All Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan had to do was keep his radical views hidden for two more days--actually, less than 48 hours. Perhaps then less voters would be aware of how extreme and divisive he really is.
But Ryan couldn't wait. Maybe it's because he was "under duress" as recent polls show President Obama's lead in Ohio growing. Plus a new Pew Poll indicates President Obama now has a three point national lead.
Maybe it was because he thought his views would remain private, like Mitt Romney believed when he made his infamous comments dismissing 47% of Americans?
But I don't think those are the reasons. I believe Ryan had simply been waiting for an opportunity to confess his real views to a receptive audience.
For those unaware, yesterday Ryan told thousands of Evangelical Christians by teleconference that President Obama's policies threaten our nation's "Judeo-Christian" values. Ryan also raised the specter of "a clash of civilizations" by warning listeners that Obama's polices compromise, "western civilization values that made us such a great an exceptional nation in the first place."
Obviously this statement tells us a great deal about Ryan, the person Rush Limbaugh described as "the last Boy Scout." Although to be honest, I was a boy scout and we never learned that our laws must be based on anyone's religious scripture nor should we use fear to scare people to support political candidates.
Up until this point in the campaign, I was actually relieved that Romney and Obama had focused on policy issues, not religious values like we heard time and time again during the Republican presidential primary. I thought that the concept that our laws must comport with the Bible disappeared with Rick Santorum's failed presidential bid. But Ryan just couldn't help himself. Ryan's statement made me think of the "Godfather III" when Michael Corleone remarked: "Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in."
Ryan's comment that President Obama's policies are threatening Judeo-Christian values is clearly intended to send two messages to the Evangelical voters. One, if elected, Paul Ryan will work to ensure that our laws and regulations are in compliance with the Bible. This really shouldn't be a surprise because Ryan has made it clear he opposes abortion, even in the case when a woman is raped--thus, sentencing a rape victim to carry the child of the rapist in her womb for nine months.
Ryan is a man who actually stated that "Roe versus Wade" was similar to the infamous "Dred Scott" Supreme Court decision which upheld slavery. Who could actually compare the concept of owning a human being with a women's right to have control over her own body?!
There's also clearly a second reason Ryan told these conservative Christians that Obama does not share their religious values. Anyone guess? This one is easy: Because President Obama is not a Christian like them but actually...a Muslim. (Cue scary music.)
This is not only false since Obama is a Christian, but appalling because Ryan is a Catholic and is undoubtedly aware of similar smear tactics used by people to scare voters about John F. Kennedy's presidential candidacy. Kennedy's political opponents argued that too was a threat to American values.
This issue dogged Kennedy until his famous speech in 1960 to a group of Evangelical leaders where he stated: "Today I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you -- until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril."
However, when Paul Ryan was given a chance to address Evangelicals, he didn't follow the lead of John Kennedy, trying to end divisiveness based on religion. Instead, Ryan fed the very same bigotry John Kennedy was seeking to combat.
It's my hope that Mitt Romney denounces these statements by Paul Ryan. Of course, we know that won't happen. Often in presidential campaigns Vice Presidential candidates act as a "pit bull" and say combative or extreme things which the presidential candidate actually agrees with but doesn't want to say publicly. Lets hope that isn't the case here, but sadly I fear it is.