"Getting on knees" becoming most prevalent campaign theme

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Religion dominating Republican presidential race

Cruz and Rubio trying to “out-Christian” each other

As the race for the Republican presidential nomination veers sharply to the right, particularly in the days before the Iowa caucuses, it appears that the candidates are trying to outdo themselves in the quest to be the most Christian.

At the same Iowa rally in which an evangelical pastor called for the death penalty for gay people and said that the candidates need to accept Jesus as the “king of the president of the United States,” Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said, “Any president who doesn’t begin every day on his knees isn’t fit to be commander in chief of this country.” 

We are checking with the Cruz campaign to verify that the “on his knees” to which Cruz referred was for praying and not for one of the other things people do when they get on their knees.

Not to be outdone, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, at another Iowa rally said, “The presidency of the United States is an extraordinary burden and you look at some of the greatest presidents in American history. They were very clear. They were on their knees all the time asking for God, asking God for the wisdom to solve, for the strength to persevere incredible tests.”

Although Rubio said it was very clear, it is actually not very clear which of the “greatest presidents in American history” were "on their knees all the time” praying to God for wisdom.

When pressed to name some of the presidents he was referring to, Rubio, channeling one of Sarah Palin’s most famous interviews, said, “Most of them. All of them.”

We reached out to the Rubio campaign for clarification. Rubio’s spokesperson for Christian matters, Billy Bob "Bud" Powell said, “We are on our knees praying for guidance from above on this matter and will provide a list as soon as that guidance is received from on high.”

When asked to comment on the race’s hard turn to religion and Christianity, Donald J. Trump, recently endorsed by Jerry Falwell Jr., son of the late right-wing televangelist, said, “I can tell you, and this is the God's honest truth, I only go by what I learned by reading the two Corinthians.”