John McCain
Tuesday October 7, 2008
Huck, Culture Warrior
Remember back to the Republican primaries, when Mike Huckabee campaigned as a new kind of evangelical candidate, adding issues like the environment, education, and poverty to the hot-button agenda of God, guns, and gays?
That big-tent Huck seems to be in much shorter supply now. An email the Arkansas governor just sent out soliciting donations for his political action committee--whose beneficiaries include John McCain and Sarah Palin--asks fors $5 for each of these five red meat issues:
1. Protection of Human Life 2. Traditional Marriage 3. Tax policy that doesn't punish people for working, but rewards them 4. 2nd amendment rights 5. Supreme Court and Federal Court judge selection
Is this more evidence that the "new kind of evangelical voter" story has been overplayed? Or just that Huck is changing his tune a bit?
Filed Under: Mike Huckabee, abortion, culture war, gay marriage
posted by Dan Gilgoff @ 3:42pm Permalink 
Email This 
Add to:
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to NewsvineMonday October 6, 2008
New Fidelis Anti-Abortion, Anti-Gay Marriage Video
Check out this new election video emphasizing pro-life, anti-gay marriage positions from the conservative Catholic group Fidelis. The New York Times reports that the video, which implies support for the Republican ticket, has been posted by Catholic churches across the country on their web site. For a good example, check out the site of The Cathedral of St. Peter in Joe Biden's hometown; the site features the video on a special welcome page that appears even before the full homepage does.
God-o-Meter noticed that this video eschews the kind of red meat messages that were prevalent among conservative pro-Bush Catholic groups in 2004. It's a lot subtler, appealing to the bipartisan sensibility of many Catholics.
There's a handsome shot of John F. Kennedy, for instance.
There's another of Martin Luther King, Jr.
And one of a nuclear power plant spewing steam into the air juxtaposed with text that says "No Issue Can Be Ignored," a nod to the environmental concerns of most Catholics.
As The Times reports, liberal Catholic groups are challenging conservatives to a much greater extent than in '04. But conservative Catholic groups are clearly gaining better access to Catholic churches than in years past, as illustrated by the video gambit. So progressive Catholic groups may have plenty of catching up to do, tactics-wise.
Filed Under: abortion, Catholic, environment, Fidelis, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr.
posted by Dan Gilgoff @ 3:04pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Friday October 3, 2008
More Worldview Talk from Sarah Palin
God-o-Meter has proposed that when Sarah Palin uses the term "world view" she means biblical worldview.
Here's how she used the phrase in last night's debate:
But even more important is that world view that I share with John McCain. That world view that says that America is a nation of exceptionalism. And we are to be that shining city on a hill, as President Reagan so beautifully said, that we are a beacon of hope and that we are unapologetic here. We are not perfect as a nation. But together, we represent a perfect ideal. And that is democracy and tolerance and freedom and equal rights. Those things that we stand for that can be put to good use as a force for good in this world.
The world view she described was fairly dripping with metaphysical imagery:
we represent a perfect idealwe are to be that shining city on a hill
America is a nation of exceptionalism
Not to mention her invocation of Ronald Reagan, who's been accorded deity status by many conservatives.
Filed Under: Christian, debates, running mates, Sarah Palin, worldview
posted by Dan Gilgoff @ 2:14pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Friday October 3, 2008
Sarah Palin as Harriet Miers Redux
Sarah Palin's selection has split the Republican Party between the religious conservatives and everyone else, evoking the failed nomination of the evangelical Harriet Miers (right) to the Supreme Court three years ago. That split was more visible than every...Filed Under: evangelicals, God gap, Harriet Miers, Sarah Palin
posted by Dan Gilgoff @ 1:29pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Friday September 26, 2008
Richard Cizik: Evangelical Requests to Meet With McCain Unanswered
God-o-Meter caught up this week with Richard Cizik, chief lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals, the nation's largest evangelical organization. Cizik made news earlier in the week in Colorado Springs for questioning whether John McCain was a "principled person"...posted by Dan Gilgoff @ 8:04am Permalink Email This Add to:
Wednesday September 24, 2008
Falwell's GOTV Plan in Virginia
A new NBC News poll puts Obama within 3 points of McCain in increasingly purple Virginia. But Virginian/McCain backer Jerry Falwell has a plan to get his 10,500 Lynchburg-based students to the polls: To make sure students don't have any...Filed Under: Jerry Falwell Jr. Liberty University, Lynchburg, polls, Virginia
posted by Dan Gilgoff @10:22am Permalink Email This Add to:
Monday September 22, 2008
Is 'World View' Code for 'Christian World View?'
God-o-Meter first noticed it around the time of Rick Warren's Saddleback Civil Forum John McCain and Barack Obama last month, when Warren talked about wanting to get a sense of the candidates' "world views." World view. It's certainly not a...Filed Under: evangelicals, Sarah Palin, worldview
posted by Dan Gilgoff @ 1:42pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Thursday September 18, 2008
Washington Post Cartoon Targets Palin's Faith
The Washington Post has printed this cartoon poking fun of Sarah Palin's former Pentecostalism. Brody has the understandably indignant response from the Assemblies of God. Update:A reader notes that it was washingtonpost.com, not the paper's print edition, that carried...Filed Under: cartoons, Pentecostal, running mates, Sarah Palin, Washington Post
posted by Dan Gilgoff @ 9:15am Permalink Email This Add to:
Wednesday September 17, 2008
Are Younger Evangelicals Cool to McCain/Palin
The AP is reporting that Sarah Palin isn't the hit among younger evangelicals that she is among their parents. It cites some anecdotal evidence from interviews, but there are some big caveats: Polls have yet to measure the Palin Effect...Filed Under: polls, young evangelicals
posted by Dan Gilgoff @ 2:28pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Monday September 15, 2008
God-o-Meter on Video: Is McCain/Palin Slighting the Christian Right?
Filed Under: abortion, Christian Right, Sarah Palin, stem cell research, Tony Perkins, Values Voter Summit
posted by Dan Gilgoff @ 9:34pm Permalink Email This Add to: