« January 20, 2008 - January 26, 2008
|
February 3, 2008 - February 9, 2008 »
January 27, 2008 - February 2, 2008
February 1, 2008
Anti-Abortion Activists Air Their Drama via Presidential Race
“American RTL 3, Romney 0”: So boasted a press release from a new and little-known anti-abortion group. American Right to Life Action, a 527 that formed in November, seems to be dedicated entirely to opposing Mitt Romney.
The group started with an ad in Iowa (“Mitt Romney, willing to sacrifice children, lying for your vote,” it concluded), although it’s not clear how widely it was placed. "We have tested this ad with focus groups," said the group’s president, Steve Curtis, "and it has everyone laughing, laughing with us, at Mitt Romney for being such an obvious liar about the most important issue for any leader in America: abortion." ARTL updated the ad for South Carolina, while issuing press releases denouncing Romney endorsers Bob Jones III and Ann Coulter. And in Florida, the group sent out half a million anti-Romney e-mails. “The evidence is indisputable -- Mitt Romney is lying to get Christian votes," said Brian Rohrbough, the ARTL’s vice president.
According to Curtis, ARTL “went head-to-head” with Romney, who indeed lost those three elections—although claiming credit for Romney’s losses is somewhat analogous to the American Family Association’s constant boasting that its anti-gay boycott is the cause of the Ford Motor Company’s rust-belt woes.
But despite its dogged pursuit of Romney, ARTL is not your typical flash-in-the-pan anti-Mitt outfit (like Janet Folger’s new front group). One clue was this gratuitous swipe at the National Right to Life Committee after the latter endorsed Fred Thompson:
Denver-based "American Right To Life Action also calls National RTL's support of Mitt Romney a betrayal of the innocent," said Curtis. NRTL is playing the odds, and "doubled down," officially endorsing anti-human life amendment Fred Thompson, while supporting their own longtime general counsel for serving as a "key advisor" to the Romney campaign. "The Republican National Committee has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to NRTL, which calls into question NRTL's loyalty to the unborn," added Curtis, "especially now that its political architect, James Bopp, is endorsing a pro-abortion candidate like Mitt Romney who plainly lies to deceive pro-lifers."
Huh? Paul Weyrich, a Romney backer, accused NRLC of selling out when it picked Thompson, but it seems a little far-fetched to make it out to be a secret, Br’er Rabbit-like endorsement of an opposing candidate.
In fact, American Right to Life was founded to counter the National Right to Life Committee, which ARTL vice president Rohrbough calls the “Judas” of the anti-abortion movement.
Last year, Rohrbough—who also heads Colorado Right to Life—was at the center of a factional dispute between anti-abortion groups. A coalition of absolutists placed newspaper ads attacking James Dobson, a hero on the Religious Right, for his supposed backsliding. The offense? Dobson had praised the Supreme Court for upholding the “Partial Birth Abortion Ban”—a major shift in the court’s stance on reproductive rights, but short of a total ban.
The National Right to Life Committee jumped to Dobson’s defense, only to have its own Colorado state affiliate fire back:
"What happened in the abortion world is that groups like National Right to Life, they're really a wing of the Republican Party, and they're not geared to push for personhood for an unborn child -- they're geared to getting Republicans elected," he said. "So we're seeing these ridiculous laws like the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban put forward, and then we're deceived about what they really do."
NRLC dropped its ties with Colorado RTL, setting up a division between absolutists and incrementalists: the latter backing candidates and stressing judicial nominations, while Rohrbough and friends turned to “personhood” amendments and came together to form American Right to Life.
So far, the dispute has kept to bitter comments—and to the presidential race—but Curtis and Rohrbough should watch their back: A previous NRLC knock-off, also called American Right to Life, was sued by NRLC and that “Judas” Bopp several years back.
Posted by Ezra at 6:12 PM | Permalink
Black Conservatives Rally For Huck
An organization called Republicans for Black Empowerment announces a press conference urging Mike Huckabee to stay in the race: "Inside-the-beltway Republicans have lost touch with the increasing seriousness with which heartland conservatives relate to the traditional values agenda," states Star Parker, a nationally syndicated columnist and conservative activist. "More and more folks are feeling personally assaulted by the meaninglessness that is gripping our culture and believe that Mike Huckabee is the only republican candidate that embodies the moral clarity of the GOP ideals. The groundswell generating support for Huckabee's candidacy understand that moral and economic health go hand in hand and should not be underestimated."
Posted by Kyle at 2:50 PM | Permalink
Huckabee Took Money From Common Sense Issues PAC
Politico reports that "Mike Huckabee has renounced the support of Common Sense Issues Inc. and has called for an investigation into its push-polling on his behalf. But that didn’t stop his campaign from accepting a $2,000 contribution from the group’s political action committee, according to Huckabee’s fourth-quarter report."
Posted by Kyle at 2:46 PM | Permalink
Coulter Dropped From CPAC
CPAC organizers have apparently grown tired of Ann Coulter's antics, says Think Progress.
Posted by Kyle at 11:46 AM | Permalink
Who Will Console Rick Scarborough?
With the Republican presidential campaign seemingly narrowed to a race between John McCain and Mitt Romney, one wonders what will become of Mike Huckabee’s more high-profile Religious Right backers? While Janet Folger appears busy starting up her own anti-Romney front group, Huckabee’s other most vocal and committed supporter, Rick Scarborough, seems to have been reduced to complaining and finger-pointing:
Scarborough was scathing in his assessment of U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who picked up Rudy Giuliani’s endorsement Wednesday (and might haul in the backing of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who had supported Giuliani).
Scarborough told me: “We are left with a candidate for president who showed his disdain for the Christian Right in 2000 when he tried to salvage his candidacy by trashing Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson while campaigning in South Carolina. He destroyed any attempt by (Senate Majority Leader) Bill Frist to end once and for all the unconstitutional requirement of 60 senators to affirm judicial appointments by joining the Gang of 14 (senators from both parties agreeing to avoid frequent partisan wars over judges) and his McCain/Feingold (campaign finance) bill was a direct assault on grassroots activism while McCain-Kennedy (an immigration act) revealed his true convictions about amnesty. Oddly enough, the ‘establishment’ candidate once threatened to leave the party he now will likely represent.”
Scarborough took issue with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney too, saying Romney “was wrong on every pro-family issue his entire career until he decided to run for the Republican nomination.”
Scarborough rued: “The most visible Christian leaders in our movement decided that Huckabee was ‘unelectable,’ which became a self-fulfilling prophecy. I am angered and frustrated by that reality, but secure in God’s sovereignty.”
It has been a tough campaign for Scarborough, who has been struggling from the very beginning to figure out how best to position himself in order to maximize his influence and visibility. Initially, Scarborough sounded like he was supporting Sam Brownback and announced that he’d be launching a “70 Weeks to Save America” crusade to mobilize “100,000 Values Voters, 10,000 key leaders, 5,000 Patriot Pastors and 5,000 women” – an effort that almost immediately put the organization deep in debt.
Over the coming months, he went on to suggest that none of the top-tier candidates was going to be acceptable to the GOP’s Religious Right base and that they should consider leaving the party all together. But then, when others began suggesting the same thing, Scarborough flip-flopped and told them to “grow up,” hold their noses, and support the Republican nominee for the sake of judges … only to flip-flop back again and say that his political work was not about winning elections but “honoring Christ.”
He then got involved with the Values Voter Debate, where Mike Huckabee firmly established himself as the “David among Jesse’s sons" and soon he was serving on Huckabee’s Faith and Family Values Coalition and hard to work organizing pro-Huckabee get-out-the-vote rallies and joining the candidate at fundraisers.
But now that Huckabee’s campaign seems to be winding down, Scarborough is on the verge of being left without a candidate or a coherent set of principles on which to move forward. What, oh what, is a Christocrat to do?
Posted by Kyle at 8:48 AM | Permalink
Using Christianity for Political Gains
There is nothing that seems to anger the Religious Right quite like discussions of faith within the political sphere that do not coincide with their own right-wing agenda. For example, Ryan Anderson of First Things attacked Catholics United for taking “its favored policy and baptize it in the name of the church” regarding the debate over SCHIP while Religious Right leaders were up-in-arms and accusing Democrats of “[hijacking] the language of faith in order to hide the truth about their real agenda” and confuse Values Voters. Barack Obama’s Christian faith, in particular, has come in for intense denunciation, being labeled “woefully deficient” while his church membership “suggests a lack of judgment.”
And now American Life League president Judie Brown has decided to add her voice to the chorus of those who think religion is solely the property of the Right:
"It is one thing to profess to be a believing Christian, and another to, by your actions, either confirm that you are indeed a believing Christian, or that you are using your so-called Christianity for the purpose of political gain," says Brown.
Brown says that in many cases -- such as Obama's and Clinton's -- she sees politicians "using their professed Christianity for political ends, without even recognizing what it means to be a Christian, and I find that rather sad."
Rather sad, indeed.
Posted by Kyle at 8:43 AM | Permalink
January 31, 2008
Parsley and Hunter: Planned Parenthood = Hitler
As the nation celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. last week, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council wrote of what he called the “irony” of the fact that anti-abortion activists choose the same day to rally in Washington: Hoping to piggyback on the civil rights movement, historically never allied with the Religious Right, Perkins implied that reproductive health-care providers are really motivated by a desire to “exterminate” black people.
Tandem with efforts by the Religious Right to recruit African American churches, the idea that abortion providers are trying to wipe out blacks is being heavily promoted on the far right, thanks to the efforts of the Life Education and Resource Network (LEARN) and BlackGenocide.org. (The group was featured on this “700 Club” report in 2006.)
Johnny Hunter of LEARN was a guest on televangelist Rod Parsley’s show this week:
“Roe v. Wade doesn’t have to be overturned. The hearts and minds of this nation must be overturned,” said Hunter.
Posted by Ezra at 5:45 PM | Permalink
FOF Says Dobson Was Right
Focus on the Family's CitizenLink gloats over Rudy Giuliani's departure, saying "Dr. Dobson was right ... Dr. Dobson has never been someone who takes stands or issues statements based on polls. He just doesn't put a lot of stock in them — particularly when they are trying to predict who is going to win a presidential election that at the time was more than a year away. Some people scoffed at him when he said, 'Hold on, there's a lot of campaigning still to do.' But time has proven him right."
Posted by Kyle at 1:44 PM | Permalink
Does Mitt Romney Know About This?
Mike Huckabee’s campaign rolls on, though he seems either unwilling or unable to branch out beyond his Religious Right base of support:
Huckabee surprised by winning the Iowa caucus, but has little money and finished a distant fourth in Florida.
The former Arkansas governor and Baptist preacher was in Newport Beach for a fundraiser at a supporter's home before traveling to Los Angeles for an Americans of Faith event and to Simi Valley for the GOP presidential debate.
Americans of Faith, which seems to be going by the name Operation Vote nowadays, was founded back in 2004 to register and mobilize 5 million Christian voters by Jay Sekulow, who just so happens to be Chair of Romney’s Faith and Values Steering Committee, as well as a member of Romney’s Advisory Committee On The Constitution And The Courts.
The Passion of the Religious Conservatives
1 May 2004
National JournalSeveral prominent evangelical-movement leaders, as well as businessmen, social conservatives, and other like-minded believers, have put together ambitious voter-registration efforts that aim to get the Christian faithful to the polls on Election Day. Though nominally nonpartisan, these "ground- war" efforts are expected to benefit Republicans far more than Democrats because of such hot-button issues for conservatives as gay marriage and abortion.
One effort is being run by Americans of Faith, a Virginia-based tax-exempt group that is co-chaired by Bush fundraising "Pioneer" Edward Atsinger, who is president of Salem Communications, the nation's largest Christian radio broadcaster; and Jay Alan Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, a nonprofit launched by Pat Robertson that champions religious causes.
"I've been talking about this for the last 10 years," Sekulow said. "Evangelicals haven't been good participants in elections. We're talking about Christian civic participation." Americans of Faith hopes to raise about $800,000 and will use the Internet, Christian radio, and music festivals, as well as churches and other venues, to try to reach its goal of registering 2 million new voters from the conservative Christian community in time for the November election.
Giving extra firepower to evangelicals, the group's board includes such well-known leaders as Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council in Washington, and Frank Wright, the head of the National Religious Broadcasters.
According to a 2004 Talon News article, Americans of Faith’s Board of Directors includes, in addition to Sekulow and Perkins, the likes of Richard Land, Mike Farris, and David Barton.
While Farris has endorsed Huckabee and Barton has been sharing the stage with him in recent weeks, Land and Perkins have been conspicuously cold toward his campaign - and considering that the organization’s founder is a key backer of Huckabee’s main rival, it is odd that Huckabee would be invited to address an Americans of Faith event, especially since the longer he stays in the race, the more damage he does to Romney.
Posted by Kyle at 8:51 AM | Permalink
January 30, 2008
Romney’s Fading Hope?
With the number of the Republican presidential hopefuls rapidly dwindling, the GOP primary looks to be coming down to a race between Mitt Romney and John McCain – and considering that many on the Right seem to hate McCain, it only stands to reason that Romney sees winning over those who cannot tolerate his main opponent as key to securing the nomination:
Romney advisers said they would try to attract more support from social conservatives and evangelicals who had flocked to Huckabee and Fred Thompson, who dropped out of the race last week.
"Conservatives have got to take a real hard look and realize this is what you have left: You have Mitt Romney and John McCain. And with two left, I think that helps us a lot," Jay Sekulow, a senior Romney adviser, said last night. [Sekulow is head of the Pat Robertson-founded American Center for Law and Justice.]
For months, Romney has been courting and stacking his campaign with a variety of right-wing activists and seems to have redoubled his efforts in recent weeks, leaving him poised to become the Religious Right’s candidate, if only by default – and Romney’s strategy heading forward seems to be to leave no right-wing activist uncourted:
The Reverend Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK), president of the National Clergy Council and chairman of the committee on church and society for the Evangelical Church Alliance, will be in Florida today meeting with pastors in several cities to talk about candidates and primary voting.
Mr. Schenck, who does not endorse candidates, will end the day with the Mitt Romney campaign at its invitation.
While the Romney campaign had a problem with Mike Huckabee’s campaign’s attempts to use the issue of faith to polarize the electorate, they apparently have no problem with Schenck’s view that Barack Obama's Christianity is woefully deficient. Maybe they think they can win him over because he is already mad at McCain for scheduling a campaign event “smack in the middle of Sunday morning church hours.”
For what it is worth, Ralph Reed has also been making the rounds with Romney recently, apparently having forgiven him for confusing him with Gary Bauer early last year.
But the Romney campaign seems to recognize that this effort can’t really get going so long as Huckabee remains in the race:
Romney acknowledged that the continued presence of Mike Huckabee in the race is a problem for him and made the point that the former Arkansas governor is no longer a contender.
“I don’t know what kind of support Mike Huckabee will get going forward,” Romney said. “I think conservatives recognize that a vote for Mike Huckabee right now really means a vote for John McCain. So that may have them re-think that.”
Unfortunately for Romney, the Huckabee campaign doesn't look like it'll be dropping out between now and Super Tuesday , after which it just might be too late for Romney to fully implement this strategy … which is probably just fine with Huckabee, who clearly prefers McCain, and Huckabee’s supporters, who are busy starting up anti-Romney front groups.
Posted by Kyle at 3:34 PM | Permalink
The Brownback Endorsement
Last October, Mike Huckabee was hoping to score an endorsement from another second-tier, right-wing candidate who had dropped out, but Sam Brownback ended up backing John McCain. Huckabee, who was even more cash-strapped back then, probably never stood a chance. As the Los Angeles Times reports, Brownback had financial problems that only a nominee with deep-pocketed contributors could fix:
Some of John McCain's largest political donors sent checks to failed GOP presidential candidate Sam Brownback to help him pay off his campaign debt in the days after the Kansas senator endorsed McCain. …
Brownback's endorsement of McCain on Nov. 7 gave the Republican senator from Arizona a much-needed boost at a time when his campaign was faltering; it also helped bolster McCain's credentials among conservatives who have been skeptical of him.
As of Dec. 31, Brownback's presidential campaign remained more than $32,000 in debt. But his campaign made $226,000 in payments in the final three months of 2007, aided in part by donations from McCain backers, Federal Election Commission filings show.
Brownback's filing indicates that after he endorsed McCain, at least 17 donors gave him the maximum $2,300 each -- totaling nearly $40,000. Those donors are among McCain's largest contributors, having given almost $250,000 to his various campaign accounts in recent years.
Meanwhile, McCain is trying to get his money’s worth, name-dropping Brownback left and right while talking with conservative Catholics.
Posted by Ezra at 12:12 PM | Permalink
CAR's Mission Accomplished
Catholics Against Rudy declares mission accomplished on the news that Rudy Giuliani is set to drop out of the presidential race.
Posted by Kyle at 10:49 AM | Permalink
January 29, 2008
Delta Farce
Mike Huckabee is hoping to pick up Fred Thompson’s leftovers, but that doesn’t seem to be going so well. Aside from Gary Bauer and other religious-right leaders who still don’t like Huckabee, a number of Thompson’s backers have switched to Mitt Romney. And now an embittered former Thompson staffer has started his own campaign hitting Huckabee where it hurts most: his sidekick, Chuck Norris.
Huckabee may joke about his action-hero endorsement, but as we’ve noted before, he’s made Norris a very serious part of his campaign. And not just in terms of livening up his stage shows: Norris is aggressively raising money, hoping to provide $10 million for the cash-strapped candidate (one recent fundraiser netted $250,000).
Dennis Ng, founder of BoycottChuckNorris.com, says that makes Norris “fair game”:
Saying he's 'kicking Chuck Norris where it hurts – his wallet,' Ng explains he's starting the boycott because Norris endorsed a presidential candidate and supports ideas "far out of the mainstream."
Ng singles out Norris' endorsement of Huckabee – "a candidate who says that he does not believe in evolution," and "who called for the isolation of AIDS patients – long after the Centers for Disease Control determined that the virus was not spread by casual contact." …
Ng is asking visitors to his site to join him in boycotting products Norris endorses and companies that purchase advertising on reruns of his long-running CBS television series, "Walker, Texas Ranger." In the first category, Ng lists exercise-equipment manufacturer Total Gym, endorsed by the actor. Sponsors listed are KFC, Payless Shoes, Nutrisystem, Tylenol and Geico Insurance.
“Republicans long decried celebrities telling us how to vote,” says Ng. So, uh, is that why Ng’s own candidate, famous actor Fred Dalton Thompson, had to drop out?
Posted by Ezra at 6:02 PM | Permalink
Romney Winning Over Christian Coalition Figures
Mitt Romney has secured the support of Randy Tate, former head of the Christian Coalition, and Ralph Reed was spotted at a Romney event in Florida.
Posted by Kyle at 2:32 PM | Permalink
Janet Folger's Anti-Romney Front Group
Yesterday, a new 527 organization called RoeGone.org announced that it would be "the conservative answer to MoveOn.org" and that its first order of business would be to run anti-Romney ads leading into Super Tuesday:
A new 527 group called RoeGone.org -- the conservative answer to MoveOn.org -- has produced a 60-second web ad responding to Gov. Mitt Romney's challenge to look to his record as governor as an indication of where he stands on the issues."Governor Mitt Romney challenged voters to look at his record. RoeGone.org has done just that," said spokesperson Sharon Blakeney, a lawyer in Boerne, Texas.
Blakeney said the group is raising money to place the ad on television in Super Tuesday states later this week. The group also plans to produce ads addressing other politicians' stand on similar issues, she said.
RoeGone.org is a pro-life organization committed to the appointment of judges who will support overturning Roe v. Wade.
Blakeney appears to be a standard right-wing activist, with ties to the Federalist Society, Texas Justice Foundation, the Alliance Defense Fund, and the Center for Reclaiming America ... which just so happens to be where Janet Folger, co-chair of Mike Huckabee's Faith and Values Coalition, used to work.
Oddly enough, guess what Folger's most recent WorldNetDaily column is about:
Finally, there is a conservative answer to MoveOn.org: RoeGone.org, as in Roe v. Wade – GONE. Nice, huh? What's even nicer is the ad they're launching to expose Mitt Romney's record. Be looking for secular conservative pundits and compromising pro-lifers to jump the Romney ship soon. No kidding. I predict this thing will signal the end of the Romney campaign.
What a coincidence! What is even more coincidental is the fact that Folger herself happens to narrate the new RoeGone.org ad (actually, it's not coincidental at all, considering that she is listed as the organization's president in the IRS filing):
Folger has been backing Huckabee ever since she declared him the “David among Jesse’s sons" after he won the Values Voter Debate, which she organized. Since then, she has been busy penning preposterous columns about how only Huckabee can save Christians from being imprisoned and organizing pro-Huckabee get-out-the-vote rallies in Iowa.
But with Huck's campaign fading, it seems as if Folger has decided to ramp up her activities and start a front group dedicated to attacking Mitt Romney.
Posted by Kyle at 2:25 PM | Permalink
Alan Keyes Best Chance
Jerome Corsi hopes "that none of these [GOP] candidates gain traction and the whole contest is thrown into a brokered convention where we can have a floor fight. It opens up the possibility that we might even have some yet undiscovered candidate or some new candidate emerge as a true conservative who could go forward with the party banner in 2008."
Posted by Kyle at 2:21 PM | Permalink
Brownback to Pick SCOTUS Nominees?
That sounds like what John McCain is suggesting: "On the issue of appointments to the Supreme Court, McCain mentioned that Sam Brownback would play an advisory role in helping decide who he should nominate for the Supreme Court. As models of who he would select, John McCain pointed to Justices Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia."
Posted by Kyle at 2:17 PM | Permalink
Is Huck's Army Breaking the Law?
Raw Story takes a look and suggests that "based on some evidence, Huck's Army may have stepped over some lines" in coordinating with the campaign.
Posted by Kyle at 2:09 PM | Permalink
What About the Early Service?
Like many other religious-right activists, Rob Schenck of the National Clergy Council is not a big fan of John McCain. While Schenck gave him an okay assessment a year ago, the activist has made “in-depth examination” of candidates’ “religious beliefs” a key political test, and McCain apparently fails that test: Schenck recently wrote on his blog that the senator “doesn’t appear to me to have any vital faith.”
What exactly does that mean? Apparently, it has something to do with scheduling conflicts:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain has scheduled a town hall meeting at 11:45 AM this Sunday in Polk City, Florida. … National Clergy Council president, the Reverend Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK) today released this statement:
"John McCain is showing an obvious insensitivity to church people by scheduling a major campaign event smack in the middle of Sunday morning church hours. We object to any candidate interfering with church attendance by encouraging supporters to skip church services to participate in political activities. If Senator McCain or any other candidate wishes to connect with church attendees, they need to respect Sunday morning church hours."
On the other hand, Schenck had the chance “peer into the soul” of Mike Huckabee, and concluded that he’s “the real deal.” So we probably won’t be getting any press releases denouncing Huckabee’s campaign strategy of speaking at friendly, politically-involved churches and relying on church-based get-out-the-vote.
Posted by Ezra at 10:00 AM | Permalink
Is McCain the New Giuliani?
With Rudy Giuliani's campaign tanking all around the country, the Religious Right's fears about a possible Giuliani victory appear to have been eased and they seem to have moved on from their incessant warnings that they would never support him and would, in fact, actively oppose him.
But just because Giuliani is fading from the picture doesn't mean that the Right is placated. If anything, some right wing leaders seem to be growing increasingly fearful that another bête noire, John McCain, is emerging as a front-runner:
Paul M. Weyrich, national chairman of Sixty Votes Coalition PAC, says if the November choice is between Hillary Clinton and McCain, he would then look for a third party candidate whom he could back. This is no small matter. Weyrich has only one vote like the rest of us, but many conservatives would at least take his views into consideration when making up their own minds before casting their ballots."I will not vote for him [McCain]," Weyrich told this column in an interview. "I can't" ... Weyrich could live with other prospective GOP nominees — in a couple of cases, hopefully gaining some concessions to the conservative position. But McCain — never.
The Right has never much liked or trusted McCain and any possibility of ever winning them over was probably doomed with he called Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell "agents of intolerance" back in 2000. Of course, that didn't stop McCain from trying to make nice with many of them this time around, even if his efforts were half-hearted.
But nothing has rankled the Right quite like McCain's role in the "Gang of 14" and they have never trusted him on the issue of judges in general, despite his pledges to "appoint justices such as Justice Roberts and Justice Alito."
Some on the Right think they have good reason not to trust McCain on this issue:
Then there is the issue of judicial nominations, a top priority with conservatives. Nothing would improve Mr. McCain's standing with conservatives more than a forthright restatement of his previously stated view that "one of our greatest problems in America today is justices that legislate from the bench." Mr. McCain bruised his standing with conservatives on the issue when in 2005 he became a key player in the so-called gang of 14, which derailed an effort to end Democratic filibusters of Bush judicial nominees. More recently, Mr. McCain has told conservatives he would be happy to appoint the likes of Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court. But he indicated he might draw the line on a Samuel Alito, because "he wore his conservatism on his sleeve."
Not surprisingly, this quote has been making its way around the right-wing blogosphere and the McCain campaign is desperately trying to back-peddle.
The GOP and the Right may have thought they had dodged a bullet with Giuliani's fading campaign, but with McCain's rise in the polls, it looks as if they could be right back where they started.
Posted by Kyle at 9:11 AM | Permalink
Huckabee Hearts GodTube
GodTube, the religiously-based alternative to YouTube best known for bringing us such videos as "A Letter From Hell,"The Day They Kicked God Out of the Schools," and some excellent Kirk Cameron-approved advice on "How to Witness to Someone Who's Gay," is getting into politics:
GodTube.com, the website which set the record as the #1 fastest growing website in the U.S. according to ComScore during its first official launch month, announces it will conduct ongoing election polling for the 2008 presidential race. Religion has already taken center stage in this year's Presidential election, and GodTube.com allows concerned Christians to have a voice on important issues, such as the war in Iraq, abortion, and the economy.While most of the campaigns simply have candidate videos or speeches available, one candidate sat down with GodTube for an exclusive interview to praise "the importance of Godtube in the 2008 presidential election."Currently there is no single source of nationwide Christian polling, and GodTube.com is uniquely positioned to reach the Christian community. With more than 2.5 million monthly visitors and over 250,000 registered Christian users, including 25,000 churches, GodTube.com connects with tens of thousands of Protestant and Catholic Americans each day seeking faith online. As Christians look to November 2008 and decide who will lead them for the next four years, GodTube.com gives users the opportunity to voice their opinions and discuss with other GodTube.com users how each candidate complements their own political and religious beliefs.
"Well, the reason GodTube is an important part of the election process is because this myth that Christians ought to sort of keep to themselves in the church and never get outside -- that's like saying "let's never let the salt get onto things that are spoiling, let's never let the light actually show up in a dark places to illuminate the path."That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. The whole point of being a Christian is to penetrate the darkness, is to preserve the things that are spoiling, and I don't know of anything more spoiled, more decadent, than politics.
So if there's ever a place where there ought to be a concentration of Christian activity and involvement, I'd say it's in politics and government.
The outreach seems to be paying off, as Huckabee is now leading in the all-important GodTube polling.
Posted by Kyle at 9:06 AM | Permalink
January 28, 2008
Alan Keyes Just Like Jesus
So claims a Keyes supporter .. or something: "When I talk to people of like mind who I think would be supportive of the presidential aspirations of Alan Keyes, their invariable response is 'I'm familiar with Alan Keyes, I agree with everything he says. But, he can't win.' In response to these objections, Dr. Keyes asks the question, 'Who would you have voted for on the day of our Lord's crucifixion: Jesus or Barabbas?' Barabbas was the favorite, since he had the approval of the most influential portion of the population. But, which person has received the approval of history and, most importantly, which one had the approval of God?"
Posted by Kyle at 2:20 PM | Permalink
McCain Urging People to Skip Church?
The National Clergy Council's Rob Schenck is upset with John McCain for scheduling a rally during church hours: "John McCain is showing an obvious insensitivity to church people by scheduling a major campaign event smack in the middle of Sunday morning church hours. We object to any candidate interfering with church attendance by encouraging supporters to skip church services to participate in political activities. If Senator McCain or any other candidate wishes to connect with church attendees, they need to respect Sunday morning church hours."
Posted by Kyle at 2:09 PM | Permalink
Is the Right Secretly Endorsing Romney?
Last week on Time’s Swampland blog, Michael Scherer took notice of Focus on the Family Action’s post-South Carolina primary political analysis and observed that, despite the fact that those involved have all refused to endorse any candidate, they certainly seemed to have a favorite candidate:
The video about Rudy Giuliani suggests that the former New York mayor would appoint a judge who would uphold Roe v. Wade, and knocks him for dressing in drag on Saturday Night Live. The video on John McCain hits the Arizona senator for campaign finance reform, his opposition to the federal marriage amendment and his 2000 comments about Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. "You want someone to depend on when you are in a fight, and you never really know where he is going to be," says Perkins about McCain in the video.Scherer went on to note that Mat Staver, a Huckabee backer, complained that the analysis of Huckabee was “lacking objectivity and context” and, shortly thereafter, Focus on the Family Action went back and re-edited the video to include more praise for Huckabee’s stand on social issues.This is all to be expected. But then it gets controversial. The video on Mike Huckabee, who is the overwhelming favorite among the nation's evangelical voters, is surprisingly harsh. After praising Huckabee's social views, both Perkins and Tom Minnery, a policy expert at Focus on the Family, hammer the former Arkansas governor for his foreign policy views. Minnery suggests that Huckabee does not understand the cause for which American troops are dying in Iraq. Then Perkins suggests that Huckabee lacks the fiscal and national security credentials needed for a conservative presidential candidate. "The conservatives have been successful in electing candidates, and presidents in particular, when they have had a candidate that can address not only the social issues, [but] the fiscal issues and the defense issues," says Perkins. "[Huckabee] has got to reach out to the fiscal conservatives and the security conservatives." Ouch.
So what about Romney? He comes up roses. "He has staked out positions on all three of the areas that we have discussed," says Perkins. "I think he continues to be solidly conservative." Then Minnery defends Romney from criticism that he is too polished and smooth. "Mitt Romney has acknowledged that Mormonism is not a Christian faith," Minnery adds. "But on the social issues we are so similar."
Scherer concluded logically that this could amount to a “stealth endorsement” of Romney, but Tom Minnery, of Focus on the Family and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council both insist that it is nothing of the sort:
First of all, rest assured that we have not been endorsing any candidates, either “stealthily” or otherwise. Our comments are what they are — a review of what the candidates, both Democrat and Republican, are saying on issues we think Christians care about.They may deny that they are supporting Romney, but seeing as James Dobson and his ilk have already ruled out the possibility of supporting John McCain and Rudy Giuliani, and refuse to back Mike Huckabee, the process of elimination and their own rhetoric suggests that Romney is indeed their candidate of choice.…
Last Saturday night, after the polls closed in South Carolina, I joined our friends at Focus on the Family Action in a live web cast discussion of the election returns. My comments about each of the presidential candidates were excerpted for home page clips on the Focus Action web site. The interpretation being given to those comments by some is just wrong. I have not endorsed any candidate for the White House and have no plans to do so.
Posted by Kyle at 10:13 AM | Permalink