Columnist Robert Novak, not exactly a Republican In Name Only, joins the chorus of those wondering if the Christian Right can really derail Rudy Giuliani. Is God-o-Meter the only one who still doubts that most churchgoing evangelicals will back America’s Mayor? Sure, Novak, quotes recent Gallup polls showing that Giuliani has the support of plurality of churchgoers. But God-o-Meter keeps thinking about a little-noticed report by the Pew Research Center last month that found only a third of GOP voters (including social conservatives) know that Giuliani is pro-choice.
Still, God-o-Meter is nudging its Giuliani needle up a bit. It’s only because Novak has this I’m-not-necessarily-kowtowing-to-James Dobson quote from evangelical activist Gary Bauer:
“If he (Giuliani) is nominated,” Bauer told me, “the leaders of the values voters movement need to sit down and do everything possible to avoid a split that would guarantee a disaster for social, economic and foreign policy conservatism. It would require some serious discussions.”
And should Giuliani win the White House next Election Day with strong evangelical support, there would need to be additional serious discussions about the relevance of the Christian Right. But God-o-Meter’s not buying it. At least not yet.
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posted October 15, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Why would christians support Giuliani,when in the past elections,we have rejected candidates with the same stance. Would that make us hypocrites? Are we so pro-party that we would vote against our principals? It is time for us to serch our souls to see whether we are really in the faith. Christian principals should never be compromised.
posted October 15, 2007 at 5:27 pm
LJ: But what about the argument that evangelical PR czar/Romney supporter Mark DeMoss makes about the danger of taking principles too far? From DeMoss’s memo last week to conservative Christian leaders:
“While Jerry Falwell never told me how he intended to vote in the upcoming election…. he would not have ‘sat this one out’ and given up on the Supreme Court for a generation.”
posted November 14, 2007 at 3:14 am
I would say that the Christian Right isn’t so much as pro-party as pro-ideology.