump. Based on the values that Carson seemed to stand for, the two are nearly polar opposites. Too bad indeed.

    • Brian Holland

      Yes it is, because he’s not the nominee yet, and it may not be too late to stop him if Rubio gets out, and endorses Cruz. But time is running out! I would have been happy if Carson just said #NeverTrump, and left it at that. Now his credibility is destroyed IMO.

      • buddyglass

        I see two possibilities w.r.t. Cruz saying he’d vote for Trump if Trump were the nominee. Either:

        1. Cruz is lying and would not, in fact, vote for Trump.

        2. Cruz is not lying, in which case he’s basically in the same category as Carson.

        What am I missing?

        • Johnny Mason

          There is a difference between voting for someone and endorsing them. Endorsing is actively working to get the person elected. Going to rallies. Speaking on their behalf.

        • Brian Holland

          No, he would not be in the same category as Carson. Carson endorsed him in the primary. Trump is not yet the nominee, and compared Carson to a child molester, a “sick puppy… who needs to be put down.” Cruz is the only real alternative to Trump that has a chance of stopping him. The general election is a whole different ball game. It’s not that complicated.

    • Lynn Burgess

      John: All candidates had to sign a GOP pledge saying they would support the nominee so Cruz had no option but to answer as he did. On another occasion, he made clear that he would support Trump because he made that commitment and he would keep his word. Classic Cruz. I do not believe that he said he would vote for Trump but that he would support his nomination and he does not intend for Trump to be the nominee.

  • steve hays

    I beg to differ. One reason Trump got this far is because his opponents were too timid. 

    Yes, it’s a pity that Rubio had to be that crass, but let’s not confuse decorum with morality. What Rubio did was in bad taste, but a breach of etiquette is not a breach of ethics.

    That’s far too much riding on the race to make decorum a priority. And with a candidate like Trump, there’s no nice way to take him out of action.

    There’s lots of tasteless material in the Book of Ezekiel. Indeed, translation committees are too squeamish to render what he says into idiomatic English. One could cite other examples from Scripture. Let’s not be more pious than the Bible.

        • Barbara

          No, you said not to be more pious than the Bible, which says much about what comes out of our mouths and what it says about the heart from which it flows. Marco Rubio was convicted that he spoke sinfully, from sinful motives,which Scripture doesn’t contradict, and publicly repented of it. No need to contradict him, he isn’t God and can’t pronounce judgment like God did through the prophets, which he wasn’t doing anyway. What he was doing, hardly compares.

          • steve hays

            The question at issue wasn’t pronouncing judgment but the language and imagery used by Ezekiel (among other examples).

            • Barbara Jackson

              And the context as it applies to Marco Rubio’s comment, for which he repented. The language in Ezekiel was God’s description of His people’s infidelity against Him, not a casual insult by one image-bearer against another. Context matters.

              • steve hays

                i) To begin with, Rubio’s comment wasn’t “casual” but calculated.

                ii) More to the point, are you saying obscenity is okay in the context of divine judgment? And what’s the connection between the imago dei and contextual obscenity?

  • Esther O'Reilly

    I don’t think it’s fair to come down so hard on Rubio when only that one joke of his was problematic. Everything else, about the spray tan, the misspelled tweets, making America orange–genius, legitimately funny, and not inappropriate. Trump’s bubble needed to be popped. I don’t call any of that stuff “going into the gutter,” and I don’t think Rubio should feel bullied into apologizing for it all as “personal stuff.” For the most part I found it to be a breath of fresh air. The media’s double standard here is absolutely disgraceful. Trump can openly fantasize about beating Marco Rubio up, and the press doesn’t lay a glove on him, but Rubio makes one veiled jab at Trump’s manhood and everyone loses their minds.

  • Christiane Smith

    Carson seems to be a bit of an enigma in that his credentials would lead one to think he was a brilliant man: Yale University grad, Medical School, world-renowned brain surgeon . . .

    but we were presented with a man who made statements that did not match up to his reputation for cognizant brilliance . . . one example being his strange belief that the ancient Egyptian pyramids were built for ‘grain’ storage . . . but that statement was only the beginning of a number of other confusing and puzzling opinions.

    The gap between his reputation and the verbal offerings he volunteered to the public at the beginning of his candidacy were too much for me, and I discounted him as a man who made sense even then . . . a ‘nice’ man, yes, but seemingly no longer the intelligent man of his earlier days, and one wondered if something had happened to him to change his ability to reason. (?)

    I’m sorry he has chosen to support Trump, but I have thought his reasoning was flawed some time ago, and wasn’t surprised to hear the news.

  • Rick Wilson

    Denny, you’ve got to check out the latest post on Carson’s Facebook page. His campaign manager posted a long justification, including this lovely bit:
    “Subsequently, many of you sent strong messages of support for today’s endorsement, while many others sent equally strong messages of disappointment. In all candor, some of this critical dynamic reminds me of Passion Week which began with Hosannas from the people, and ended with “Crucify Him.”
    He just compared Carson’s endorsement of Trump and the subsequent blowback from his betrayed supporters to to the calls of the Jews to crucify Christ.

  • Ellen Jervis

    I can see Donald Trump whispering to Dr. Carson, stroking his ambition, that if he eats of the apple that surely he will not die.

  • Bill Pence

    I couldn’t agree with you more on your comments about Ben Carson, Denny. Well stated. My wife and I were big Carson supporters – long before he decided to run. Cannot express how disappointed we are in his decision.

  • Lu Hilliard

    DISAPPOINTMENT ! ! ! Not even Dr. Ben who I have admired so greatly can convince me to support Donald Trump. I fear the time may come that I am forced to vote for Trump or Hiliary – Can there be a none of the above choice?

    • buddyglass

      If you feel they’re equally distasteful then just write in some other candidate. If you live in a state that’s heavily “red” or “blue” then you might as well.

  • Bridget Platt

    I commend Rubio for apologizing for his remarks as well but disappointed that he says it went against his faith “but more importantly his wife and kids were embarrassed.” Uhm, no. More importantly, it was an offense to God.

  • Frank Franklin

    Anybody but Hillary. Hold your nose if you have to but we can bit let a pro abortion democrat into the White House.

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