Monday Morning Quarterbacking Scott Walker's Answer

    As long as everyone on Twitter was armchair quarterbacking how Scott Walker should have responded to a question in a Washington Post interview about whether or not Barack Obama is a Christian, I weighed in with this observation:

Here's the best pattern @ScottWalker could use for how to answer 'gotcha' questions. https://t.co/BXXNVEfyvt pic.twitter.com/0t6PZtnqOf
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) February 21, 2015

    I also suggested this as a possible response:

How's this for a response? Q: Gov. Walker, do you believe Pres. Obama is a Christian? A: Do you believe I am a Christian?
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) February 22, 2015

     But after some reflection, perhaps Walker could have best used the question as an opportunity to share the gospel. I may not have answered any better (or worse) than Walker, but here's what I'd like to have answered:

    First, let me say this is not a political question. The Constitution makes clear than no religious test is appropriate for public office in the United States, so in the context of this interview, your question isn't appropriate. Second, the Bible teaches that a Christian is someone who has put his faith in the finished redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross, repented of his sin, is no longer under the wrath of God, and is now a follower of Christ. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," the Bible says, and Barack Obama is included in "whosoever". If the president has done this, he's a Christian.

    Far be it from me to cast a stone at Scott Walker, and I'm sure others can improve on my effort above. I Peter 3:15 says "be ready always to give an answer to every man who asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you," and that goes for all Christians, not just politicians. We may not all get interviewed by the Washington Post, but we should all be ready with an answer.

A Narrow, Easy Victory?

    Tuesday, Democrat Ron Barber won a special Congressional election in Arizona to replace Gabrielle Giffords, who gave up her seat a year after the horrific shooting in Tucson in January 2011 that killed six and critically injured Giffords along with 12 others.  Newsweek's The Daily Beast reports on the outcome of the election:

Former Giffords aide Ron Barber beat his Tea Party opponent in an election that was far less close than predicted...

Barber’s easy victory was a surprise in Arizona, where politicos expected a tight race...

And while the progressive Public Policy Poll had Barber leading Kelly by 12 points, on the ground in Arizona, both sides predicted the race would be a nail biter.

The entire 1300-word article manages to never actually give the final results from the "easy victory." The New York Times reports that the tally was 52% for Democrat Barber and 45% for "Tea Party Republican" Jesse Kelly (a third party candidate received about 2%.)  While "easy victory" is certainly true relatively speaking considering Giffords bested Kelly in 2010 by only about one percentage point, it is not exactly a landslide either.  Fortunately for comparison purposes, there was another recent election reported by The Daily Beast:  the Scott Walker recall-that-wasn't in Wisconsin.  Last week, Howard Kurtz reported Walker's win with the same margin of victory as the Arizona election as follows:

Scott Walker narrowly held on to his job as Wisconsin’s governor on Tuesday, surviving a labor-backed recall drive loudly trumpeted as a national showdown over public-employee unions.

So a Democrat retains the seat of a sitting Democrat who was gunned down by a lunatic and has been universally and justly lauded as a hero ever since and seven points is an "easy victory."  But a sitting Republican governor who implemented serious reforms fends off a fierce recall effort that was nationalized by the opposition and even drew the support (if somewhat tepid) of the sitting president, and seven points is a "narrow" victory of survival.  I'm an accountant, but even I cannot reconcile those statements.  It's almost enough to make one think there's a political agenda afoot at The Daily Beast.