Danforth is still telling the GOP what it needs to hear

September 18, 2006

[tag]John Danforth[/tag], a former three-term U.S. senator, Bush’s former ambassador to the United Nations, and an Episcopal minister, has been rocking the GOP’s boat to a surprising degree the last couple of years. In March 2005, Danforth wrote a blistering New York Times op-ed, criticizing what he saw as the transformation of the [tag]GOP[/tag] “into the political arm of conservative Christians,” and pleading for the party to “rediscover our roots.”

Last fall, Danforth was still at it, telling students at the University of Arkansas, “I think that the [tag]Republican Party[/tag] fairly recently has been taken over by the Christian conservatives, by the Christian right. I don’t think that this is a permanent condition, but I think this has happened, and that it’s divisive for the country.”

Part of me expected Danforth to back down. Karl Rove would put in a few calls; Danforth’s contacts with the GOP establishment would let it be known the criticism would have consequences; and the former senator would return to the fold. To his credit, Danforth continues to stand firm.

The former Missouri senator shortlisted to be then-Governor Bush’s running mate in the 2000 presidential election — said to have been second choice only to Vice President Cheney — will come out vehemently against administration and Congressional Republican policy in a book to be published next week., according to an advance copy obtained by RAW STORY.

In Faith and Politics, to be released Tuesday, Danforth blasts the alignment of the Republican Party with the Christian right, lays out his most aggressive pro-gay stance to date and attacks the handling of the Terri Schiavo case.

In taking on the religious right’s guiding principle, Danforth reportedly explains, “Some people have asked me whether America is a Christian country. The answer must be no, for to call this a Christian country is to say that non-Christians are of some lesser order, not full fledged citizens of one nation.”

Indeed, Danforth really doesn’t hold back.

In the book, Danforth reportedly bashes Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) for “diagnosing” Schiavo via videotape, and excoriates the GOP generally for its drive to amend the constitution to ban gay marriage.

“America’s divorce rate is now over 50 percent, and marriage is under attack from a number of quarters: finances, promiscuity, alcohol and drugs, the pressures of work, cultural acceptance of divorce, et cetera,” he pens. “But it is incomprehensible that one of these threats is when someone else, whom we have never seen, in a place where we may have never been, has done something we don’t like.”

Not too long ago, Danforth considered himself something of a mainstream Republican. During his lengthy political career, Danforth wasn’t even known as a left-leaning moderate. Last year, none other than George W. [tag]Bush[/tag] described Danforth as “a man of strong convictions, unquestioned integrity, and great decency. He is a man of calm and judicious temperament.”

And right now, that judicious temperament leads Danforth to tell his party that it is dramatically off track when it comes to its social policy priorities.

The Republican Party is, unfortunately, lacking in a sensible elder statesman who can share words of wisdom when the party strays too far into nuttiness. I’m delighted Danforth seems to be auditioning for the role, though I know better than to expect the GOP to respond with anything but scorn.

John Danforth appears to be the Republican version of Holden Caulfield. I’m all for saving the country–but I realize for that to happen that today’s Republican party must go to hell first. How many more days to November 7th?

  • Unfortunately fundamentalists of all stripes have a way of dealing with folks like Danforth: they call them apostate. They will say that he has fallen from grace, “having loved this present world,” and then will ignore and demean everything he says.

  • “Unfortunately fundamentalists of all stripes have a way of dealing with folks like Danforth: they call them apostate. They will say that he has fallen from grace, “having loved this present world,” and then will ignore and demean everything he says.” – Coop

    Are Fundamentalists the ones we hope Danforth will convince to stand up and be active in the Republican’t party. Or are we hoping that the Libertarian strain and the small government strain of Conservatives will finally realize that by making their Unholy Alliance, they have undermined every principle they stand for simply because they simply didn’t like the fact that it was Bill Clinton who reduced the size of the Federal Government and reduced the deficit when they could not.

    Dividing ones enemies is a concept that Boy George II does not get. That does not mean we have to fall in the same trap. The Bushite White House and the Republican’t party are tools of the Texas (Oilman) Mafia and the Chamber of Commerce Conservatives, but to achieve electorial sucess they need to form their Unholy Alliance not only with the Theocratic Reactionaries but also with the Libertarian and Small Government Conservatives. It is the last two that we as Progressives have the most chance of spliting off from the Alliance (though Obama is working on spliting the True Christians from the Theocratic Reactionaries) based on the plain failures of the Bushite White House and the Republican’t Congress to control the budget and their ever more sprawling Federal Government and unfunded mandates.

    And of course the more plainly Republicans like Danforth talk about the Wingnuts running their party, the more they make Independents reconsider supporting the Unholy Alliance.

  • Even though Danforth helped put Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court, for the most part he’s one of the few deeply religious conservatives that gets it.

    Maybe it’s the practical view of the world many learn here in Missouri (it’s called the “show me” state for a reason). Or, perhaps Danforth realizes that just because he believes one thing, doesn’t mean everyone else has to as well.

    It’d be nice if more people looked at the world the same way.

  • Amazing that we are amazed when a Republican states the obvious. They’ve gone a long way down the rabbit hole.

  • “A man of strong convictions, unquestioned integrity, and great decency”
    would not be someone to associate with Bush.
    I wonder how many others in the Republican party squirm at what it has become but have yet to find their voice? I hope Danforth can create a Murtha like tipping point where speaking the unspoken truth makes it speakable for concerned Republicans.

  • I’m thinking that somebody else is going to get into the GOP Presidential race. Nobody in the current field works for all of their coalition. An elder statesman is perfect.

    Danforth would work – he could split off the sensible born-agains from the wacko fundies, plus grab the moderates, plus grab women.

  • Somethin’s happenin’ here.
    What it is ain’t exactly clear….

    Last week we heard about Dick Armey(!) casting some disparaging words in the dircection of James Dobson, and now Danforth weighs in against the Christian fundamentalist complex. What had been one or two isolated and lower-level voices is starting to build toward a chorus. I don’t know how big the arc may be, but it certainly seems that the pendulum of GOP politics may have started, at long last, to swing in a secular direction. This is going to be really interesting to watch.

  • Danforth has the benefit of being retired so Rove has no leverage to speak of. A lot of generals blast the administration once their pensions are secure, too, but nobody seems to pay as much attention to them as to Danforth. Never mind, it sounds better coming from him anyway.

  • Speaking of Faith is on Air America and is consistently of good quality (webcast on Sunday evenings). My favorite part about the Danforth interview was when he talked about the value of the US not having a “sectarian” govenment and put it in context of the intent of the “framers”. That is a nice talking point to counter all the conservatives talking about the evils of a “secular” state. A “sectarian” government is not an “American” solution to an increasingly “secular” culture.

  • Rich Tapestry, I dont think Danforth would “grab women” in either the literal sense (I’ll give him credit for that) or in the political sense — not after how he treated (i.e. slimed) Anita Hill. While his last few years of slamming the right has largely rehabilitated him in my eyes, that Thomas hearings are a little hard to wholly overlook.

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