Last weekend, while Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, and Hillary Clinton were out doing town halls and meeting the people of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, three Republican candidates were participating in one of the most disgusting hatefests I've ever witnessed. Start at around 6 minutes in on the video above to watch it yourself.
RightWingWatch has been sounding the alarm about this "National Religious Liberties Conference" for a couple of weeks now, but until I saw the actual video of Kevin Swanson, I had no idea how odious this person really was.
It's worse than anything they described. After his fierce advocacy for saving the country by executing gay people, Swanson called for Christians to hold up on that long enough to allow all the gays; indeed, the entire country, to repent.
In a closing keynote address to the conference this evening, Swanson clarified that he is not encouraging American officials to implement the death penalty for homosexuality … yet.
Instead, he said, gay people first need time to repent of their sins, as do people who have committed adultery, gotten divorced or looked at porn, all of which he said are inviting God’s judgment on America.
This wasn't just church for gay-haters, though. This was a forum for 2016 GOP hopefuls for the White House. Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal all showed up to cheer on the crowd and stir up the froth.
Swanson introduced Cruz by stating that Jesus Christ "is king of the President of the United States whether he will admit it or not and that president should submit to His rule and to His law" before asking Cruz to share his opinion on how important it is for "the President of the United States to fear God."
Cruz, predictably, asserted that fear of God is absolutely vital, declaring that "any president who doesn't begin every day on his knees isn't fit to be commander-in-chief of this nation."
Any 2016 hopeful who showed up to this thing and encouraged people to call for the execution of gay people based upon their twisted biblical interpretations, and who would "get on his knees" in deference to this crap needs to step off the national stage. Now.
This is what hate speech looks like. Up close and personal. Here's what he had to say about what would happen if his son said he was gay and going to get married.
..At the entrance of the church...I’d sit in cow manure and I’d spread it all over my body. That’s what I would do. And I’m not kidding. I’m not laughing. I’m grieving! I’m mourning! I’m pointing out the problem! It’s not a gay time! These are the people with the sores! The gaping sores!
[...]
That is not a nice thing to do! Don’t you dare carve happy faces on open, pussy sores! Don’t you ever do that! Don’t you ever do that! I tell you don’t do it!
Republicans are so far off the reservation they're heading toward the edge of the world. But these three Republicans in particular should be excluded from national politics forever. Ted Cruz in particular probably has a place holding tent revivals with poisonous snakes.
