January, 2008

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.

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."

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 Journal

Several 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.  

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.

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.

Catholics Against Rudy declares mission accomplished on the news that Rudy Giuliani is set to drop out of the presidential race.

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?

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.

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.

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."

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

Guess which one:

"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.

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?"

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."

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.

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 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.

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.

…

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.

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.