On Tuesday, Republican candidate Sharron Angle, who's challenging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, denied she said during an interview earlier this year that certain government initiatives represent a "violation of the First Commandment," the Las Vegas Sun reports.
Angle told TruNews Christian Radio's Rick Wile back in April, "I know people are very frightened about what's going on in this country. And these programs that you mentioned -- that Obama has going with Reid and Pelosi pushing them forward -- are all entitlement programs built to make government our God. And that's really what's happening in this country is a violation of the First Commandment. We have become a country entrenched in idolatry, and that idolatry is the dependency upon our government." She added, "We're supposed to depend upon God for our protection and our provision and for our daily bread, not for our government. And you've just identified the real crux of the problem."
But, yesterday, when ABC News asked Angle about the remarks at a campaign event in Minden, Nev., the Tea Party-backed contender reportedly asserted, "That's not what I said."
Angle then revived a similar line of defense she's turned to before when she's found herself under fire for appearing to flip-flop.
"You speak in the language of the folks that you're communicating with and I was speaking in their language," explained the Senate hopeful. "And the language that I used is that our country, we have become a country that has put our faith, not in 'God we trust', which is on our money, but in government we trust and that is what I was referring to. We have allowed government to take the place of God."
The comments echo an explanation provided by Angle to the Las Vegas Review Journal editorial board last month in discussing the changes her campaign had undergone amid the transition from the primary to general election season. She said, "Understand, the rhetoric of a primary is a little different because obviously your audience is a little different so you're going to say things in a little more guarded way when you get into a general election precisely since your opponent is looking to cut up your words."
(Via Jon Ralston at the Las Vegas Sun comes audio of what Angle originally had to say about the First Commandment.)