As we noted last week, pseudo-historian and right-wing propagandist David Barton was traveling around Iowa with Republican presidential hopeful Sam Brownback.
Further, [Barton] said, "you can also tell a guy by his enemies," and cited [Brownback’s] 19 percent rating from the American Civil Liberties Union and an "F" grade from the National Education Association, which drew applause from the crowd.
"Socialists just don't care for Sam much," said Barton, president of the Texas-based WallBuilders group, which seeks to give insight into the Christian values the founders of America possessed.
Brownback is likewise infatuated with Barton:
"David is well known across the country for his research and his knowledge on really the heritage, and particularly the spiritual heritage, of the country. His support I think is a signal to a number of people that this is somebody that understands the Constitution and also understands the role of faith in the United States ... and doesn't try to run it out of the public square," Brownback said.
Barton is indeed known across the country for his research – research that is often staggeringly slanted, openly partisan, and tellingly incomplete.
For good measure, Brownback also discussed his own views on the intersection of faith and politics:
While Brownback thinks faith belongs in government, he said he does not want the church to control the government, or vice versa.
“I’m opposed to a theocracy. I think it would be bad for religion. I also think it would be bad for government,” he said.
So Brownback is opposed to theocracy mainly because it is bad for religion … and, oh yeah, not so good for the government either.
With views like that, it’s not hard to understand why Barton would be out there stumping for Brownback:
Barton said the United States’ Christian heritage is one of the reasons for the country’s stability, while other countries get new governments every 20 to 30 years.
“You’ve got to have God-fearing leaders to have God-honoring leaders,” he said.
Barton also seemed to have an ominous warning to those who might be considering sitting out the upcoming election:
Barton said evangelical Christians number nearly 60 million and they should be engaged politically. "We get to choose our leaders, and we'll answer to God," he said.
This was the same message Barton was delivering last year before the mid-term election. At least he hasn’t begun threatening to break fingers in order to get people to vote for Brownback yet.
