Pat and Rudy: Name the Apostate

Goodbye abortion, hello Islamofascism? Christian Right powerbroker Pat Robertson handed his much-coveted endorsement to Giuliani yesterday, claiming "The overriding issue before the American people is the defense of our population from the blood lust of Islamic terrorists."

Does Robertson's endorsement represent a fundamental shift among social conservatives away from "values" in favor of national security? (Los Angeles Times) Or is it another sign of the disarray of the Christian Right, as has been widely touted in Campaign '08 coverage? Could Robertson's embrace of Rudy the Values Slayer be a "tragic" act of an aging leader who has lost his influence, perhaps his mind?

The Christian Right may well be as fractured as rumored. The lesson from history, however, suggests that current reports of its political death are much exaggerated.

In this year's Republican presidential contest, the relationship between the front-runners and the religious right is unfolding in ways uncannily similar to the 2000 race.

Remember Candidate Bush, the "compassionate conservative," the "different kind of Republican?" After seven years of conservative rule, it's hard to fathom that Bush was ever perceived as a moderate. But, he was, by many.

In the 2000 campaign, Bush marketed himself as a pragmatic centrist and flaunted his independence from the Right. The Republican establishment boasted that candidate Bush was at the head of their effort to defang the party's far Right. Leaders of the Republican right bemoaned the party's betrayal of conservatism, yet ultimately confided that they had no option but to go along to get along. The American media (with some notable exceptions) dutifully reported this storyline, and repeated time and time again that the differences between Bush and Gore were only a matter of degree.

Of course, Bush was no moderate. But he was liberated to campaign to the center by the deals he had struck, in private, with the Right.

Fourteen days after the 2000 election, rightwing powerbroker Grover Norquist told Newsweek that, although Bush publicly distanced himself from the Right, the candidate had agreed to their demands -- on guns, taxes, property rights, and the hot-button issues of the culture wars. "Went to everyone and got 'em signed up or neutralized, including me, two years before the election."

It was brilliant political rope-a-dope. Public protestations of weakness and the need to moderate; counter-punches thrown while the press and the public were thus distracted.

A year before election day 2000, conservative leaders were flamboyantly denouncing Texas Governor George W. Bush. On election day, 75 percent of Christian Right evangelical voters voted for Bush. Though evangelicals constituted only 25 percent of the population, they provided Bush with 40 percent of his total vote.

That result was in no small part due to Pat Robertson. Robertson was one of the first on the Right to publicly sign on with Bush in 1999, while most Christian Right leaders still sought his defeat.

At the time, Robertson's endorsement was covered as a pragmatic move, an admission that the Christian Right's program alienated too many Americans. Bush, we were led to believe, would be calling the shots with the social conservatives.

About eight weeks before the 2000 election, Robertson sent a letter to Christian Coalition members: "Our naysayers are in for a big shock this November!"

Could Americans be shocked again in November 2008?

The question today is, on whose terms has the Giuliani-Robertson alliance been consummated? Few individuals have done more than Pat Robertson to forge the Christian Right into the Republican party's "base." Robertson confidently reports that Giuliani has assured him that his judicial appointments will please social conservatives. Perhaps The War on Terror now trumps The Culture War for the religious right. The Bush presidency, however, proves that they are not mutually exclusive.

When it comes time for the '08 general election, the calamities of Republican rule will give Democrats the edge. Nonetheless, overconfidence is a danger. Underestimating the Republican electoral machine is today, as it was in 2000, the greatest pitfall. Democrats will need to keep the essential conservatism of today's Republican party in the forefront of their campaigns. And the media will need to investigate exactly what promises the Republican nominee makes and to whom. The broad failure to do so in 2000 is in part responsible for the alarming predicament in which the nation finds itself in the twilight of the Bush-Cheney era.

Comments

[ProfessorDuh]

God spoke to Pat about Rudy right after Rudy spoke to Pat to tell him what his pay-off would be.

[kanglecap]

As astute as he is in business, Pat Robertson is very confused regarding his “religion”.

Some 2 ½ billion “christians” around the world will tell you that this man they call “jesus” died on a “cross” for their sins and it is, in part, because of "merchant preachers" like Mr. Robertson that these poor delusional people believe this garbage!

I am no supporter of Robertson and in fact find him repugnant on many levels. Being such a high profile personality necessitates that he comes out in favor of someone in this election (I guess) but who on this list would we expect him to choose? I mean really, step back and look at this list of losers!

Who on this list has the scruples to represent this country better than the next? They all have serious moral issues and for those of you who are “worried” about which “religion” a particular candidate subscribes? EVERYONE on this list is living his or her life within the guidelines of a “man-made religion”! Fact is, anyone following a “religion” is “LOST” within the “religion” itself!

Catholic? Mormon? Baptist? … etc, etc, etc! ALL “religions” are lost to The Truth because all are saturated in Idolatry and man-made practices which have nothing whatsoever to do with The Creator!

“Religion” only impedes, and in some cases, totally obstructs us from finding and listening to our Spirit, which, by the way is what we are here to do!

That said, let’s not be too hard on old Pat; he, like sooooo many others, is only doing what a man in his position is required to do; once again he will endorse or align himself with someone or something that is totally against Scripture only to satisfy his worldly needs and wants; thereby keeping the dollars flowing!

Indeed, Pat Robertson drinks from both cups, but then so does anyone else who blindly follows a “religion”!

Should anyone be interested in my humble work, please visit:
http://www.firstcenturywalk.com

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

I am not at all surprized that Pat Robertson and other Dominionist 'Pseudo-Christian' leaders are backing 'Guili'. THEIR WET DREAM IS ANOTHER HOLY WAR. They have no wish for Love, Tolerance or Peace - the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Dominionist Christo-Fascist + Power-hungry Chickenhawks = The Neo-Crusades.

Oh God

Dear God

My God

Deliver us from your zealots.
Amen

[cognate]

If God loved Muslims He wouldn't have invented waterboarding.

[Mark701]

You've made valid points. However, please remember that both the 2000 and 2004 elections were rife with voter fraud. If Jeb Bush and Kathryn Harris handn't screwed with the voter registration in Florida and then miscounted the vote, and Ken Blackwell didn't rig the Ohio results then a democrat would have been elected president. The real issue isn't overconfidence or the "religious" right but whether Republicans will, once again, rig the election results and whether, once again, the MSM allows them to get away with it.

[TheQuestion]

Never underestimate the damage the conservatives can do & the lows they are willing to sink to to get what they want.

[elkabong]

The congregational flocks and ditto-heads will do as they're told.

Their shepherds will go for the biggest payoff.

[cognate]

We have more than enough nukes, stealth bombers, bunker busters, cruise missiles, carrier groups, submarines and ICMBs to take out not only Iran, but also Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

You name it, we bomb it.

[waiguoren]

Robertson's "much coveted endorsement."

How can such a thing be?

[OckhamsElectricRazor]

Pat's Explanation: And low the clouds parted and God spoke unto me saying, 'I created 9/11 to test the champions of the rich and priveledged. You, Pat, are my prophet. Go verily and baptize Rudy and forgive his sins; and annoint him as the new leader of the Kingdom of God'.

Of course, Rudy agreed with this assessment and gladly accepted the endorsement.

[Tellmethetruth]

They are both frauds - hope no one mistakes Pat Robertson for a Christian...who doesn't speak for Christians...and is a liar every time he tries to pretend he is the voice of prophesy, Christianity, or God.

[kellygrrrl]

There is nothing Christian about the "Religious Right Wing"

[SamThornton]

Robertson's "...the blood lust of Islamic terrorists" is an interesting and telling turn of phrase.

Demagogues like Robertson always need a scapegoat and invariably demonize their targets with colorful language, as he does here.

If the rabble-rousing right runs true to form, I predict we will soon hear them characterizing the "Islamofascists" as rats and cockroaches, two favorites terms employed by demagogues in campaigns of demonization.

It's always amusing (if disgusting) watching the cluelessness of hypocrites like Robertson as they unwittingly demonstrate how their "Christian principals" are actually best evoked by the language of hate and an invitation to indulge in sharing messages of hate and rage, two more of his and his flock's "Christian principals."

[altohone]

Good post.
As big government borrow and spender neocons try to maintain their grip on power, they are once again co-opting the gullible Christian right into supporting their un-conservative values of fiscal recklessness, lost rights, torture and pre-emptive war.

Winning is their goal, so they will suck up to the formerly socially moderate mayor from NY in exchange for judicial appointments.

The back-room deal with Robertson should sicken them as evidence of their being used and abused by the power structure corrupted to the hilt and violating the central teachings of Jesus.

I wonder if the Christian right will ever awaken to their role as political pawns.

BTW, now that Islamo-fascist week is over, I find it strange how little coverage there is of the current Buddho-fascist week. Hardly any news stories are reporting it and campus protests are minimal. What will it take for saffron extremists to get some air time?