As a coda to the previous post, consider this article, from yesterday's The New York Times. It's headline is the title of this entry.
Some of President Bush's most influential conservative Christian allies are becoming openly critical of the White House and Republicans in Congress, warning that they will withhold their support in the midterm elections unless Congress does more to oppose same-sex marriage, obscenity and abortion. “There is a growing feeling among conservatives that the only way to cure the problem is for Republicans to lose the Congressional elections this fall,” said Richard Viguerie, a conservative direct-mail pioneer.
And how do the Repbulicans respond to this criticism:
Republican officials, who were granted anonymity to speak publicly because of the sensitivity of the situation, acknowledged the difficult political climate but said they planned to rally conservatives by underscoring the contrast with Democrats and emphasizing the recent confirmations of two conservatives to the Supreme Court.
And:
Republicans say they are taking steps to revive their support among Christian conservatives. On Thursday night, Mr. Rove made the case for the party at a private meeting of the Council for National Policy, participants said.In addition to reminding conservatives of the confirmations of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court, party strategists say the White House and Senate Republicans are escalating their fights against the Democrats over conservative nominees to lower federal courts, and the Senate is set to revive the same-sex marriage debate next month with a vote on the proposed amendment.
Pandering to religious conservatives is absolutely vital to any Republican hopes of maintaining their power in Washington. Meanwhile, I see no evidence of the Republicans quaking before the awesome might of the secularists within their party.
Comments
It never ceases to amaze me the kind of political power that is wielded by the "Christian" right. I put the word "Christian" in quotes because they are anything but. What is the point of opposing same-sex marriage? Why should gay marriage bother the straight community? And, oh yeah, we'd better have Congress censor obscenity. That's really a priority problem. And what the religious right doesn't seem to understand (to my bewilderment) is that the "liberals" that they hate so much are not actually pro-abortion, but pro-choice, and there's a big difference. "Pandering to religious conservatives" is exactly what the Republicans are doing. They depend on the segment of the population with the least developed critical thinking skills. It's absolutely shameful.
Posted by: Joseph Smigelski | May 17, 2006 01:49 AM
The religous right does not care about the real problems facng your nation and the world (especially since religon is one of the real problems). How can you expect them to have a rational view of the world when their defining charateristic (religous right) means they have (and truly beleive in) an irrational view of reality. They focus on the silly little "problems" that they themselves create (same sex marriage, women's rights etc)because thay cannot reconcile the actual world out there with their beiliefs so they blame the problem on other people rather than taking a critical look at thier superstitions.
The fact that some politicians (as well as the religous leaders) take advantage of these peoples gullibilty and well washed brains is shameful but hardly unexpected. It is up to the rest of the citizenry and in particular the moderate religous peoople and groups to denounce and marginalize these loonies and those that would use their delusions for personal gain.
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May 17, 2006 02:15 PM