Revenge of the Christianists - Giuliani Inspires Threat of a Third-Party Run

If there was any doubt that the Christianists in the GOP think that they can call the shots for the Party, this article in today's New York Times should remove any lingering doubts.(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/us/politics/01evangelicals.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin). Sadly, true to form the Times quotes Tony Perkins, for example, but totally leaves out any references to his past David Duke/Klan ties. If the media would not give these wingnuts a free pass all the time, more Americans would realize just how crazy, extreme and disingenuous they are in reality. Perhaps then their power would be greatly reduced. From my perspective, should the Christianists bolt from the GOP, then perhaps the Party could finally get back to its original principals, none of which included fostering a Christianist theocracy. One can only hope and dream of a day when these wingnuts are banished from the GOP and forced back into the political wilderness:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 — Alarmed at the possibility that the Republican Party might pick Rudolph W. Giuliani as its presidential nominee despite his support for abortion rights, a coalition of influential Christian conservatives is threatening to back a third-party candidate.

The threat emerged from a group that broke away for separate discussions at a meeting Saturday in Salt Lake City of the Council for National Policy, a secretive conservative networking group. Participants said the smaller group included James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, who is perhaps its most influential member; Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council; Richard A. Viguerie, the direct-mail pioneer; and dozens of other politically oriented conservative Christians. Almost everyone present at the smaller group’s meeting expressed support for a written resolution stating that “if the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate we will consider running a third-party candidate,” participants said.

But the threat is risky for the leaders of the Christian conservative movement as well. Some of its usual grass-roots supporters might still back a supporter of abortion rights like Mr. Giuliani, either because they dislike the Democratic nominee even more or because they are more concerned with other issues, like the war. In recent polls by the Pew Research Center, Mr. Giuliani has received a plurality of support from white evangelical Protestant voters despite a rising chorus of complaints from Christian conservative leaders about his liberal views on social issues.

Participants in the group that endorsed the resolution said they had reached their position after hearing an assessment of the state of the Republican primary from Mr. Perkins, who acts as a point man in Washington for the movement. Mr. Perkins told them that Mr. Giuliani could plausibly win the primary if he carried Florida, which has many conservative Christian voters, and that now was the best chance to stop any momentum behind his campaign.