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.
He always makes that charge and doesn't seem to mind it makes him look like a fool.
It's true that we have candidates send their supporters here to stir up dissent among the posters.
I must have been quite prescient to sign up in '98 so I could stump for the Rudy presidency in '07. ROFL
There's an evangelical pastor in a local suburban Kansas City church named Jerry Johnson that's been ranting against Mormonism for a couple of weeks now on his Sunday show and at his services, call it a false religion and not Christianity. If Romney becomes a serious candidate I wonder how many other evangelicals will follow his lead?
oh oh add me
finnman69
Since Jul 11, 2001
I am Catholic, but I will vote for him over Hillary if he's the GOP nominee. She must be defeated.
I have voted for one democrat in my life, Sam Nunn.
Yep, and I sure had 'em snookered with all that work I did for Jerry Kilgore and George Allen. Heck, I even spent a year making them think I was just interested in the religion wars.
It was all smoke and mirrors to get to Rudy.
I don't care what your religious beliefs are.
You will NOT get to practice any religion except ISLAM if we don't stop the madness these Radicals are trying to slap onto the entire world.
I don't entirely agree with Rudy on every subject, either, but I am trying not to be a one issue voter.
I want a President who "gets it" where the terrorists are concerned. I want someone who has already seen the work involved with running a major city or state, which he has done. I want someone who can make a decision and be aware that he cannot pander to the very few who are vocal, but must look at the bigger picture. He isn't perfect, but Gos save us from Hillary and her lying lips. I really don't want the Clintons to have another shot at cleaning items out of the White House, either. That behavior was about as tacky as a human can get. The media keeps giving both the Clintons a free pass. Time to give them a serious wedgie, IMO.
my pleasure
That was when you were on the psychic hotline right? ;-)
How about what Rudy said in 1996 about not being invited to attend the GOP Convention in San Diego.
"If I take three or four days off from city business, I want to do it for a substantive purpose. It didn't seem to me any substantive purpose could be served by going to the Republican convention."
Sounds like sour grapes to me.
How can he possibly win the nomination then? If his support is truly that shallow then he has absolutely no chance whatsoever of winning the nomination. Be honest now, you're not really convinced that he's going to lose the nomination are you? I just want one member of the [[Stop Rudy!]] gang to admit that they know his chances of getting the nod are terrific, and that's what has them so worried. Everyone knows that if he were truly doomed there wouldn't be any fuss, but I want to hear someone admit it anyway.
What on earth makes you think Rudy can just toss aside large chunks of GOP support and run leftward as a pro-war nominee and pick up independent voters who are largely antiwar?
I believe that it is the nature of Rudy and Newts divorces, and subsequent marriages.
I was at the first Los Angeles Freeper meeting with Clinton is a Liar and others.
I believe that it is the nature of Rudy and Newts divorces, and subsequent marriages that Dr. Land objects to.
Funny, he wasn't the nominee.
ROFL!!!!!!!!
I'd forgotten about that psychic hotline portion of my long and varied career as an online poster for Rudy.
And yet, rather than honestly admit that they like Giuliani because he is a flaming social liberal they cloak their reasoning with fatuous protestations that Giuliani either 1) is the "only" Republican who can win, or 2) he is the only candidate who can win the war on Terror?
If those aren't a "one issue" arguments, there is no such animal.
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