To hear the Republican presidential candidates tell it, the media lurks behind them, ready to pounce on the slightest questionable statement, action or association.
Yet three GOP White House hopefuls —Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee — have received relatively little scrutiny since appearing last weekend with pastor Kevin Swanson at the National Religious Liberties Conference in Des Moines.
Swanson, the director of the Generations with Vision ministry in Elizabeth, Colo., and host of an online radio program, is no run-of-the-mill opponent of same-sex marriage. He’s known among evangelicals for, at the very least, suggesting that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to make homosexual behavior punishable by death.
The Web site Right Wing Watch (whose political persuasion is pretty self-explanatory) has made a habit of tracking Swanson’s statements on the subject over the years. At the conference, Swanson was a keynote speaker and interviewed each of the three candidates onstage. In his remarks, Swanson said this:
Romans chapter 1, verse 32. The apostle Paul does say that homosexuals are worthy of death — his words, not mine. And I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I am not ashamed of the truth of the word of God. And I am willing to go to jail for standing on the word of God.
(Side note: Swanson’s Biblical reference omits a lot of important context. For one thing, Paul doesn’t single out homosexuality here but rather includes it on a long list of sins. For another, his point — articulated later in Romans — is that all people sin and deserve death but are offered forgiveness through Jesus. This is why most Christians don’t walk around saying gay people should die.)
Swanson also said this:
Do you advocate for our civil leaders to do this today? And my answer is no. But why? Here’s why: Because that’s not such a big deal. … The discussion concerning the capital punishment of homosexuals is nothing, is not all that important when contrasted with hellfire forever. You say, ‘Why wouldn’t you call for it?’ I say it’s because we need some time for homosexuals to repent.
So, Swanson isn’t ready to execute gay people just yet. So, no story?
Liberal MSNBC host Rachel Maddow's fans heard all about the appearances of Cruz, Jindal and Huckabee with Swanson on MSNBC on Monday.
And the conference got some attention, before and after, from other liberal-leaning outlets like Salon, the Huffington Post and the aforementioned Right Wing Watch.
But Swanson’s sharing the stage with three Republican presidential candidates has received scant coverage from what the candidates themselves call the “mainstream media.” Why?
One simple explanation is that Cruz, Jindal and Huckabee aren't front-runners and are therefore getting less media coverage, in general. Jindal and Huckabee were relegated to the "kiddie table" debate on Tuesday, and Cruz is in fourth place and flying somewhat below-the-radar in the GOP primary race. If the trio appearing with Swanson had been Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), things might be different.
Still, Cruz isn’t so out of it that he’s immune to criticism. Plus, his father, conservative activist and pastor Rafael Cruz, was also a speaker at the religious liberties conference, adding another layer of connection.
It might be that Swanson is so far right of the norm that many news outlets don’t think he even warrants attention. He also doesn’t appear to be anything resembling a spiritual mentor to the candidates who joined him in Des Moines — a big difference between him and, say, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Obama’s former pastor who became a lightning rod during the 2008 election.
Swanson has a following, to be sure, but it’s plausible that Cruz, Jindal and Huckabee were not aware of his prior remarks. And his keynote address closed last weekend’s conference, meaning the candidates did their Q&As with him before hearing his speech.
Their willingness to go on with Swanson would look worse — and might be a bigger story — if they had listened to him and decided it was still a good idea to shake his hand and take his questions.
