Jerry Falwell’s Legacy and Rudy Giuliani
May 17th, 2007 at 07:03pm Ben Weyl
Cross posted at Iowa Independent
Jerry Falwell died two days ago. Will the Christian Right soon follow? That is certainly one of the questions being debated amidst the 2008 presidential contest. The front-runner for the GOP nomination, Rudy Giuliani, is pro-choice. But he has come under fire; recently for these views and his lead is shrinking nationwide and in Iowa.
Will the Christian Right try to stop Giuliani from winning the nomination? Could they if they tried? In this sense, perhaps the real legacy of Jerry Falwell won’t be known until the GOP has its nominee.
The cover story of the New Republic’s current issue is a lengthy (and intriguing) tribute to the idea that Giuliani can win the GOP nomination. Nestled within, however, is this paragraph:
Then, of course, there is the religious right. Though their power is on the wane, Christian conservatives are not going to allow Giuliani to have the nomination without a bitter fight… Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, put it this way: “If he wins, he’ll do so without social conservatives.” Then he added that a Republican presidential candidate can “no more win without conservative voters than a Democrat can without overwhelming support from blacks.”
Earlier today, James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family, and one of the leaders of today’s Christian conservative movement announced he would not support Giuliani if he were the Republican nominee:
Speaking as a private citizen and not on behalf of any organization or party, I cannot, and will not, vote for Rudy Giuliani in 2008. It is an irrevocable decision. If given a Hobson’s – Dobson’s? – choice between him and Sens. Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, I will either cast my ballot for an also-ran – or if worse comes to worst – not vote in a presidential election for the first time in my adult life.
On the other hand, Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, urged social conservatives to give Giuliani a chance. According to the Hotline, Reed told viewers of the Christian Broadcasting Network that Giuliani “can still potentially win over pro-family voters” if he focuses on issues where they agree. Giuliani had campaigned for Reed last May when Reed was running in Georgia’s lieutenant governor primary; Reed went on to lose the election, but has maintained an affinity for Giuliani, apparently talking him up in January at the National Review Institute.
Here in Iowa, Giuliani has the support of former Congressman and failed gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle, who was conservative on social issues while in Congress. However, Nussle’s running mate, the more conservative Bob Vanderplaats, in addition to the very conservative Danny Carroll, has endorsed former Arkansas governor and pastor Mike Huckabee. Iowa Republicans–especially the grassroots–are well known conservatives. Two polls taken in 2000 showed that about 60 percent of likely GOP caucusers thought abortion should be illegal, according to the Des Moines Register. The Register reported in the same article that Giuliani hasn’t decided yet whether to participate in the Ames Straw Poll, a crucial test of Republican support in Iowa.
Whether Giuliani will win the Iowa caucuses or the nomination remains to be seen. But what is clear is that a Giuliani victory would be a crushing blow, perhaps a fitting epitaph, for the movement that Jerry Falwell helped create.
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8 Comments Add your own
1. Arne Paul | May 17th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
From your mouth to god’s ear. And this feverent wish is coming from an Athiest. I think the orthodox religious, evangelical christian in this current case, have had their time in power and Americans have seen what a horror that has turned into: entrenched in an unwinnable war in a nation we invaded based on lies and damn lies, naturally being orchestrated by the profiteering criminals Cheny et. al. and manipulating a not very bright but equally profiteering war criminal, George W. who unfortunately has installed theocratic judges in high positions of power so we’ll feel some of the pain of intolerant and unfree theocratic law for a long time.
Nevertheless, the pendulum seems to be swinging away from the horrors of a theocratic influence and back towards rationality and civilization. It would be great if the evangelicals faded back into the woodwork and kept their religious beliefs to themselves (or at least only bullied their poor local neighbors and not the country as a whole). They have come as close to installing their religious state in this country as I would care to see. There was a period in history when theocrats did have the power they wanted with religious leaders ruling the lands and everyone believing in the bible or else keeping quiet to avoid torture and death. That period was called the Dark Ages for very obvious reasons. A good example of sucessful theocratic state today: Iran. Are there people who really think a chrisitian taliban is somehow better than a muslim one?
2. The Real Sporer | May 18th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Hee hee. You guys are rich.
Theocratic state????
You all support the hegemonic goals of Iran-where you would both probably have been imprisoned if not executed, atheism is a capital offense in Iran, degrade the American democracy at every turn and then label the mere existence of public religion as a theocracy.
I
3. Chris F | May 24th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Umm, will everyone PLEASE stop going to Ralph Reed as though he has some conservative credentials? The fact that he is asking us to look past Giuliani’s social views AND the fact that he couldn’t win a Lt. Governor’s race in one of the most GOP-friendly states in the nation tells you all you need to know about what we think about Reed. Add to this, his connection to the Abramoff scandal, and I wish the man would just go away and stop adding further tarnish to the Republican party.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/capitol/trail/inbox.html
www.ronpaul2008.com
4. lambert strether | May 26th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Given that Reed, Rove, and Abramoff all learned dirty tricks together as College Republicans, I’d say Reed is fully credentialled and has every right to represent conservatives. Or is this going to be one of those “Bush isn’t really a conservative” threads? (”Conservatism can never fail; it can only be failed.”)
I disagree that Falwell’s death portends anything for the Christianist movement and its push for theocracy. With Christianist operatives and sleeper cells now infesting the executive branch and even the civil service — as Monica Goodling’s testimony shows — it’s going to be a long hard slog before the danger of theocracy has faded and Constitutional government is restored.
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