{"id":8493,"date":"2006-09-18T10:22:10","date_gmt":"2006-09-18T14:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/8493.html"},"modified":"2006-09-18T10:22:10","modified_gmt":"2006-09-18T14:22:10","slug":"danforth-is-still-telling-the-gop-what-it-needs-to-hear-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/danforth-is-still-telling-the-gop-what-it-needs-to-hear-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Danforth is still telling the GOP what it needs to hear"},"content":{"rendered":"

[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<\/a>, 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.”<\/p>\n

Last fall, Danforth was still at it<\/a>, 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.”<\/p>\n

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

Indeed, Danforth really doesn’t hold back.
\n
\nIn 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.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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<\/a> as “a man of strong convictions, unquestioned integrity, and great decency. He is a man of calm and judicious temperament.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8493","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=8493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8493\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}