God-o-Meter

A Post-Election Chat with Ralph Reed

Wednesday November 5, 2008

Categories: John McCain
Amid today's talk that Barack Obama has narrowed the God Gap, God-o-Meter checked in with Ralph Reed, who spearheaded religious outreach for George W. Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns and who pioneered such outreach for Republicans as executive director...
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Comments
Juan
November 5, 2008 3:37 PM

Ralph Reed reminds me of the antichrist

LutheranChik
November 5, 2008 4:16 PM

Too bad that Reed and his cronies can't wrap their heads around the fact that my partner and I are also Christian VALUES voters.

Bill
November 6, 2008 3:29 PM

As a Christian living in Indiana who spent countless hours talking to neighbors and those in my faith community about the fact that Baracks stance on every issue was the more Christ like; I'd just like to state that Mr.Reed is full of it.
I know of many in the faith community here in Indiana felt the same way and that a lot of us where motivated to convince others of that fact. Even if it was not a majority, beleive me, plenty of us saw the light.

FactCheck
November 8, 2008 1:24 PM
http://www.ameritocracy.com

Fact-check the latest quotes from Ralph Reed and others at www. ameritocracy.com

Scruffy
November 8, 2008 7:55 PM

in What dream world does Ralph Redd live in? Really! McCain lost the Evangelicals in droves. Many stayed at home, many voted for Obama. Only the Extreme Right Evangelicals turned out for McCain in desperation because they feared Obama and beleived their own lies.

McCain lost because the Ecomomy was more important than Abortion. The Far Right Religious Wing failed to see the real failure of their party, and even today as more jobs are lost and more jobs are shipped overseas, they still cling to the one issue agenda. It aint working folks, get in line with the real world.

When the collection plates are empty because the people can't pay their tithes, maybe then you will see that "Its the economy, stupid," everytime.

Fr. Zeile
November 10, 2008 12:04 PM

I am surprised by the hostility of the previous comments. I am inclined to agree with Ralph Reed's analysis, though even he would admit that it is only part of the picture. The Republican Party is made up of three general factions, with which I am more or less in agreement: 1) the limited government, free-market economy folks; 2) the strong defense folks; and 3)the social conservative folks. A fruitful balanced alliance can be achieved by these factions if mutual respect (which requires some restraint) is maintained. Each faction has its extremists, and it is tempting, especially for media, to characterize each faction by its extremes. #1 can be dominated by the country club crowd, #2 can be dominated by the security hawks whose conviction of the need for action obscures (for the public) concern for civil liberties. And #3 is often characterized, unfairly by the media, by those whose sense of the difference between church, society, and state is hazy. President Bush was strong on #2, and somewhat good on #3, but disasterous on #1. To pay for the Iraq and Katrina, the budget was bloated and a perception of Republican pork tarnished our label in the public. Plus, Bush tried to govern bi-partisanly, but the Democrats stepped away from all the measures they had voted for- No Child Left Behind, Iraq, and Katrina aid- blaming Bush who had lost his integrity as far as Republican economic conservatives were concerned. All it took was for Obama to tar McCain with the Bush brush and the media did the rest.

Rodolfo Henderson
November 10, 2008 3:11 PM

Thank you for allowing my comment on this topic.
I'm thankful that we live in a country where it's populace have the right and freedom to vote, for it's elected officials. The majority of voters elected Sen. Obama as their president. Yes it's true that the economy was at the top of the list for voters, as is the long war in Iraq. I must say as well, that a win for Sen. Obama was also a win for the general media. Sen. Obama was the favorite child of the media. The other thing that Republicans had to contest with was that for perhaps several months and even a number of years, the media has been portraying the Republican party, i.e. President Bush, Vice President Cheney, as either dishonest, ignorant bufoons or liers. The problems in our country seemed to be blamed more often on the "Bush Administration". Month after month the media displayed the "Bush Administration" as if it were a disease and de-personalized the office of the President. I grieve that the mentality of the media, talk show hosts, late night comedians, as well as those opposed to the Republican party, ridiculed and debased our highest office in the nation. Don't we remember that immediately after 911, we still held great respect for President Bush and I truly believe that he provided the leadership and support that our country so desperately needed at that time. In response to why this election went the way it did, let's face it, the Democratic party, used every single tool, weapon and stategy necessary to win and take over the minds and hearts of voing Americans. As it is said, to the victor belongs the spoil.
I just hope that in the next presidential election, all of us, including the general media, will handle ourselves with dignity and be true to an honest battle, instead of using any means to an end mentality.

Dennis
November 18, 2008 9:59 PM

Ralph Reed should change his name to Dick because he is one.

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This blog is no longer updated and is closed for comments. We welcome your comments about politics in our Politics forums.

The God-o-Meter (pronounced Gah-DOM-meter) scientifically measures factors such as rate of God-talk, effectiveness—saying God wants a capital gains tax cut doesn't guarantee a high rating—and other top-secret criteria (Actually, the adjustment criteria are here). Click a candidate's head to get his or her latest God-o-Meter reading and blog post. And check back often. With so much happening on the campaign trail, God-o-Meter is constantly recalibrating!

God-o-Meter blogger Dan Gilgoff is Beliefnet's Politics Editor. A former political correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, he is author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War.

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