Walker Withdrawal Shows Changes in Republican Contest

Michael Barone / Townhall Columnist

 

Scott Walker's abrupt withdrawal from the Republican presidential race Monday afternoon shows how different, in ways noticed and unnoticed, this campaign cycle is from those of recent years.

 

One obvious difference is the size of the Republican field -- 17, before Walker's withdrawal and Rick Perry's withdrawal 10 days before. That has made debates unwieldy and has placed a premium on somehow emerging from the scrum.

Walker didn't. He spoke for just seven minutes in the two-hour Fox News debate on Aug. 6 and the three-hour CNN debate (in which he was asked just three questions) on Sept. 16. It was not a format that favored Midwestern reticence.

Walker's withdrawal was unexpected also because, after the rise of billionaire-funded super PACs kept Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum plugging on in the 2012 cycle, it seemed a candidate with such backing had no reason to quit. But super PACs can't pay for candidates' staffs, offices and travel, and after the debates Walker couldn't raise enough to pay for them.

In previous cycles, it was assumed that voters were looking for candidates who could identify with ordinary people and the struggles they face, and Walker seemed typecast for that, saving up coupons to shop at Kohl's. But today's poll leader is a Manhattan billionaire who boats of (and perhaps inflates) his wealth and glories in his vulgarity.

Former Radical Islamist: Yeah, Ben Carson Is Right About Muslims

Leah Barkoukis / Townhall Tipsheet 

 

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson drew the ire of both Democrats and some Republican presidential candidates after saying on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday that he would “not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.”

Even after the criticism, Carson refused to walk back his comment, although he did offer more clarification.

"Those Republicans that take issue with my position are amazing," he wrote in a Facebook statement. "Under Islamic Law, homosexuals – men and women alike – must be killed. Women must be subservient. And people following other religions must be killed. I know that there are many peaceful Muslims who do not adhere to these beliefs. But until these tenants are fully renounced ... I cannot advocate any Muslim candidate for President."

And to be fair, he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he wouldn’t advocate putting a Christian in the office if they wanted to turn the country into a theocracy. “We don't put people at the head of our country whose faith might interfere with them carrying out the duties of the Constitution,” he said.

Not only do a number of Americans agree with his comment—based on the amount of money pouring into his campaign since then—but he’s also received support from Dr. Tawfik Hamid, a former Islamic extremist.

“As a Muslim — and particularly as a former member of a radical Islamist group — I can state unequivocally that Dr. Carson is correct,” Hamid wrote in a column. “Without a single exception, the approved Islamic literature teaches violent principles such as killing apostates, beating women, killing gays, and enslaving female war prisoners for sexual purposes.”

“If anyone doubts this, or wishes to challenge it, they need to prove this to be wrong,” he continued, adding that no Islamic texts exist which reject the “traditional barbaric principles of Islamic law.”

“These Shariah values and principles, which are so hostile to the American Constitution, are still an integral part of mainstream Islam,” he noted.

Thus, Carson is absolutely correct.

Why Arab Muslims refuse Arab Muslim ‘refugees’
By Raymond Ibrahim / Jihad Watch

 

While the West goes out of its way to accommodate Muslim migrants — still called “refugees” though most are not even from war torn Syria and some are Islamic State jihadis — an Arab Muslim from Kuwait recently explained why his nation refuses to take any. According to Kuwait’s Fahd al-Shalami, Chairman of the Gulf Forum […]
 
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Rare 3,000-year-old King David era seal discovered by Temple Mount Sifting Project

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs

An unprecedented find. Incredible.

And more incredible that it was unearthed. Muslims have been destroying that holiest of Jewish sites for over a decade. A young Russian volunteer found it as part of a project that “sifts through thousands of tons of illegally removed earth from the contested holy site by the Wakf religious trust to build a mosque. Roughly 50 percent of the tons of earth removed from the contested holy site have revealed previously unknown insights into the history of the celebrated plateau.”

And the Muslims violently attack Jews who wish to pray at the mount.

Building a mosque on the first and second temple, King David’s temple, is exemplar of Islam.

Prohibiting Jews from praying there is Islam 2015.
...

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Op-ed:
Theologian or Political Activist...The Pope Cannot Be Both
By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on http://cprworldwidemedia.com/

The Pope's visit to America, to date, seems NOT to be what many hoped it would be as this Pope, unfortunately, is playing politician and NOT doing a very good job of it, with three specific instances being primary in my mind.

Instance number one: he could have said NO but he did NOT...he could have said make it on another day but he did NOT...instead Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, met with our islamist-in-chief Barack HUSSEIN Obama and other religious leaders on Wednesday, which was Yom Kippur...the Day of Atonement...the holiest day of the year for those of the Jewish faith.

But this, unfortunately, goes part and parcel with first, the Holy Father's pro-Palestinian stance that calls for a divided Jerusalem and Israel giving up even more of its land to a people who NEVER existed (remember the 'so-called' Palestinians are, were, and always will be Jordanians); second, with his belief that the spiritual teachings contained within the qur'an are just as valid as those within the Holy Bible; and lastly with Pope Francis saying that “Jesus Christ, Jehovah, Allah are all names employed to describe an entity that is distinctly the same across the world.” Sadly, what Pope Francis does NOT get is that allah is the antithesis of everything Jesus and Jehovah are.

Trying to get us to buy into the line that, "The Holy Father has a very complicated schedule for this trip, so we worked with that schedule as best we could," was the bloviations spewed by Melissa Rogers, executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which we know is nonsense as the Pope's schedulers could easily have rearranged his schedule to go to either Philadelphia or New York first and done the White House visit last when Jewish leaders...when rabbis...would have been present at this much hyped interfaith-based event, and his Holiness knows this as well. Remember, this Pope takes political stands and speaks out against wrongs and religious slights all the time, but on this regarding Jews he remains silent. And this should surprise NO one as Pope Francis' very actions regarding islam...like his bowing his head, clasped his hands in symbolic muslim prayer alongside Rahmi Yaran, the Grand Mufti of Istanbul...and his words that "islam is a peaceful religion...we should embrace it like all religions," shows where his true loyalties lie, and they are NOT with Israel or with the Jewish people.

Shameful to say the least, for while this type of affront against Jews is expected of Obama, his Holiness should have used common sense and so should have his schedulers, because on this the day when they scheduled a meeting between the most respected religious leader in the world and the 'supposedly' most powerful political leader in the world at the 'People's House'...they knew Jewish leaders would NOT be in attendance. And when this slight was made public and then hearing that Jews would still be able to participate in the joint meeting of Congress on Thursday...as if Jews needed Obama's permission to do so...administration mouthpiece, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, tried to make light of this situation by saying that the Pope's schedule was “partly driven” by his attendance at the Conference on the Family in Philadelphia and the U.N. General Assembly meeting on the Sustainable Development Goals...translation: Agenda 21...in New York.

And what is this really but another slap in the face by Obama and now the Pope to Jews both in America and in Israel as neither a family conference nor anything relating to the U(seless) N(ations) should take precedence over the head of the Holy Roman Catholic Church visiting the American 'People's House' and meeting with leaders of all faiths...all faiths minus the leaders of the Jewish faith...especially telling with the rising tide of anti-Semitism spreading throughout Europe and America.

But it is over and NOTHING can change this most grievous slight against American Jews perpetrated by Obama but sadly went along with by the should NOT be, but is, political activist Holy Father.

Instance number two: and this next playing politics by the Pope happened on Tuesday, the day before he willingly and knowingly slighted American Jews, with both he and Obama professing themselves to be pseudo-scientists as they spoke in one misguided yet united voice on the 'supposedly' urgent need to tackle climate change and save the planet, with both saying that “humanity has a moral obligation to act now and not saddle future generations with a growing problem.”

The problem here is that Obama knows climate change is hoax and the Pope has been both fooled and manipulated into believing it is scientific fact...which it is NOT...by the eco-whack jobs.

“Holy Father, you remind us that we have a sacred obligation to protect our planet, God’s magnificent gift to us. We support your call to all world leaders to support the communities most vulnerable to a changing climate and to come together to preserve our precious world for future generations,” Obama said as he tried to sound pious but NOT a word that spewed from his lying mouth was truth. And with Pope Francis recently having released an encyclical on climate change where he called on all nations, including the U.S., to rethink the way they use energy and even how they build cities, and now saying that it is both a social and moral responsibility that they do so, this Pope crossed a line into things he knows NOTHING about as he again crossed the theological line into the political realm.

When saying to Obama that, “I am finding it encouraging you're proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution…It seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem [that] can no longer be left to our future generations...we are living at a critical moment of history. We still have time to make the change needed,” the Pope was referring to Obama’s climate change agenda with its federal limits on carbon pollution from power plants. Now calling on all countries to take up similar policies, what the Holy Father needs is a lesson in scientific truth vs. leftist, media-driven, for profit nonsense...and know climate change scare tactics are huge money makers.

So here for the Pope...with all due respect...are three simple easy to understand scientific facts...

Fact one: climate change is a hoax as climate is NOTHING but the 'weather,' and weather runs in cycles, so to speak, and has since the Earth first formed 4.2 billion years ago and will happen in cycles until the Earth is NO more. And these cycles run every two to three hundred years or so with the last one...a cooling cycle...occurring at the time of our nation's birth...and we are entering another one even as I write this, but it is NOT a warming cycle that the hoax perpetrators want us to believe, but a cooling cycle known as a 'little-ice age'...a 'little-ice age' as opposed to a major centuries-spanning ice age.

Fact two: What little if any evidence there is for 'supposed' rising global temperatures is based upon a temporary 'natural phenomenon' that occurs within a naturally developing eco-system within major population hubs. And do NOT forget the proven truth that polar ice is actually increasing NOT melting...hence the oceans are NOT significantly rising as some claim...and polar bear numbers are increasing NOT decreasing as others also claim. In fact, as many have noticed, winters are getting colder...much colder...and lasting longer.

Fact three: heat waves on the other hand have actually decreased NOT increased, and the number of hurricanes and typhoons...which feed off heat and need heat to survive...along with their intensity...is also decreasing NOT increasing.

And according to leading climate expert William Happer, from Princeton University, "There is no significant man-made global warming at this time, there has been none in the past and there is no reason to fear any in the future. Efforts to prove the theory that carbon dioxide is a significant greenhouse gas and pollutant causing significant warming or weather effects have failed.”

Adding, "There has been no warming over 18 years," and that "The incredible list of supposed horrors that increasing carbon dioxide will bring the world is pure belief disguised as science," Happer's words should put to rest for Pope Frances his involvement in this climate change scam, but I'm afraid it will NOT as the Holy Father seems more concerned with political matters than he seems with theological matters...matters like the slaughter of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa for example.

Instance number three: yesterday Pope Frances spoke before a joint session of Congress...and Jews were there after being deliberately left out of the Yom Kippur held White House faith-based meeting affront. And Pope Francis' address again showed him crossing the line from being a theologian into becoming an activist Pope, which is NOT a good place for any Pope to be.

Saying, “Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the second World War; including thousands of persons (who) are led to travel north in search of a better life,” the Holy Father does NOT understand that those now coming to America are NOT immigrants looking for a better life, but are an invasion of the worst of the worst. Adding that, "We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us once were foreigners," Pope Francis comes across more as a bleeding heart liberal bordering on being an avowed socialist than the theologian he is supposed to be.

Now do NOT get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for the Holy Father and for the papacy itself, but when a Pope crosses over into the political arena and does so in a most decidedly anti-American way, I do have a problem. Besides Pope Frances' embrace of islam, his left-leaning narrative caused a certain amount of consternation amongst Republicans. Speaking in slow and halting English, the Pope went out of his way to shake hands with John 'Swiftboat' Kerry..and why... because this Pope supported and wanted the Kerry-led very bad Iran nuclear deal to go into effect post-haste.

Also saying, "A good political leader is one who, with the interests of all in mind, seizes the moment in a spirit of openness and pragmatism. A good political leader always opts to initiate processes rather than possessing spaces," this Pope makes NO allowances for the fact that NOT all are worthy or deserving of help so to speak. Missing the point that sometimes 'the trash' has to be put aside for the majority to thrive, his Holiness also called for an end to the death penalty in all cases oblivious to the fact that even the Bible says, “an eye for an eye...” and that in some cases the death penalty is indeed warranted.

Taking a page out of the liberal playbook, the Holy Father also called for the “necessity of distribution of wealth” something that goes against every fiber of our Conservative being as we believe NO one should be given a free ride at 'We the People's' expense or dime. Adding that, “Business should be about service to the common good,” these words are part and parcel of one who holds true to the socialist manifesto where the collective whole trumps the individual.

And when Pope Francis alluded that the U.S. and capitalism are the cause of all the world's woes by saying it was time to “restore dignity to the excluded,” the leader of the Holy Roman Catholic Church ignored the fact that sometimes those excluded are excluded NOT because they are poor but because they are NOT doing anything of substance to help themselves. America is NOT nor should it be the world's savior, especially when in today's world America is looked upon with contempt.

And lastly, Pope Frances completely missed the mark with his saying that, "Being at the service of dialogue and peace also means being truly determined to minimize and, in the long term, to end the many armed conflicts throughout our world. Here we have to ask ourselves: Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society? Sadly, the answer, as we all know, is simply for money: money that is drenched in blood, often innocent blood. In the face of this shameful and culpable silence, it is our duty to confront the problem and to stop the arms trade."

On this, while there is a bit of truth in regards to arms trading being a cash-cow awash in blood, the Holy Father does NOT get that today's wars are NOT simple 'armed conflicts,' but are the reality of it's either 'them'...being islam...or 'us'...the free world...that will be the victors for today's battles are for it all. And Pope Francis needs to understand that we Americans will NEVER allow islam to rule over us nor will we coexist with those out to kill us NO matter how many religious leaders want us to all get along.

So, as Pope Frances continues on to New York City and then on to Philadelphia, all I can say is that the world's religious leaders need to stick to theology and NOT get involved in political or scientific affairs of which they know little...and I say that with all due respect towards both the Holy Father and the Holy Roman Catholic Church itself.