John Danforth has never really had a reputation for being a Republican maverick. In fact, during his political career — which includes stints as a three-term U.S. senator and Bush’s Ambassador to the United Nations — Danforth wasn’t even known as a left-leaning moderate. And yet, no one of his stature has been as vocal as Danforth been in criticizing his party’s direction.<\/p>\n
He got the ball rolling back in March with a blistering New York Times op-ed<\/a>, criticizing what he saw as the transformation of the GOP “into the political arm of conservative Christians.”<\/p>\n As a senator, I worried every day about the size of the federal deficit. I did not spend a single minute worrying about the effect of gays on the institution of marriage. Today it seems to be the other way around…. It is time for Republicans to rediscover our roots.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To his credit, Danforth didn’t back down after the piece was published. In fact, shortly thereafter, Danforth repeated a similar message on NPR<\/a>. This week, he’s at it again<\/a>.<\/p>\n Former Sen. John Danforth said Wednesday that the political influence of evangelical Christians is hurting the Republican Party and dividing the country.<\/p>\n Danforth, a Missouri Republican and an Episcopal priest, commented after meeting with students at the Bill Clinton School of Public Service, a graduate branch of the University of Arkansas on the grounds of the Clinton presidential library.<\/p>\n “I think that the Republican Party fairly recently has been taken over by the Christian conservatives, by the Christian right,” he said in an interview. “I don’t think that this is a permanent condition, but I think this has happened, and that it’s divisive for the country.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n