At the beginning of the day today, this story was barely a blip on the news ticker -- but by about mid-afternoon, the blogs (and major news outlets) were buzzing over a secretive conference held last weekend in Salt Lake City by the Council for National Policy, a small group of influential Christian conservatives including the likes of Jim Dobson and the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins. The fruit of the conference was a bit startling, and could have major political ramificatons:
"If the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate, we will consider running a third-party candidate."
Read: if Guiliani is the GOP nominee, we will draft our own candidate.
Who that candidate could be remains to be seen -- what also remains to be seen is if social conservatives are only raising a political storm now but will acquiese in support of a Guliani candidacy when push (i.e. "Hillary") comes to shove.
Interestingly, the drive for a third-party candidate came primarily from "a South Dakota businessman named Robert S. Fischer "was the driving force" behind the resolution." The Politico article notes he is based in Rapid City and owns a furniture business. Anybody have an idea who this gentleman is (any of our West River readers, perhaps)?
I've been saying (as well as others) for a little while now that a schism is coming in the Republican party -- primarily between traditional (crunchy?) conservatives and libertarians/classical liberals.
To be sure, the Dobson crowd represents an older school conservative -- a God, Guns 'n' Gays agenda, one might say. The latest iteration of traditional conservatism might be better represented by politicians like Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback and Christopher Smith, and commentators like Rod Dreher, or perhaps even David Brooks.
But Guliani doesn't quite fit either mold. He is bullish on security, economically and socially liberal, and restricive on Second Amendment issues.
In other news, Newt is out -- but both he and Bill Clinton think Mike Huckabee could be the GOP's dark horse candidate.
I like Mike. Who do you like?
BC
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2 comments:
To be completely honest (as if I would ever only be half honest with you), I haven't leaned an inch toward any candidate...yet (I think Newt made the right decision to stay the course with American Solutions).
Funny you bring up Dr. Dobson & Rudy G. They got a mention or two on Steve Brown's podcast a couple weeks ago. Check it out... it will either make you laugh, shake your head (or both), or maybe even ponder some of the insights thrown out on the table.
How Would Jesus Vote?
"With the old conservative Christian war horses getting on or dying off, what does the future look like for the public face of Christianity on the political stage? Is the Church on the verge of getting out of the conservative political pocket and into the liberal one?"
At the very least, to put yourself in the political spirit, listen to the 1 minute comedy bit that they did for the podcast: Levote-tra
The good old third party candidate... It got Bill elected, so why not Hillary too? Here's a good representation of my take on it:
Social Conservatives, Presidential Politics, and Moral Victories
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