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.
I don't have a farm, but I would bet. Don't you find it odd that he won't support Rudy, but he likes Joe Lieberman?
Do you have a problem with that? Do you have a problem with the "Far Right" ?
Well, I am a conservative with a conscience and I can tell you that if Rudy ends up as our nominee, I am going to vote for him. Anything to prevent Hillary from ever trashing the WH again.
I'm not about to throw away my vote on a candidate with no chance and thereby helping a RAT which is more vile and dangerous than Rudy. Not gonna happen.
You got that right. Political tunnelvision is an awful thing.
Run a pro-abortion or anti-2nd amendment Republican nominee and the voting map WILL change more than a lick and you'll see a Democrat win.
Think about this: The Evangelical Christians rallied behind Ronald Reagan, George Bush and GWB. They even went out and registered millions of new GOP voters in churches for GWB, and he squeaked by in two elections. Now the GOP slaps these same Evangelicals in the face with a liberal Rudy Giuliani and we are expected to automatically support him. It doesn't work that way!
Like you said, how do they think their Christian-bashing strategy is going to work out in the long run?
A socially conservative candidate will attract the religious right, but it will alienate mainstream and moderate voters. Abortion and gay marriage are non-starters with most voters, especially when there are IMHO big issues that can be dealth with successfully.
I'll only have a problem if they continue this kind of crap during the general campaign. If that starts, paint a big "D" on their foreheads.
with a foreword written by Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn).
I thought Joe was and "(I-Conn)" now
Please add me to your "stop Rudy" ping. Thanks!
What's best? A President who publicly opposes abortion but is unable to get strict constuctionalist judges through
Congress or a President who publicly supports abortion but appoints judges to the bench that will uphold the words of the Constitution as the Founders originally intended?
Which is 100% on the Stupid Party.
That's the problem with hard-core social conservatives, typically from the Christian right. They don't understand that politics is the art of what is possible and requires some form of compomise. I could never support a Christian conservative for POTUS because I do not want to live under someone else's theocratic based standards. I prefer liberty and the concept of the separation of church and state as expressed in the constitution.
Very true. Giuliani supporters demonstrate by their devotion to bizarre liberal social causes (pro-gay agenda, indifference to traditional marriage, pro-abortion, pro-hate crime legislation, distrust of gun ownership, sympathy for envirowhackadoodle earth warming theories) that they tragically disconnected from reality and the big picture.
Rudy's their savior and any criticism of him for his extreme left views makes them howl in rage, just as they are doing on this thread.
Duncan Hunter bump...
Well then, write us off and see how that works out for you. If you think Rudy is going to win without our votes you are living in fantasy land.
You mean like Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and G.W. Bush did?
All Americans have a duty to vote. Not stay home.
The decision is yours.
Hillary or Rudy. Two liberals. Two lefties. Same values, same beliefs. No thanks.
Like I'm tagged.... conservatives don't vote for liberals.
This statement alone demonstrates profound ignorance of the First Amendment,
Yes, indeed. Giuliani social liberal ideologues are disconnected from reality and the big picture.
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