Q Toon: Hubba Hubba

"Padre" in this cartoon is Dallas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress, who three years ago was telling us that "we need to dispel the myth... that a person's private morality has no effect on his ability to run for office or to serve in office. Look, character is what counts, and a person's judgment in his private life spills over into his other life."

Yet Jeffress was one of the first professional evangelicals to endorse a thrice-married casino mogul who stiffs his workers and contractors; and now that we know Trump thinks sexual assault is an acceptable way to say hello, Jeffress is standing by his man. "Look, I might not choose this man to be a Sunday school teacher in my church, but that's not what this election is about."

Other professional evangelicals such as Ralph Reed and Gary Bauer continue to defend Jabba the Trump in a triumph of partisanship over principles. If you missed last night's The Daily Show segment on this, it's well worth a watch.

Pat Robertson gave this weird explanation on his 700 Club: "“A guy does something 11 years ago, it was a conversation in Hollywood where he’s trying to look like he’s macho. And 11 years after that they surface it from The Washington Post or whatever, bring it out within 30 days or so of the election and this is supposed to be the death blow and everybody writes him off, ‘Okay, he’s dead, now you’ve got to get out of the way and let Mike Pence run the campaign.' The Donald says no, He’s like the Phoenix. They think he’s dead, he’s come back. And he came back strong. So, he won that debate.”

“Coach” Dave Daubenmire, a failed candidate for the Ohio legislature and founder of Pass the Salt Ministries, argues that he can support a candidate who grabs vaginas as long as they are not her own: “I think it’s pretty clear that the Bible teaches us that women should not be in authority over a man. ... Rather than worrying so much about the immorality of a sinful man, what about the biblical principle that when a woman rules over a man … it’s a sign of judgment of the Lord?”

Billy Graham's Christianity Today this week editorialized, however, that while it is committed to being officially neutral in the presidential race, and cannot support Hillary Clinton, it urges Christians to stay as far away from Trump as possible.

"What Trump is, everyone has known and has been able to see for decades, let alone the last few months. The revelations of the past week of his vile and crude boasting about sexual conquest—indeed, sexual assault—might have been shocking, but they should have surprised no one. ...
"Enthusiasm for a candidate like Trump gives our neighbors ample reason to doubt that we believe Jesus is Lord. They see that some of us are so self-interested, and so self-protective, that we will ally ourselves with someone who violates all that is sacred to us—in hope, almost certainly a vain hope given his mendacity and record of betrayal, that his rule will save us."