Now Dobson’s at it again. With Rudolph W. Giuliani, a candidate with a pro-choice, pro-gay record in New York City, continuing to poll well nationally among Republicans, Dobson is becoming mighty restless.
That great political philosopher Mick Jagger famously sang, “You can’t always get what you want….” Don’t even tell leaders of the nation’s Religious Right that, however. Many of them probably despise the Rolling Stones anyway, and their mindset for a long time has been that if they can’t get what they want, they’ll make as big a stink about it as possible.
Religious Right leader and evangelical family counselor James C. Dobson has spent years fashioning himself as a political kingmaker of sorts, while also dispensing all manner of advice on rearing children — such as sheltering them from “SpongeBob SquarePants.”
But Dobson’s political machinations have transparently centered on only one political party – the GOP. He works tirelessly at strong-arming Republican Party candidates and policy positions. He has in the past groused about the party’s occasional inability to nominate sufficiently right-wing candidates for president.
Instead of pulling the lever for Republican standard-bearer Bob Dole in 1996, for example, Dobson opted for Howard Phillips of the ultra-right-wing Constitution Party. That party despises a strong central government and promotes the idea that American law should be rooted in biblical law.
Now Dobson’s at it again. With Rudolph W. Giuliani, a candidate with a pro-choice, pro-gay record in New York City, continuing to poll well nationally among Republicans, Dobson is becoming mighty restless.
So at a meeting over the weekend in Salt Lake City of the secretive Council for National Policy (CNP), Dobson, his protégé Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and “dozens” of other Religious Right figures got together to threaten a third-party candidate if Giuliani ends up winning the Republican nomination.
According to The New York Times, most of the group supported a written resolution stating that “if the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate we will consider running a third-party candidate.” The Times reported that during the meeting, Perkins worried that a Giuliani victory was a real possibility, especially if he were successful in Florida’s primary.
The nation’s Religious Right leaders have been struggling to pin their hopes on a candidate who supports their theocratic agenda and appears to have a chance of taking the White House. The newspaper suggested that the entire Religious Right cabal may not be in line with Dobson, noting that TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network has given “relatively generous coverage to” Giuliani.
Dobson, Perkins and family are clearly irked with the current crop of Republican candidates, despite many of the candidates’ attempts to woo them.
Mitt Romney has recruited Robertson lawyer Jay Sekulow onto his advisory team and dumped plenty of money into television ads trumpeting himself as an advocate of family values. (Romney was scheduled to address the CNP at its Salt Lake City meeting.) Fred Thompson, in an early speech to Iowans, talked about the nation being a Christian one and, of course, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has spent months trying to erase the Religious Right’s memory of his comments during his last presidential run, when he tagged TV preachers Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as “agents of intolerance.”
Indeed, in a recent interview with beliefnet.com, McCain offered some prime red meat for the fundamentalist Christian community. Singing from the Religious Right’s hymnal, McCain told the Web site “this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles” and he would prefer a president “who I know has a solid grounding in my faith.”
Added McCain,“I would probably have to say yes, that the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.”
McCain is mistaken, of course. The U.S. Constitution is secular and it creates a secular government that protects the rights of all citizens, religious or not. Nowhere does the Constitution dub America a Christian nation. God isn’t even mentioned. McCain surely knows that, but he’s been rattled and bullied by the likes of Dobson.
Religious Right leaders seem to be approaching panic mode. They can’t maintain their extraordinary influence with the federal government if they don’t have accomplices in the White House and congressional leadership positions – and, by extension, the Supreme Court.
Finding – and electing – those office holders seems to be a mission that is increasingly difficult for them. Stay tuned!
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