RSS 2.0 FeedA Christian Conservative-GOP Split Over Giuliani ?
by Doug MataconisThe New York Times is reporting that a group of Christian Conservatives is considering supporting a third-party candidate if Rudy Giuliani is the Republican nominee:
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 — Alarmed at the possibility that the Republican Party might pick Rudolph W. Giuliani as its presidential nominee despite his support for abortion rights, a coalition of influential Christian conservatives is threatening to back a third-party candidate.
The threat emerged from a group that broke away for separate discussions at a meeting Saturday in Salt Lake City of the Council for National Policy, a secretive conservative networking group. Participants said the smaller group included James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, who is perhaps its most influential member; Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council; Richard A. Viguerie, the direct-mail pioneer; and dozens of other politically oriented conservative Christians.
Almost everyone present at the smaller group’s meeting expressed support for a written resolution stating that “if the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate we will consider running a third-party candidate,” participants said.
The participants said that the group chose the qualified term “consider” because it had not yet identified an alternative candidate, but that it was largely united in its plans to bolt the party if Mr. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, became the nominee. The participants spoke on condition of anonymity because the Council for National Policy meeting and the smaller meeting were secret, but they said members of the smaller group intended to publicize the resolution.
A revolt of Christian conservative leaders could be a significant setback to the Giuliani campaign because white evangelical Protestants make up a major share of Republican primary voters, including more than a third of voters in Iowa and South Carolina.
But the threat is risky for the leaders of the Christian conservative movement as well. Some of its usual grass-roots supporters might still back a supporter of abortion rights like Mr. Giuliani, either because they dislike the Democratic nominee even more or because they are more concerned with other issues, like the war.
If he wins the nomination, the Giuliani candidacy poses a dilemma for the Christian Right. Either they hold their noses and support a candidate who doesn’t agree with what they claim to be the most important part of their agenda in the hope that he can defeat an even worse alternative, or they bolt, and virtually guarantee that the GOP will lose in 2008.
Either way, while I don’t care for Rudy one bit, his candidacy is a welcome sign that the stranglehold of the Christian Right may be loosening.
Some may vote in the general election, but for the GOP to forestall a Democratic president it needs every vote. Giuliani will not bring every vote. Nobody is excited about a Giuliani presidency. People will only vote out of fear, and that’s not good enough.
Giuliani recognizes this. He’s already putting himself up as the “only guy who can beat Hillary”. Not “vote for me because of this, this and this”. He’s the anti-Hillary vote. He’ll get done to him what happened to John Kerry, the mere anti-Bush candidate.
Comment by rho — October 1, 2007 @ 9:52 amTo the Christian Right: don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out of the G.O.P. Maybe with your exit, the Goldwater Republicans can reclaim the party.
Comment by Stephen Littau — October 1, 2007 @ 9:55 amThis is good news as far as I’m concerned. I consider the Christian right to be one of the more dangerous elements of the American body politic. They’re out of touch with the mainstream of American thought and they don’t seem to care. If they break off and support a third party candidate, then the Republicans will certainly lose. If Guiliani moves to the right to keep them on board, he loses votes from the center. Either way, the Republicans will lose.
Comment by Chepe Noyon — October 1, 2007 @ 4:51 pmThe Christian Right is essential to a Republican victory, and that’s bad news for the Republican Party. But it may be worse than that. We may be witnessing the break-up of the Christian Right itself. A significant element of the Christian Right is strongly pro-war and would likely support Giuliani for the nomination in spite of his pro-abortion stance. This is especially true of the dispensationalists who, due to a very convoluted reading of certain “prophetic” passages in the Bible, believe that the Mid-East conflict is the beginning of the “end times.”
Others on the Christian Right are much more lukewarm about the war. Richard Viguerie is known to be against it altogether. These people are still focused on social issues like abortion and gay marriage and won’t likely support anyone who opposes them on these issues. But this is a split in the Christian Right that isn’t likely to end with this election. So the Republican Party may be headed for a permanent minority status.
But we also see this same split among libertarians. Unfortunately, there are quite a few fairly prominent people out there who call themselves libertarian but who support the war in Iraq and even want to bomb Iran. Unfortunately, in the case of the libertarians, I suspect that much of the pro-war side is simply being opportunistic. Nonetheless, a split among both Christian conservatives and libertarians can do the Republican Party no good.
Barry Goldwater was the biggest warhawk this country ever had until George Bush came along. We certainly don’t need to turn the party over to the Goldwater people.
Comment by Rob — October 1, 2007 @ 5:08 pmWhy This Evangelical Will Never Vote For Giuliani at http://larryperrault.blogspot.com
Comment by Larry Perrault — October 1, 2007 @ 6:27 pmWhy This Evangelical Will Never Vote For Giuliani at http://larryperrault.blogspot.com
Comment by Larry Perrault — October 1, 2007 @ 9:40 pmWhat they don’t mention is that Dick Cheney & Mitt Romney were both at that meeting… so is it really any suprise that a group Mitt Romney is affiliated with would be threatening this?
Comment by El Hippie — October 2, 2007 @ 1:59 pmhttp://www.911reasons.com
Comment by Rudy Giuliani Sucks — October 4, 2007 @ 12:05 pm