GOP Candidates Fight Over Support of the "Kingmakers"
Looks like the more wingnut a candidate can get, the more support they get from the likes of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and James Dobson.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2007/02/the_right_gears.html
Although it is still early, the current crop of candidates running for next year’s Republican nomination for president are almost all treating the Religious Right as their first and most important constituency. And that goes beyond the familiar names of right-wing leaders the press likes to call “kingmakers” – such as Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and Jerry Falwell. At this stage, candidates are vying for the attentions of even lesser known radical activists.
This week, four candidates made the pilgrimage to Orlando, Florida for the National Religious Broadcasters convention. Sen. John McCain, who has been working overtime to reach across bridges he burned in 2000, and former Gov. Mitt Romney, who has been struggling to regain the Right’s favor after revelations of past moderation, both held private meetings with far-right activists, and it appears the meetings bore fruit.
snip
Schenck and Mahoney have worked together on a number of creative projects such as organizing a protest (featuring another presidential candidate, Sam Brownback) over the mythical “War on Christmas” and “consecrating” the seats in the Senate hearing room with oil prior to Sam Alito’s confirmation hearing. The pair also attacked “Purpose-Driven Life” author and megachurch pastor Rick Warren for inviting Barack Obama to participate in a global AIDS conference. “Having Senator Barack Obama speak on issues of social justice is like having a segregationist speak on civil rights,” said Mahoney. More recently, Schenck’s National Clergy Council expanded its religious test of Obama with an “examination and debate focused on his faith. Sadly, we will find Mr. Obama's Christianity woefully deficient.”
other links:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17149388/
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2007/02/walliss_wishful_1.html
http://www.earnedmedia.org/cdc0102.htm
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/12/commander_in_ch.html
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2007/02/obamas_religious_test.htmlSupport the Separation of Church & State!
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*Quietly mutters "oh fuck" to self and prepares to "waste" another vote in 2008.
I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world. - Richard Dawkins
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Great. Even Hitler got elected. I wonder who's next. Things are not looking good for 08.
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Maybe all is not lost. The right wing christian base is about the only base left of the republican party. The haven't done much for labor or the enviornment, let alone education and job growth. The Iraqi occupation is a debacle and congress seems to given up a lot of its authority, leaving Bush and his cronies to issue warrentless wire taps.
Then there's The Patriot Act...
Right wing fundies and the propagandists at FOX are about the only things left the GOP has going for it.
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I just listened to last week's podcast of State of Belief. Host Rev. Welton Gaddy said that if you think the religious right has lost its influence, think again!
The James Dobson empire, with its 6 million members and 10 million listeners world wide to its radio show, is, according to author Dan Gilgoff, is the most powerful political leader the country has ever known.
His rise to power began when Ralph Reed left the Christian Coalition. He felt the moment was right to get into the political debate and organize Christian conservatives. He has become more powerful than his more known counterparts like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. He stays out of the spotlight and avoids the mistakes of the other two.
The most important political issues to Focus on the Family is marriage between only a man and woman. They coordinated the state initiatives on the ballots. Dobson has already said they wont' support Guiliani and McCain. Mitt Romney could be in trouble for being a Mormon and once having supported abortion rights.
One good thing, Dobson is aging and the evangelical movement is changing.
They are not happy with Gilgoff's book, The Jesus Machine. They are not decrying it, but not endorsing it either.
http://www.airamerica.com/stateofbelief/node/408
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Y#5, you said it much nicer than I.
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JESUS CHRIST! (said in a secular way) it is worrying. It is really worrying the power that the Christian Right has over people, and in politics. I sincerely hope you don't end up in all out theocracy. Good luck in the fight.
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Pat Robertson isn't going anywhere either. He's still exerting his influence. And GOP candidates are still courting his influence, or as I call it, kissing fundie butt:
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“I talk to a lot of evangelicals and the only person who takes Pat Robertson seriously is Tim Russert.” So claimed Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, in a speech at a church in Westchester County, New York last week. Such pointed disavowals of Robertson by other religious-right leaders have occasionally followed the televangelists more absurd and incendiary comments – such as when he declared that Ariel Sharon’s debilitating stroke was God’s punishment for “dividing God’s land” and called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez – so you might think that Cromartie was responding to recent allegations that Robertson threatened a bodybuilder involved in lawsuit over Robertson’s “Age-Defying Shake,” or perhaps to Robertson’s warning today about Muslim politicians “taking over” the U.S. But Cromartie was trying to make the point that the televangelist, sometimes referred to as a GOP “kingmaker,” is increasingly marginalized.
But it’s hard to believe that. According to its web site, Robertson’s “700 Club” is available “in 95 percent of the television markets across the United States, the program is carried on ABC Family Channel cable network, FamilyNet, Trinity Broadcasting Network, and numerous U.S. television stations and is seen daily by approximately one million viewers.” His Christian Broadcasting Network garnered $166 million in donations from March 2005 to March 2006, and he is the second most well known religious figure in America.
If one needs more evidence of Robertson’s continued influence, especially on U.S. politics, just look at the Republican presidential candidates lining up to curry his favor. Sam Brownback and now John McCain have taken to the CBN airwaves to convince Robertson’s viewers of their conservative credentials. And both Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney are scheduled to speak at Robertson’s Regent University.
As John Green of the Pew Forum said, figures like Robertson “are moving off the stage, but they're by no means inconsequential. … They still have good reputations, particularly with evangelicals who are politically active. There are candidates who want to be seen with these people." As long as that’s true, it’s too early to declare Pat Robertson a political has-been.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2007/03/reports_of_robe.html
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Hard to believe that men who want to be the next president take this guy seriously. The same guy who advocated the assassination of a world leader and threatened a town with disaster when it rejected creationism in its public schools. Yet, here we are! It's pretty pathetic that men who want to run this county are forced to grovel before this kook!
A vote for one of these republicans is a vote for the right wing christian fascist ideology. If one of them becomes our next president, don't think Robertson or Dobson will be going away. On the contrary, they'll be owed some big favors.
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I hope you guys are not right!
It seems from the people I encounter the religious right and the republicans are falling out of favor, mainly because of the war.