Allen West And Ben Carson Both Seem To Think God Wants Them To Run For President
Allen West seems to think that God might want him to run for President. Unfortunately for Mr. West, so does Ben Carson.
Former Florida Congressman Allan West seems to think that there’s a divine demand that he run for President:
The first question to West, after a long ovation, was whether he’d run for another office. He’d actually speculated about running for president one day earlier, on Ben Shapiro’s radio show, and the topic had come up in a VIP reception before the dinner.
“I know there are ministers here, so I want to get this right. It says in Proverbs Ch. 3, verses 5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. I could sit around here saying what I think I want to do, but my mommy and daddy taught me that you write those plans in pencil and dear God will erase them. I never thought I’d be standing here in Floyd County talking to you, but I am. I will always be a servant to this great nation, and any way that God believes I can serve America, I will. We will see what he has in store for me, because I think he maybe is getting me ready for something else.”
West may want to listen carefully, because Maryland neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, who became something of a conservative darling when he spoke against President Obama to his face at the National Prayer Breakfast, apparently also thinks that God may want him to seek the nation’s highest office:
Not long ago, neurosurgeon Ben Carson wrote that he would only consider a GOP presidential run if he felt “called by God” to enter politics. This week, however, he said he is “starting to feel” that calling.
Carson became a conservative icon last year after delivering searing remarks about the Affordable Care Act and the general direction of this country — all with with President Obamaseated at the dais nearby.
He soon retired from his long-held position at Johns Hopkins Hospital and began speaking around the country, inking a Fox News contributor deal along the way.
As pundits began suggesting Carson would make a good Republican presidential nominee, the doctor wrote in his book that, despite there being a plethora of better candidates, “If I felt called by God to officially enter the world of politics, I would certainly not hesitate to do so.”
But in an interview with The Weekly Standard this week, Carson said he’s “starting to feel” those calls. “[E]very place I go, it’s unbelievable.” He described how an experience with a woman “really touched me the other night… She just kept clinging to my hand and said, ‘You have to run. You have to run.’ And so many people tell me that, and so I think I’m starting to hear something.”
Carson and West aren’t the first Republican candidates in recent years who claimed to have received divine inspiration for their runs for the Presidency. In 2012, both Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain suggested that there was some sort of divine will behind their candidacy, although they interestingly didn’t seem to bring that up when their campaigns inevitably crashed and burned. After all, if what they’re saying is that God wanted them to run for President then wouldn’t it be logical to conclude that God wanted them to run for President and lose in the most humiliating way possible, which is what happened to both of them? Indeed, isn’t that what Carson and West are saying since it’s blindingly obvious that neither one of them is going to do any better in 2016 than Bachmann and Cain did in 2012? It almost makes you think that this God of theirs is telling them to run just to mess with them, or that maybe he derives his inspiration from the same source as the editors of The Onion.
There is, I suppose, something somewhat disturbing about someone who is so self-assured in their political beliefs that they believe that a run for the highest nation in the land is a good idea even though they are quite obviously not prepared to assume such a position. A person who was that self-assured probably shouldn’t be trusted to hold political office to begin with. At the same time, though, it’s worth noting that American Presidents from Washington to Lincoln to Roosevelt to Reagan have made reference to a divine being at various times in their political careers. Of course, neither Carson nor West are a Washington, Lincoln, or Reagan, and quite honestly one suspects that their claims of divine guidance are, in the end, little more than words tossed out to win the support of their fans on the far right.
Speaking as a political blogger, though, I must say I hope they both run. The sheer entertainment value would make 2012 pale by comparison.
God apparently is also fond of packed clown cars.
Gosh, both black Republicans are insane. Three if you count Herman Cain. Who would ever guess? It’s almost as if to be a black Republican you have to be nuts.
Yeah, almost like that.
That little voice in your head – that’s your ego, not God.
And some wonder why the RNC poobahs want to limit the debates.
@michael reynolds: Black republicanism nowdays is a perfect illustration of economics 101. The demand for them is extremely high, and the supply is extremely low. This drives down quality…
@Tony W: Being well-acquainted with my inner monologue, I often wonder how many people recognize that voice as their own and not God’s. If there are people who don’t, that would explain a great deal of the world’s ills.
God seems to make a habit of trolling fundamentalists.
2008 campaign flashback, Pastor Mark Arnold in Lebanon, Ohio McCain/Palin rally:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/god-has-chosen-palin-be-vp
@michael reynolds:
Jamelle Boie wrote about that:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/05/t_w_shannon_tim_scott_and_the_republican_party_s_black_politicians_the_gop.html
@Jeremy R:
You know, that reads more like an entry in the Bulwer-Lytton Bad Fiction Contest.
Do you think God has problems remembering which is which, too?
@Jeremy R says:
Hey, the Man’s got all of eternity to burn. He’s gotta get his giggles somewhere ….
@Tony W:
I don’t know; is it that hard to believe that God would like to teach both of them a pointed lesson in humility, and that this seem like as good a way as any?
sorry, you white guys can’t put down a black man without being “racist”- it’s a 2 way street!
west is kinda strange, but there’s not too many “insane” neuro-surgeons lying around.
and, he’s on a mission from God.
Please, God is just messing with us.
You don’t think so?
Our very wonderful benign God did nothing as Hitler annihilated 6 million Jews, Pol Pot’s murdered 2 to 3 million Cambodians, Stalin slaughtered 30 million Russians, Mao inflicted a Cultural Revolution on his people, and so much more. In that context, the idea that God would tell West and Carson to run for president doesn’t seem all that surprising.
FSM willing that will be the biggest problem the left has to face. It as if Thomas, Sowell and Keyes don’t exist.
I’m reminded of Abraham Lincoln’s comment that both sides read the same Bible, and prayed to the same God for victory…but only one side would win.
Funny you should mention this. I just got off the phone with her and her dream GOP ticket is Carson and West. She doesn’t really care which is Pres and which is VP because the comedic value will be about the same either way.
@bill: Awww, how cute. You actually think we are putting them down because they are black.
@bill:
You really don’t understand what racism is, do you?
Let me clarify. Doubting, opposing, questioning, criticizing, even ridiculing a particular black person is not racism. I don’t think Larry Wilmore is funny. He’s black. I’m criticizing his lack of funniness, not his skin color.
If I said, “Of course he’s not funny, he’s black,” that would be racist. (Also clueless given Richard Pryor, Cosby, Chris Rock, Chapelle, Eddie Murphy etc…)
I happen to think a black man who joins a decidedly white, very largely anti-black party, is probably nuts. Same way I have doubts about gay Republicans’ sanity. Like I’d feel if a Jew joined Hezbollah. See how that works? I’m criticizing their politics and their common sense and suggesting they may be fwcking nuts. as individuals. For specific actions. None of which reflects even a little on the 99.9% of black people who are not crazy.
@wr:
Chances are, if there is a god, we all look the same to him/her/it.
Kind of funny how racists often use that same “they all look the same to me” line… but if there is a god, and we are made in his/her/its image… then I suppose we all do.
God does not exist….so in reality, no one wants them to run.
And whatever they think they are hearing is just delusion.
Wait…I’m wrong…
http://nypost.com/2014/05/13/man-crashes-truck-into-baltimore-tv-station/
Among humanity, God believes in fair competition.
“And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.” 2 Timothy 2:5.
It’s Democrats who believe in anointed politicians.
@Let’s Be Free:
No. Actually it’s Republicans who are very well-known for putting up whoever the establishment has tagged as the next guy in line. Reagan was the next guy, Bush père was the next guy, Dole, Bush the Lesser, McCain, Romney. It’s a well-established fact.
Dukakis was not the next guy on the list, neither was Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton or Barack Obama who – you may recall – beat out the person who was supposed to be the next, Hillary Clinton. Gore and Mondale were “next” the rest were not.
So, I’m afraid you’re wrong.
Don’t stop with old news. More recently god was asleep? golfing? at the movies? at an NRA meeting? when Adam Lanza massacred 20 children and others. I am constatntly told by god believers that there are invisible angels that protect children.
Apparently when they are carrying god’s golf bags they are relieved of other duties.
If we are made in god’s image and god is monotheistic then it follows that we would all be hermaphrodites.
If Lennon was right, that “God is a concept by which we measure our pain.” does that mean Carson, West, et al, are masochists?
@Let’s Be Free:
Technically that is not a sentence. I can’t even figure out what it means, by itself. I’d have to crack open a dust-covered Bible around here to even get some context. Help us out here.
I’d like to ask these critters if they favor theocracies for all or just theirs…..that kinda runs down the road of rhetorical though……
@Franklin: Better rendered as “except if he strive lawfully.” I prefer New King James Version’s translation of this one:
The context doesn’t really help since the epistle it comes from is all over the map. It’s not one of the authentic letters of Paul.
So …. what they’re telling me is that God wants Hillary to be President in 2016.
That was in the old days. Now context is a click away.
http://biblehub.com/2_timothy/2-5.htm
Greek Texts (just for fun)
Nestle GNT 1904
ἐὰν δὲ καὶ ἀθλῇ τις, οὐ στεφανοῦται ἐὰν μὴ νομίμως ἀθλήσῃ.
Westcott and Hort 1881
ἐὰν δὲ καὶ ἀθλῇ τις, οὐ στεφανοῦται ἐὰν μὴ νομίμως ἀθλήσῃ·
Is anyone else old enough to remember when most of the bay shit crazies were Democrats? The good old days!
The Jamelle Bouie article linked to by Andre Kenji quotes Sarah Palin at a rally in support of T.W. Shannon: “The Democrats accuse us of not embracing diversity? Oh, my goodness, he is—-he’s it. He is the whole package.”
Then there is the comment from The Right Scoop, as quoted by rudderpedals: “I must say though Allen West would present the left with their biggest problem, primarily because he is a black conservative.”
I usually think there is little in politics that can astonish me, but the historical ignorance underlying these sorts of remarks, which are strikingly common on the right these days, takes my breath away. They suggest an understanding of race relations not far advanced past the way I understood the subject when I was in third grade. I’m serious. Among other things, it’s like they’ve never heard of the phenomenon of tokenism. They seem to think “racism” can have no meaning other than open and unapologetic hostility toward all blacks, without exception, and therefore pointing to a black person you like automatically disproves any charges of racism. To find this logic compelling, you have to lack anything beyond the most cartoonish understanding of the history of white supremacy in the U.S.
All God ever tells me to do is take out the garbage…
Why do the biggest idiots always have the biggest egos?
Doug, there are two dangerous thoughts here: theirs, and yours.
Theirs: They are dangerous because, like any religious extremist, when they believe they are receiving direction from God, they are capable of anything. And listening to the voices in their heads while holding high political office isn’t going to end well for the rest of us, the last presidential administration being case in point.
Yours: You said, “… one suspects that their claims of divine guidance are, in the end, little more than words tossed out to win the support of their fans on the far right.” Your thought on this is dangerous because you blithely dismiss them as simply pandering to the base when, in fact, these crackpots actually believe they are receiving divine guidance. So you vote for them because you can’t bring yourself to vote for a Democrat, and there are millions out there just like you, voting these voice-hearers in office. And what do we get?
Not single-payer national insurance
Not women’s freedom of reproductive choices
Not equality under the law for LGBTs
Not fair and ease-of-access voting policies
Not a jobs bill
Not renewed infrastructure
Not balanced environmental policies
Not movement on climate change resiliency and mitigation
Not sustainable social programs for the poor
Shall I go on? I mean no disrespect, but the God-bothering has nothing to do with running the government. Nothing.
@michael reynolds:
I won’t say I was ashamed, michael, but I will say that as a registered Republican, I jumped through many mental hoops to convince myself GOP policies were right for the country, and justify some of the horrible s*** being done. So, yeah, I was kinda going nutty trying to keep all that straight in my head.
@Dean:
Did you marry God and is that why she isn’t taking my calls?
@Ron Beasley:
I do. Back when Reagan was President, and there was a strong R tide. They became hysterical at times. It’s a sense of entitlement to power, I guess. For 26 years the they had both houses, and then they had a Republican President and a Republican Senate, and with serious Mo on their side. At times they held all three even.
Then they lost the Presidency and both Houses in just two years, and had a black man in the White House to boot…
These seem like fine Christian men who exemplify and emphasize traditional American values. They do not have the experience to be presidential material. I have not heard anything negative about either one. I don’t agree with everything they say, but both stand for their beliefs and are not going around trying to say things to please some group. They are not overbearing and seem gracious and accepting to everyone . There are still a few leaders like that. Principled, but not hateful or condemning. It is called statesmanship.
There have been many in the past: Eisenhower, Marshall, Johnson, Kennedy, Goldwater, Dirksen, Russell, Ford, Baker, Carter, Humphrey, Fulbright, and others in past decades. Few today.
@Tyrell:
While this may be true of Dr Carson (who has done the Lord’s work for years in terms of his care of the sick), I have a hard time seeing Allan West as a particularly good representative of either American or Christian values.
One needs only look at his biography for a reminder of some of his “less than Christian” acts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_West_(politician)
@Tyrell:
You don’t seem to know much about the not-hateful-ness of Allen West, well, here are some examples of his “statesmanship.”
”
If Joseph Goebbels was around, he’d be very proud of the Democrat party, because they have an incredible propaganda machine.”
“And I think that we also should be censoring the American news agencies which enabled [Julian Assange] to do this and also supported him and applauding him for the efforts.”
“The Democratic appetite for ever-increasing redistributionary handouts is in fact the most insidious form of slavery remaining in the world today”
@Tyrell:
I can only assume that comment was meant as sarcasm.
@Tyrell:
Is there a different Christ than the one I have read about in the Bible? And really, where were their “American” values traditional? The old South?
@michael reynolds: The sad thing is, Ben Carson, unlike West and Cain, actually had some significant life accomplishments prior to jumping on the crazy train. It’s a shame that he continues to besmirch his own legacy this way.
Actually god just called me and asked me to tell the war criminal to shut the f$?! up, go away, buy a dictionary and look up the word irrelevant
I think a trial by ordeal is in order. Separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were.
This is a good moment to remember some similar statements by GWB. Link:
Link:
Oy vey.
When it comes to Carson, I particularly like the quip that “Mozart was a genius too, would you let him handle your finances?”
You have to be brilliant to be a neurosurgeon, and I’d like to believe that empathy lends itself to pediatrics. But that doesn’t automatically make one cut out for politics, much less executive politics. Also, yeah, he’s kind of a dick.
But Allen West can go right ahead and **** himself.
Ben Carson seems to me to be a lovable guy. He is kinda the nice uncle that you simply don´t want to discuss politics with.
Amen.I just want to emphasize this a little. I know its popular for atheists to be bothered by “God-talk”. However, many of our political leaders use “god-talk”, including some or our greatest. President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address contains lots of God-talk, and many (including me ) think of that speech as the greatest of Presidential speeches.
IMO, the major problem with Alan West is not his God-talk, but that he believes and advocates for crackpot right wing economic theories. In that, he differs little from atheistic Ayn Rand acolyte Alan Greenspan. Lest we forget, it was Alan Greenspan’s cock eyed approach to the regulation (or rather, non-regulation) of financial markets that set the table for 2008 financial crisis, which hurt the nation far more than anything Alan West ever did or said. IMO, other Ayn Rand disciples like the Koch Brothers pose a far greater threat to the nation with their financial contributions that enable right wing economic crackpottery than Gary Bauer, Pat Robertson , and Tony Perkins combined.
What we should focus on as always is what policy politicians are advocating for and whose interests does that policy serves. God-talk is largely a distraction.That’s how I see it.
@Kylopod: Well, it’s the same thing about Sarah Palin. The Republicans thought: Woman on ticket == women’s votes. The fact that those of us of the feminine persuasion wanted her to be intelligent and competent as well just flew over their tiny little brains.
It’s voting by stereotype.
P.S. Whenever you become absolutely convinced that God is telling you to carry out a certain plan, check your reception. Are you sure you’re not just schitzophrenic?
God is Lucy, the football is the run for the Presidency and these two idiots are Charlie Brown.
God does have a sense of humor after all.
@stonetools: I think there is a fairly big difference between talking about God and claiming God has spoken to you.
My dear departed mother’s given name was Beulah. Her middle name was Esther. Not uncommon to name children born in 1920 in the rural midwest after Biblical players. She was one of seven siblings.
Fast forward to the mid 50’s. Now married for 15 years with 3 kids. Me (1948), my bro (1953) and my sister (1955). For no apparent reason mom suddenly and I mean almost overnight is subject to fits of extreme rage and violence. She once almost crushed my brothers head in with the toaster. To this day I do not know what stopped her other than the sheer terror in his 3 year old voice as he begged her not to kill him.
Schizophrenia.
Yes, she really did hear voices. Yes she was convinced she was the Beulah of scripture. And until there was medication developed to manage the symptoms my dad had to have her locked up in various State Mental Institutions for months and even years at a time.
While I do not know if political candidates truly believe they hear the voice of the almighty or they just are pandering to a constituency I sincerely hope they are not cursed with this vile disease.
There’s such a nice Dogma quote for this:
Metatron: Metatron acts as the voice of God. Any documented occasion when some yahoo claims God has spoken to them, they’re speaking to me. Or they’re talking to themselves.
I have the strong feeling we’re dealing with the later.