{"id":12942,"date":"2007-09-20T10:33:38","date_gmt":"2007-09-20T14:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/12942.html"},"modified":"2007-09-20T10:33:38","modified_gmt":"2007-09-20T14:33:38","slug":"the-religious-rights-candidate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/the-religious-rights-candidate\/","title":{"rendered":"The religious right’s candidate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The religious right has been looking ahead to 2008 with some trepidation. 2006 clearly didn’t work out well for the religio-political movement, and things have only worsened in 2007, with the deaths of some religious right powerhouses and waning influence in DC.<\/p>\n

The short-term task for the religious right is picking a credible GOP presidential hopeful, who will take their demands seriously, and have a realistic shot at taking office to implement the movement’s ideas. For a while, it looked as if Fred Thompson would be their guy<\/a>. Richard Land, head of public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention, said of Thompson, “It’s almost as if the man and the moment met.” Land added that support for Thompson was spreading “almost like a prairie fire” among religious conservatives, and he predicted that the actor\/lobbyist\/politician would start getting some major endorsements from religious right heavyweights.<\/p>\n

If James Dobson is any indication, the thrill is gone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

James Dobson, one of the nation’s most politically influential evangelical Christians, made it clear in a message to friends this week that he will not support Republican presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson.<\/p>\n

In a private e-mail obtained Wednesday by the Associated Press, Dobson accuses the former Tennessee senator and actor of being weak on the campaign trail and wrong on issues dear to social conservatives.<\/p>\n

“Isn’t Thompson the candidate who is opposed to a Constitutional amendment to protect marriage, believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage in the U.S., favors McCain-Feingold, won’t talk at all about what he believes, and can’t speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail?” Dobson wrote.<\/p>\n

“He has no passion, no zeal, and no apparent ‘want to.’ And yet he is apparently the Great Hope that burns in the breasts of many conservative Christians? Well, not for me, my brothers. Not for me!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, that’s not particularly subtle. But if the movement won’t go with Thompson, who’ll get the religious right’s support? Therein lies the problem: these guys just don’t have a candidate.
\n
\nDobson must get depressed looking at the list:<\/p>\n

* Rudy Giuliani — The worst “family values” of any presidential candidate in recent memory is also “wrong,” as far as the religious right is concerned, on abortion, gays, stem-cell research, and immigration.<\/p>\n

* John McCain — Despite his conservatism, the movement considers him a foe, particularly after the “agents of intolerance” talk of seven years ago. Jerry Falwell was going to help McCain with the religious right, but he died in May.<\/p>\n

* Mitt Romney — Not only is he a Mormon, which the religious right finds offensive, but he supported abortion and gay rights up until five minutes ago.<\/p>\n

Given the field, I think former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) is the most natural fit for the religious right, but Dobson & Co. are savvy enough to know that gambling on Huckabee could undercut the movement — if he isn’t going to compete for the nomination, and can’t break into the top tier, the Dobson crowd ends up looking weak if their favored candidate finishes fifth.<\/p>\n

So, what’s the solution for the religious right? I don’t think there is one. The movement is in a jam, and I don’t see a way out. It couldn’t have happened to a more appropriate group of people.<\/p>\n

Post Script<\/i>: Speaking of Dobson, Oliver Willis raises<\/a> a good point: “For all the noise and fury about MoveOn “owning” the Democratic Party, the right and the MSM totally ignore the veto power the extremist theocon right holds over the Republican Party.”<\/p>\n

That’s true. Everyone freaked out over “Betray Us,” but a greatest hits list from Dobson, Robertson, and others would make most pols blush. The double standard is frustrating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The religious right has been looking ahead to 2008 with some trepidation. 2006 clearly didn’t work out well for the religio-political movement, and things have only worsened in 2007, with the deaths of some religious right powerhouses and waning influence in DC. The short-term task for the religious right is picking a credible GOP presidential […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}