The Religious Right Ain't What it Used to Be
The Los Angeles Times reports: Pastor Cary Gordon is warning Christian voters in Iowa not to trust Newt Gingrich. The attack, in the form of a three-minute satirical Web video, is a sign of Gingrich's growing strength among evangelical conservatives in a state where that voting bloc is extraordinarily influential. The video is full of zingers aimed primarily at Gingrich's record as a husband, making the argument one does not even have to look at his record to judge that his character makes him unfit to be president:
"Seriously. I can't stand Barack Obama, but at least he doesn't trade in his wives like used cars." "Newt Gingrich is the Kim Kardashian of the GOP!"
"If Newt Gingrich can betray a woman who has sworn her love and loyalty to him for the rest of her life -- not once but twice -- what makes you think he won't betray you, the faceless voter in a sea of faceless voters." Its tough stuff, hammering Gingrich for not signing The Family Leader's marriage pledge. Gingrich has since signed, but no doubt, the damage if any, has already been done. But of course, this is not the kind of thing that the GOP envisioned would happen when it encouraged the Religious Right to bend and break the perfectly reasonable IRS proscriptions against electioneering by churches. The abandonment of political restraint is evident. While Gordon's video release may be within the IRS guidelines as an act of an individual, he and his church were the subject of a complaint filed by American United for Separation of Church and State last year, for having violated its tax-exempt status in organizing (successful) electoral efforts against three Iowa Supreme Court judges. (The judges had ruled in favor of marriage equality.) Gordon said at the time:
"The orthodox Christian pastors of Iowa do not and cannot recognize, with regard to the definition of marriage, the imaginary authority of the Iowa Supreme Court. History has already shown who inevitably wins when state wages war against the authority of the church of the living God. So let the battle between state and church begin." (The church has since filed for bankruptcy protection from the company that built its new building.) The Religious Right base of the GOP is turning on itself with attack ads against he party's own presidential front runner in ways that could hobble his candidacy if he should get the party's nomination. It is more than an understatement to say that the GOP and the Religious Right within it, ain't what it used to be.
The Religious Right Ain't What it Used to Be | 14 comments (14 topical, 0 hidden)
The Religious Right Ain't What it Used to Be | 14 comments (14 topical, 0 hidden)
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