(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
As kos
wrote yesterday, it seems that nobody wants to go to Rick Perry's
campaign kickoff "Day of Prayer" religious revival rally scheduled for Saturday in Houston. The stadium event organizers are using seats just north of 70,000 ... but only 8,000 people have said they will come. Perry invited every governor of every state to attend his
political cynical rally, but just one accepted his invitation: Sam Brownback of Kansas. And now Brownback is backing away:
Perry invited all his fellow governors. The only one to accept was Sam Brownback of Kansas, but he is now backing away. His office says Brownback is "on vacation," and if he goes, "it's at his discretion and on his dime."
Maybe Brownback will show up "on his own," but Perry is taking a ton of heat for his event anyway:
Earlier this week, 50 Houston religious leaders, led by the Anti-Defamation League, signed a letter expressing their concern that the Texas governor, and possible presidential candidate, is "sending an official message of religious exclusion" to non-Christian Texans.
Why are people objecting to Perry's stunt? In part because it's a cynical use of faith to achieve political goals—have you ever heard of someone launching a serious presidential campaign during a religious service? But it's not just his lack of respect for the idea behind the First Amendment, it's also that he's invited some genuinely crazy people to participate in his event. People like:
— John Hagee, a San Antonio evangelist whose endorsement was rejected by John McCain in 2008 because of Hagee's anti-Catholic statements.
— Mike Bickle, a founder of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Mo., who has called Oprah Winfrey a "pastor of the harlot of Babylon."
— Alice Patterson, founder of Justice at the Gate, in San Antonio, who has written that there is "a demonic structure behind the Democratic Party."
— And then there's John Benefiel, head of the Oklahoma-based Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network, who once said this about the Statue of Liberty: "You know where we got it from? French Freemasons. Listen, folks, that is an idol, a demonic idol right there in the middle of New York Harbor."
With a roster of loons like that, is there any wonder why Perry is suddenly becoming the flavor of the month among GOP primary voters looking for an alternative to Mitt Romney?