The religious right has been making a lot of noise and throwing a lot of blame at the GOP for Democratic victories in the midterms. According to the Biblebanger spin, Republicans abandoned their 'core values' and people of faith made them pay for it. There's probably some truth to that -- values voters wanted GOPers to ban abortion, stop the 'homosexual agenda,' and drive the godless evolutionists from America's schools. What they got was top-heavy tax cuts, war, and corporate giveaways.Not really what they had in mind.
Another factor was that the GOP leadership was just so awful that even the robots starting asking what was up. From global warming to net neutrality to the inaction after Katrina, values voters saw a party that seemed to be completely unconcerned with the interests of the people who'd elected them.
The leaders of the religious right, whether because they were corrupt or self-concerned or just plain stupid, were way behind their flocks in this line of thinking. But you wouldn't know it now -- no, now they're the voice of the disenfranchised.
James Dobson:
They consistently ignored the constituency that put them in power until it was late in the game and then frantically tried to catch up at the last minute. In 2004, conservative voters handed them a 10-seat majority in the Senate and a 29-seat edge in the House. And what did they do with their power? Very little that Values Voters care about.
Tony Perkins:
In the end, voters had grown tired of a party whose lapses in judgment were overshadowed only by its lapse of belief in core values. When conservatives realized that Republicans had abandoned their ideology, they ultimately abandoned the GOP.
These complaints would hold a lot more weight if these guys hadn't been such pimps for the GOP before the election.
Right Wing Watch:
...At the Values Voter Summit last month, Dobson – “like a modern Paul Revere,” according to Pat Boone – announced that the War on Terror is fundamentally a family-values issue. And at his “Stand for the Family” rallies in battleground states, he also endorsed the Bush administration’s tax cuts. Perkins, admonishing his supporters to reject candidates who “have no fear of God,” was careful to connect that message to a warning that a Democratic House would have control over pension policy.
So, before the election, Dobson and Perkins were tireless cheerleaders for the GOP. Now, they're critics. It kind of makes them look a little hypocritical -- although, looking hypocritical has never stopped the religious right before. It's kind of hard to stand for christian ideals when you're begging people to vote for modern Republicans, who's guiding principles are basically selfishness and greed.
While these evangelical leaders gripe about how the GOP got what it deserved and blames them for abandoning the principles of the religious right, a look at the results shows they're being extremely honest -- a lot of people these organizations endorsed or rated highly lost. People for The American Way put together this list of losing GOP candidates. Perkins' Family Research Counsel teamed with Dobson's Focus on the Family to rate candidates (FRC/FOF). Gary Bauer's Campaign for Working Families (CWF) made endorsements. As the list shows, their candidates didn't do very well.
GOP Incumbent House Losses:
AZ-05 (Hayworth) - 100% FRC/FOF Ranking and CWF Endorsement
CA-11 (Pombo) – 57% FRC/FOF Ranking
CT-05 (Johnson) – 28% FRC/FOF Ranking
FL-22 (Shaw) – 57% FRC/FOF Ranking
IN-02 (Chocola)- 100% FRC/FOF Ranking and CWF Endorsement
IN-08 (Hostettler) – 71% FRC/FOF Ranking, CWF Endorsement
IN-09 (Sodrel) – 100% FRC/FOF Ranking and CWF Endorsement
IA-02 (Leach) – 42% FRC/FOF Ranking
KS-02 (Ryun) – 100% FRC/FOF Ranking
KY-03 (Northup) – 57% FRC/FOF Ranking, CWF Endorsement
MN-01 (Gutknecht) – 100% FRC/FOF Ranking and CWF Endorsement
NH-01 (Bradley) – 57% FRC/FOF Ranking
NH-02 (Bass) – 28% FRC/FOF Ranking
NY-19 (Kelly) – 57% FRC/FOF Ranking
NY-20 (Sweeney) – 57% FRC/FOF Ranking
NC-11 (Taylor) – 100% FRC/FOF Ranking and CWF Endorsement
PA-04 (Hart) – 100% FRC/FOF Ranking
PA-07 (Weldon) – 71% FRC/FOF Ranking, CWF Endorsement
PA-08 (Fitzpatrick) – 71% FRC/FOF Ranking
PA-10 (Sherwood) – 85% FRC/FOF Ranking
GOP Incumbent Senate Losses:
MO (Talent) 100% FRC/FOF Ranking and CWF Endorsement
MT (Burns) – 100% FRC/FOF Ranking and CWF Endorsement
OH (Dewine) - 100% FRC/FOF Ranking and CWF Endorsement
PA (Santorum) – 100% FRC/FOF Ranking and CWF Endorsement
RI (Chafee) – 25% FRC/FOF Ranking
VA (Allen) – 100% FRC/FOF Ranking and CWF Endorsement
Well, that didn't go well, did it? If the problem is that Republicans aren't being christian enough, why did so many of the high rated and endorsed candidates lose?
Let's hope that the James Dobsons and Tony Perkins of the world have lost power as well. It sure looks like that's the case.
--Wisco
Technorati tags: politics; propaganda; religious right leaders James Dobson and Tony Perkins pretend they weren't pimps for republicans before the elections
2 comments:
Sorry, Christians don't believe in robots.
"Well, that didn't go well, did it? If the problem is that Republicans aren't being christian enough, why did so many of the high rated and endorsed candidates lose?"
Because they weren't making a difference in congress. When the choice is Republicans who don't uphold values or flagrantly abuse them or Democrats who firmly stand for the deplorable, who wants to vote at all? It was a lose-lose situation for decent citizens, Christian or not. No wonder so many were predicted to not vote at all.
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