GOP rift sends Christian right adrift
By: Roger Simon
October 11, 2007 01:47 PM EST
The Republican Party definitely has something the Democratic Party lacks: a deep ideological rift....
Just how powerful Christian conservatives are within the Republican Party, however, is a matter of some dispute.
They certainly do not always get the nominee they want. In fact, they have probably not gotten the nominee they wanted since Ronald Reagan.
They did not want George H.W. Bush, who once referred to the far right wing of his party as the “extra-chromosome set.” They did not much like Bob Dole, who refused even to read the Republican platform and its very strong anti-abortion language, and they were not that thrilled with George W. Bush, who refused to back a constitutional amendment banning abortion when he ran for president in 2000....
This is no small rift. If Giuliani gets the nomination, it may profoundly change the party.
The New York Times recently quoted a Republican Christian activist as saying the evangelical movement has gone through three stages with Giuliani.
“First was denial: He is pro-choice; we don’t have anything to worry about,” the activist said.
“That is clearly not the case. The second stage is, let us go find someone who can beat him. That stage has turned out to be a failure, if not a total flop. The third stage is sheer panic.”
- rest at www.politico.com/news/stories/1007/6300.html
GOP Rift Sends Christian Right Adrift
Discussion in 'Political Debate & Discussion' started by KenH, Oct 11, 2007.
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church mouse guy Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
Well, I like the part in Roger Simon's biography where he hopes to be buried in Chicago so tha he can still participate in Chicago politics.... As Mayor Daley said, why shouldn't the dead vote if we know that they always voted straight Democrat while they were still alive?
To say that Dole, a consumate Republican, would not have supported the platform is a bit of a stretch in my mind.
Also, George W. ran on the Reagan abortion platform of a constitutional amendment, as did his Father.
So the question is what will Rudy do about the Reagan platform calling for a constitutional amendment to protect the life of the unborn child? My guess is that he will bow to the majority of the GOP and support the constitutional amendment--and he will be sincere.
However, I am not counting Fred out at this time. Sure, he has made some mistakes, but then when you do things, you make mistakes. The only people who have never made a mistake are the ones who never do anything. If you can't make a mistake, you can't make anything else. -
The platforms of the two major parties aren't worth the paper they are printed on, cmg, and I think that you are politically savvy enough to know this. The platforms mean nothing. Pay attention to a candidate's stands on the issues, not a meaningless major party platform.
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church mouse guy Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
The platforms represent what the majority of the people in the party want. If Rudy does not want a constitutional amendment to protect the life of the unborn, he will have a lot of trouble at the convention and afterwards--don't you agree, Ken?
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church mouse guy Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
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2) Yes, Hillary Clinton will ignore it. She has already stated that she expects that these United States will still have troops in Iraq at end of her second term. -
Christians are never "adrift".
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The Republicans have several months to decide to go with a pro life candidate.