Thread: Jacob says he shouldn't have spoken about Satan

Saturday, June 24, 2006
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ALAN CHOATE - Daily Herald
Earlier this week, Republican John Jacob said he thought Ol' Scratch himself -- Satan -- was working against his campaign to unseat incumbent Rep. Chris Cannon in Utah's Third Congressional District.

On Friday, however, Jacob tried to put some distance between himself and the devil.

"What I was trying to say, and obviously didn't do it very well, is that over the last eight months I've had more adversity in my life than I've had in the last 10 years," Jacob said of comments made to the editorial board of The Salt Lake Tribune and subsequently published in Friday editions.

On Thursday, Jacob told the Tribune: "There's another force that wants to keep us from going to Washington, D.C. It's the devil is what it is."

"I don't know who else it would be if it wasn't him," Jacob was quoted as saying. "There's been a lot of adversity. There's no question I've had experiences that I think there's an outside force."

His troubles, Jacob said Friday, include business deals gone bad, accusations that he illegally employed a Chilean couple and statements against him by people he thought were his friends.

"I'm a public figure, so I guess I expect it," he said.

When asked for more detail about how and why the devil would oppose his candidacy, Jacob declined to elaborate. "There are some things you keep to yourself," he said. "I shouldn't talk about it, including now."

Jacob said that several business deals have fallen through, making it harder to finance his campaign. Initially he said that he would pump as much as $1 million of his own money into the race.

Recent finance reports and campaign statements show that he has committed about half that amount, and on Friday he told the Herald: "It's been very difficult to finance my campaign."

Political candidates are often known to make religious references, such as mentioning God, in support of their positions or philosophies, said David Gutterman, a political science professor at Oregon's Linfield College and author of "Prophetic Politics: Christian Social Movements and American Democracy."

"I think it is less unusual today than it was 10 years ago," he said, adding that "the use of religious language has become more common under President Bush."

Before he was elected, for example, Bush was quoted by Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention as saying, "I feel like God wants me to run for president. ... But if that doesn't happen, that's OK."

Friday's online edition of The Economist elaborated on Bush's use of religious rhetoric, including a reference to a national prayer breakfast in 2003 in which Bush said he "felt the presence of the Almighty." (See full article at www.economist.com.)

Jacob's comments about Satan might not hurt him, Gutterman said. "The people he would alienate probably wouldn't vote for him anyway. The people he's going to attract are shoring up a base that probably shares his religious views."

Gutterman wondered, though, about the fact that trouble in Jacob's political campaign could as easily be attributed to the influence of God as to that of Satan.

"The presumption in his case is, obviously, God does not want him to fail," Gutterman said.

Jacob, a businessman from Eagle Mountain with little political experience, said he is looking at the episode as a teaching moment about how to express himself in an environment where every word out of his mouth lands in the public domain.

"That's something I need to learn, and you are educating me," he said. "I obviously shouldn't have said it."

Then he quipped: "The devil made me do it."

Jacob asked the Tribune not to quote him about Satan because he would be marked as "one of those screw-loose people."

Ordinarily, journalists consider all statements of public figures to be on the record unless an agreement otherwise is made in advance. Jacob appears to have made his comments to the Tribune with no such agreement, and they were published.

Republican voters will decide on Tuesday whether to nominate Jacob or Cannon to represent the party on November's general election ballot.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/183820/3/

Utah candidate's bad luck: Is it . . . Satan?

By ROBERT GEHRKE
Salt Lake Tribune
23-JUN-06

SALT LAKE CITY -- As if beating a five-term congressman wasn't hard enough, John Jacob said he has another foe working against him: the devil.

"There's another force that wants to keep us from going to Washington, D.C.," Jacob said. "It's the devil is what it is. I don't want you to print that, but it feels like that's what it is."

Jacob said Thursday that since he decided to run for Congress against Rep. Chris Cannon, Satan has bollixed his business deals, preventing him from putting as much money into the race as he had hoped.

Numerous business deals he had lined up have been delayed, freezing money he was counting on to finance his race.

"You know, you plan, you organize, you put your budget together and when you have 10 things fall through, not just one, there's some other, something else that is happening," Jacob said.

Asked if he actually believed that "something else" was indeed Satan, Jacob said: "I don't know who else it would be if it wasn't him. Now when that gets out in the paper, I'm going to be one of the screw-loose people."

Jacob initially said the devil was working against him during a Wednesday immigration event, then reiterated his belief Thursday in a meeting with The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board.

"There's a lot of adversity. There's no question I've had experiences that I think there's an outside force," he said.

University of Utah political scientist Matthew Burbank said Jacob's sentiment is unusual for a political candidate and might show his inexperience, but is unlikely to be a major issue for the conservative voters he is targeting.

"Given that, I don't think it's very likely to make a big splash among Republican primary voters, but certainly if he gets through to the general election it might come up again and he'd have to explain it more," Burbank said.

Jacob, who like Cannon is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said he is not the only one who is being opposed by Beelzebub. He said both Cannon and Sen. Bob Bennett have lost millions of dollars since going to Congress, and he believes their adversity is rooted in the same dark origins.

Cannon's campaign would not address whether Lucifer is opposing either candidate.

"Chris would not attribute any adversities to any outside influence," Cannon's chief of staff, Joe Hunter, said regarding Cannon's diminished personal wealth since going to Congress. "I'm not sure that Chris would even call them adversities. It's a conscious decision on Chris' part to do what's important to him. There's been far more important events in Chris' life than his business."

Jacob explained that, when people try to do something good, there are frequently forces that align to stop them.

"We have a country that was created by our Heavenly Father and it was a country that had a Constitution and everyone who came to America had strong faith. If that can be destroyed that would be the adversity. . . . Whether you want to call that Satan or whoever you want to call it, I believe in the last eight months I've experienced that."



(Distributed by Scripps-McClatchy Western Service, http://www.shns.com.)

Well, I suppose it's possible the globalist's and corporations might seem like Satan's allies at times. What is a corporation, but a body without a soul.

Lol.....

But.........NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...........not in Utah......god no, not in UTAH Jacobs.....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.........

Dont play the religous card, PLEASE......grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Jacob wrestled the angel and the angel was overcome.

Now can John Jacob do it?

W