Oh, really? Do you know that this election, for the first time that I recall, the Republican party candidate did not fully embrace the Pro-Life position (and neither did his vp, btw)?
Did you know that for the first time that I can recall, the Republican candidate did not stand before the Value Voters (the default forum for the Christian Right's views in the election process) EITHER during the Primary or during the election?
Sure the GOP is trying to throw the Christians under the bus, and have been for quite a while. They are trying to redefine the Christian Right, even as they have already redefined the Fiscal Right, and ridiculed the Libertarians. They want a socially Liberal "Christian Right", as the Saddleback Forum defines it.
The key is to build a coalition that takes into account the concerns of Calvinist/evangelical/Pentecostal voters, while not driving away those of other religious traditions, or the seculars/holiday Christians for that matter.
The ONLY coalition that is needed is the Reagan Coalition.
To embrace multiculturalism, you must, by the very definition of it, throw the Christian Right under the bus. What they stand for is a single principled social culture, which IS he Judeo-Christian Ethic, and they will (and are) leave you in droves for compromising with their enemies.
1/3 of them are dead, and Reagan did not empower Evangelical Christians to the point that he turned off white Catholics.
The Bush-Rove elevation of Evangelicals, while tactically good for Bush, was not in the long-term interest of the party.