Look at all of those lousy pro-abortion liberals and socialists holding up signs for Giuliani!
Ooops, those are all die hard Republicans and conservatives. Never mind.
Posted on 02/16/2007 4:56:04 AM PST by Spiff
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who said Wednesday night he is making a bid for the White House, will not be America’s 44th president because he supports abortion rights and gay rights and has been married three times.
At least so says Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Land is considered an influential evangelical leader, and he has a new book, due out next month, entitled The Divided States of America? What Liberals and Conservatives Are Missing in the God-and-Country Shouting Match — with a foreword written by Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn).
Land told The Hill in an interview this week that as it stands now, the top tier of Republican presidential hopefuls lacks a candidate social conservatives can be fully comfortable voting for.
Beginning with Giuliani, Land said “the vast majority” of social conservative voters will not vote for the former mayor even if he gets the nomination and faces off against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).
“If he wins, he’ll do so without social conservatives,” Land said.
While Giuliani’s moderate to liberal stances on social issues are beginning to be discussed more and more in conservative circles, Land said the mayor’s annulment, divorce and subsequent third marriage will seal the deal against hizzoner for social conservatives.
“It’s got to surface at some point,” Land said. “There are too many social conservatives talking about it, and it applies to [Newt] Gingrich, too.”
Land talks often about the weight social conservatives carry within the Republican Party, citing exit polling and warning GOP candidates that they can “no more win without conservative voters than a Democrat can without overwhelming support from blacks.”
“That’s the reality of politics in the early 21st century,” he said.
Land looked at the current field of Republican candidates and offered his appraisal — not endorsement — of those he views to be in contention.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has to “convince” social conservatives his conversions on issues such as abortion and gay rights are authentic rather than politically motivated, Land said, adding that many conservatives will likely give Romney the benefit of the doubt on his changed abortion position.
“Conservatives would see that as ‘He’s seen the light,’” Land said. “They would see it as less of a flip-flop than as a journey.”
Of Romney’s Mormon religion, Land said it’s not a “deal-killer.”
Land said he has encouraged the former governor to reach out to social conservatives about his religion and appeal to “the American people’s sense of fair play,” much as President Kennedy addressed his Catholicism in front of the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in 1960.
As for oft-perceived Republican frontrunner Sen. John McCain, Land paused, then said the Arizona senator’s strengths with independent voters are what is hurting him with socially conservative voters.
McCain’s “maverick” streak may be a winning personality trait for reporters and independents, but social conservatives consider it to be a sign of unpredictability.
“They don’t like being surprised,” Land said.
Though Land doesn’t question McCain’s consistency on abortion issues, he said McCain’s involvement in the “Gang of 14” — the bipartisan Senate group that prevented the “nuclear” option on judicial nominees — and his refusal to support anti-gay marriage proposals severely hurts his chances with traditional-values voters.
In the end, Land said, social conservatives are concerned about the kind of judges a President McCain would nominate.
“Voting pro-life is not enough,” Land said. “He has got to express himself in other venues.”
Add that to the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform law, legislation that sparked an outcry in religious organizations, and McCain, despite a conservative record and his continued, loyal backing of President Bush, does not come in as a favorite of the religious right.
But Land said the second tier of candidates offers voters of his ilk two contenders so-called values voters could get behind — Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R).
Both men are considered long-shots at this early stage of the game, but Land said impressive fundraising or gains in the polls could open a door to either candidate through which social conservatives might run.
“They don’t have to convince other social conservatives they’re one of them,” Land said. “They just have to convince other social conservatives they can win.”
Land called Huckabee a “Republican Bill Clinton,” praising the longtime governor’s charisma and affability with voters.
“I think he could catch fire,” Land said.
As it stands today, probably a good 10 months away from the first votes, Land said Romney and McCain “get the first chance to close the deal,” but concedes with those two as the frontrunners, social conservatives are left without a candidate who makes them 100 percent comfortable.
“That’s why if I were a Brownback supporter or a Romney supporter, I wouldn’t be all that discouraged,” he said.
As for Democrats, Land challenges the assumption held by many that Clinton will be the Democratic nominee, giving her “50-50” chances.
He said as he talks to conservative voters, he hears the word “calculating” used most often to describe the former first lady and cites “Clinton-Bush” fatigue as one of the factors working against her.
“When people talk to me about her, their facial expressions change,” he said.
Thats why they got out in front of this so early. Hammering home article after article promoting Rudy. And the paid and unpaid bloggers for Rudy who've infested Free Republic in recent weeks is more proof of a concerted effort to keep Rudy`s name at the top of the list. When it comes to the issues, what are we told? Accept Rudy, ONLY he can win, and if you don't like it, too bad! LOL Now that is not a winning strategy in my book.
I think most of these people support Rudy, because they agree with him on the issues.
Who says Rudy wants or needs the support of lunatics who preach young earth creationism or dismiss evolution?
So God can't forgive? If I was a Rudy supporter, I wouldn't go down that road.
This evangelical Christian won't vote for any Presidential candidate that supports killing babies in the womb!!! PERIOD!!
Except with Rudy, it isn't a one-issue matter. Rudy is pro-choice. Pro-gun-control. Pro-amnesty. Pro-CFR. Pro-gay agenda. And pro-global warming.
You act like conservatives are saying one strike and you're out. Rudy has swung and missed six times and is still at the plate.
Thereby, fulfilling their own prophesy. Dumb SOBs!
What is dumb is thinking the GOP can run left and win, despite all the history to the contrary.
But for GOP leadership and their cheerleaders such as you, it's never THEIR fault. It's always the fault of the dumb right-wing voters who were unwilling to go ride along as the RINO wing lurched the bus sharply to the left and directly into the path of oncoming Democrats.
I was just pointing out facts that we can have spam. Your definition of facts is about is not believable to us either so it goes both ways.
A President with the charisma and public speaking ability to use the bully pulpit to make his case would have a better chance with the types of Congress that Dubya has faced.
President Bush has been unable or unwilling to go to bat for his judicial nominees with the fervor and tenacity that was necessary to get them through a hostile Senate.
IMO.
That seems as clear as the nose on my face. When his supporters acknowledge this as even a possibility, they make a claim that he will replace the Christian right voters with....something. I have not quite understood what blocs they plan on bringing into the tent.
I will stick to my orginal prediction that the GOP will not be handed power again for many years hence. There is about as much difference between the New York City mayor and the New York State Senator as there is between Ford and GM.
So God can forgive Reagan but not Rudy. I didn't know God was so unnforgiving.
No one has slapped anyone. We're in the early primary season where candidates are announcing their intentions to seek the nomination.
The only way any of those seeking the nomination to get the nod is to win it fair and square in the primary election. If everything you guys keep saying is true, then Rudy has absolutely no chance at all. If as many Republican voters hate him as some FReepers claim, he'll be lucky to pull 10% in the primaries. Surely if Land and everyone else saying exactly the same things Land is saying are correct, a candidate like Hunter is certain to trounce Rudy in the primaries with an unheard of majority.
Funny, I don't hear that confident note from the [[Stop Rudy!]] bunch at all. In fact, I'm seeing the exact opposite. I'm seeing a level of concern that indicates the [[Stop Rudy!]] crowd knows that his chances of winning the primary (fair and square) are better then anyone elses at this juncture. I don't know who you guys think you are fooling, but no one is convinced that Rudy is destined to lose the nomination, not even yourselves.
Bush had the Senate under GOP control, and the Senate leadership failed to fight for his nominees. They were spineless cowards. In the unlikely event that Giuliani is elected President, he won't even get a conservative nominee past the committee chairman, now that the Dems are in control. Rudy's ONLY hope would be to create a massive landslide, something that cannot materialize without 100% of the GOP behind him.
You mean like:
areafiftyone - since November 15, 2000
Peach - since December 9, 1998
Bunny Slippers - since January 13, 2000
Phi Kap Mom - Since February 11, 1999
Corin Stormhands - since April 16, 2002 (previously "Ward Smythe" since January 14, 2000)
Basically, what I have heard from a lot of Southern Baptist churches, at least in my area, and have personally seen and experienced in my own church, is that for whatever reason, the worship style is beginning to border on outright Pentecostalism as far as the exuberance and the loudness and the activity and the carrying-on. And that isn't my cup of tea. I'm an old-fashioned, reverent worshipper. I sit there before the sermon, trying to feel closer to God, and then I sit there and listen to the sermon and follow along with my Bible and try to understand what's being presented to me. I also love the old hymns, I don't particularly care for endless praise choruses played at rock-and-roll concert volume.
The thing is, I would not, in a hundred, million, billion, trillion years, try to pressure anybody to do things the way I do them. However, I do feel pressured to do things the way everybody else seems to want to do them, as evidenced by the evangelist who preached a revival at my church two years ago who made the statement, from the pulpit, that if you did not raise your hands in praise during a worship service, you most likely weren't saved.
As I said earlier, I really have no use for religious denominations. My Christian beliefs are pretty much summed up in the Nicene or Apostle's Creed, I think it's called, the one Rich Mullins made a song of, to me everything else is extraneous. If I could find a non-Pentecostal, non-denominational church, I'd be there in an instant. There's just no such animal in my neck of the woods.
:-)
I signed up as a volunteer for the Duncan Hunter Campaign last week....so yes My Money is where my mouth is....;-)
Im happy thr primary season will be over and decided relatively quickly. It will give places like FR time to heal when Rudy gets the nod.
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