Pompeo: Anti-Trump Target

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), during the confirmation hearing of Pompeo in the U.S. Senate to become the next Secretary of State, established himself as a vote against CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s nomination because of Pompeo’s beliefs on marriage and sexuality — beliefs consistent with Pompeo’s Christian faith.

Never mind Article VI of the United States Constitution where it explicitly states that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

Booker’s questioning of Pompeo during the nominee’s hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee targeted words Pompeo spoke at a church in his district back when Pompeo was still a U.S. Congressman.

I am surprised Booker didn’t hammer him for being inside the church, in the first place.

Booker later posted on Facebook that he will vote against Pompeo, saying that the former congressman’s religious beliefs on these issues make him unfit to serve in federal office representing the United States. “I believe you can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people,” Booker wrote. The senator then quotes Bible verses that he thinks Pompeo is not living up to, including references to loving his neighbor.

At what point has Christians ever said they don’t “love” homosexuals?  As I’ve been hearing, “love the person, hate the sin.”  The Democrats, apparently, ascribe to the idea that if you disagree with something, either shut up about it, or be labeled a “hater.”  In reality, those kinds of ad-hominem attacks are the last grasp for an argument, when they have none.

Regarding Booker’s defiance of the U.S. Constitution, the conservative response was swift, and immediately targeted the Constitution and our Christian Heritage as a sword in this battle against Senator Booker, and the rest of the godless Democrat Party.

“Demanding a loyalty oath to Sen. Booker’s determination of which beliefs are acceptable isn’t what this country is about; indeed, it’s what we fought for independence from,” Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council (FRC), told Breitbart News. “We should celebrate that we are a nation that not only allows but encourages every American to hold and express their beliefs – including their religious beliefs – without fear of retribution by the government.”

Could this be a set-up?  Are the Democrats playing this game because they know that they can then turn it around against the Republicans later when they are in control and they want to begin appointing Muslim invaders (Islam is a political ideology that masks itself as a religion) to critical posts?

The reality is, the Democrat Party, who at one time removed God from their platform, and then amidst a roar of boos returned God after a series of criticisms, stands against Christian values, and a moral compass based on biblical teachings.

“Religious bigotry and discrimination is unacceptable in this country, much less from someone who takes an oath to our Constitution and who is supposed to serve the people of this country,” said Kelly Shackelford, president of First Liberty Institute, in an exclusive comment to Breitbart News.

“This is essentially imposing a religious test on officers of the United States, something explicitly forbidden by Article VI of the Constitution,” said Prof. John Eastman, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).

“The American people put President Trump in the White House in part because they refuse to be discriminated against for their long-held, mainstream beliefs,” Trump Transition Team leader Ken Blackwell told Breitbart News. “Whether on abortion, marriage, the Bible, the Second Amendment, or other issues, tens of millions of Americans who are wonderful people have been vilified for their beliefs by left-wing elites, and the American people chose a president who will stand up for them.”

Today the U.S. Senate committee in play claims they are poised to vote against Mike Pompeo as secretary of state.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote on Mr. Pompeo’s nomination tonight, and predictably all of the panel’s Democrats have said they will oppose Pompeo’s nomination.  The sad part about it is that not only are the Democrats doing so for solely obstructionist reasons, but on the committee, which has 11 members of the Republican Party, and 10 members of the Democrat Party, the GOP has no votes to spare, and one Republican is defecting with a vote against Pompeo.  Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who I am normally a huge fan of, has stated he will be voting with the Democrats.

If Paul votes against Pompeo with the Democrats, that will kill the committee’s support for him.  That said, the committee is not capable of keeping the vote for Pompeo from going to the floor of the U.S. Senate.  If Pompeo does pull off the Senate vote, it will be the first time in modern history that a secretary of state was confirmed by the full Senate without winning a committee endorsement.

Indeed, in the U.S. Senate, there are Democrats willing to cast a vote for Pompeo, despite the position of the hard-left obstructionist Democrats on the committee.  One of those Democrats is Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who has said she plans to support Mr. Pompeo.  It is likely other Democrats from Red States, who are likely thinking about how to keep their seats, will join Heitkamp with a “yes” vote for Pompeo.

“Under ordinary times, he would be confirmed overwhelmingly,“ Mr. Corker said on CNN’s State of the Union. ”We just live in a very partisan environment.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), appearing on CBS’ Face the Nation, criticized what he said was Democrats’ “shameful political behavior.”

Paul is the only expected Republican defection.

In addition to Heitkamp, the Associated Press is reporting that two other Democrat Senators will give Pompeo their votes when the matter comes before the full Senate, naming Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana as being those Democrats.

With John McCain at home dealing with his cancer, Rand Paul’s breaking of rank would have put the vote at 50 against and 49 for Pompeo if everyone voted only along party lines (save for Senator Paul).  However, with at least three Democrats confirming they will vote in favor of Pompeo, it looks likely that Mr. Pompeo will be joining President Donald J. Trump as his Secretary of State, soon, which is good timing since the talks with North Korea are rapidly approaching.

— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary