[xjcsa]

If not for Jerry Falwell, America and the world would look vastly different, and not for the better. It’s staggering to think that without him, Ronald Reagan would likely not have been elected. The outcome of the Cold War could have been very different, or at least delayed; America might look a lot more like Europe in many ways.

[Wallace T.]

What is significant is that none of the Presidential primary candidates on the GOP side, not even Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback, with ties to the Christian Right, attended Falwell's funeral. Reportedly, the White House sent only a "midlevel aide". The only political figures attending the service were former Virginia Senator George Allen and Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell.

While Falwell's influence has been on the wane for some time, the nonattendance by the GOP candidates and most Republican political figures and the de facto snub by the White House speak volumes as to their level of concern about conservative Christian voters. Such voters have become, in effect, the GOP equivalent of the black vote, except that when one of their leading lights passes away, even one like Jesse Jackson who is past his prime, the Democratic politicians at the funeral service will crowd out the relatives.