Dan Gilgoff: September 2007 Archives

Watching Beliefnet's exclusive John McCain video, God-o-Meter finds it perplexing that the Arizona senator has long been a scourge of the Religious Right. After all, McCain told Beliefnet that the "Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation," that he's in talks with his pastor about undergoing a full-immersion baptism to become a full-blown evangelical, and that the prospect a Muslim presidential candidate makes him queasy because he wants someone who shares a "solid grounding in my faith." That certainly checks some big boxes on the Christian Right's presidential prerequisite list. (Not to mention that it offers a stark contrast to some of former Christian Right golden boy Fred Thompson's recent stumbles on matters religious.)

Yes, God-o-Meter realizes that McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform and McCain's "agents of intolerance" characterization of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson in 2000 have forever branded him an infidel in the eyes of Christian Right leaders. Can his new openness on faith appeal to Christian conservatives in Iowa and South Carolina, offering hope for his moribund campaign? God-o-Meter thinks it unlikely, but that McCain is making the right noises to make it happen.

Given all God-o-Meter has read about Hillary's religious life--is there a politician besides George W. Bush whose piety has been better documented?--it was understandably dumbstruck by a recent poll showing that she's seen as the least religious presidential frontrunner. Today, though, Hillary's religious image got some burnishing. Writing in his regular Washington Post slot, former Bush speechwriter and evangelical intellectual Michael Gerson cites a new spiritual biography of Hillary that calls her "the most religious Democrat since Jimmy Carter." And Gerson seems to concur, prompting God-o-Meter to ask: could Hillary have bought a better endorsement of her religious bona fides? Sure, Gerson takes the expected whacks at Hillary's pro-choice record. But he whacks Rudy Giuliani harder. Should the pro-choice Rudy land the GOP nomination and neutralize the abortion issue, he writes, religious voters could tilt toward Hillary because of her faith-based arguments for such liberal causes as helping the poor.

Maybe God-o-Meter's just temperamental. Last week, its Fred Thompson needle hit a new low after a leaked email revealed that Christian Right titan James Dobson has ruled out supporting him. Today, Thompson's needle is back up to 5. But God-o-Meter thinks it has good cause: Such evangelical heavyweights as ex-presidential candidate Gary Bauer and Southern Baptist Convention public policy chief Richard Land have come to Thompson’s aid. Will the “Southern fried Reagan,” as Land calls him, benefit from a battle among Christian Right leaders to be the GOP’s next kingmaker? Or will the “pro-family” feud split the evangelical vote so many ways that its impact isn’t much felt in GOP primaries? For now, Thompson should be breathing a sigh of relief that his opposition to a federal marraige amendment banning gay unions hasn’t scared off more of the evangelical political elite.

Yes, God-o-Meter realizes the headline from yesterday’s straw poll among conservative evangelical activists in South Carolina is that Mike Huckabee won. God-o-Meter was more taken, however, by Ron Paul’s commanding second-place finish, collecting 179 votes out of roughly 600 cast—well ahead of third-place Fred Thompson. Unlike Huckabee, Paul phoned in his message (Rudy Giuliani was the only Republican candidate not to appear in person, by phone, or video) to the Palmetto Family Council Stump Meeting, rendering his strong showing even more inexplicable. With Paul being the only Republican candidate to virulently oppose the Iraq war, are even evangelical activists tiring of the GOP’s ways?

Watching the giddiness of top-tier Christian Right leaders for Fred Thompson steadily wane in the two weeks since he officially entered the race, God-o-Meter’s needle has ticked further downward with each passing day. This morning, with news of a leaked email from Focus on the Family founder and evangelical political powerbroker James Dobson saying he won’t support Thompson, the needle lands with a thud at 2, its lowest reading for any candidate at any point so far.

“Isn't Thompson the candidate who is opposed to a Constitutional amendment to protect marriage, believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage in the U.S., favors McCain-Feingold, won't talk at all about what he believes, and can't speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail?” Dobson wrote in a private email to conservative activists that was obtained by the Associated Press. “…And yet he is apparently the Great Hope that burns in the breasts of many conservative Christians? Well, not for me, my brothers. Not for me!”

Thompson and Dobson’s relationship got off to a rocky start when Dobson said of the former Tennessee Senator this March, “I don't think he's a Christian; at least that's my impression.” Still, Thompson had hired well-known Christian activists, including the conservative outreach director for former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and the head of the conservative Catholic group Fidelis, to help land endorsements from the likes of Dobson. Still banking on support in the evangelical-rich Deep South, God-o-Meter wonders if Thompson will pick up support from any big-name evangelical leaders besides fellow Tennesseean and Southern Baptist Convention public policy chief Richard Land.