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Time: “GOP Operatives” Exploiting Christians

Another Republican-bashing editorial masquerading as news from Time Magazine:

"Take About Five People with You and Vote. It Would Be a Sin Not To"

G.O.P. operatives are targeting scandal-weary but vital Christian conservatives - all but begging parishioners to give them one more chance even after the Foley scandal

By MIKE ALLEN/WASHINGTON

* Mark Foley: A Swift Fall from Grace
* The Republicans: End of a Revolution

Posted Sunday, Oct. 22, 2006

They stayed at home in large numbers instead of voting in the 2000 election, or so Karl Rove has always maintained. They came out for President Bush in 2004 and were key to his re-election, or so they like to claim. Now, just weeks before the Nov. 7 midterm congressional elections, one of the last unknowns of a wild and potentially historic campaign season is: What will Christian conservatives do this time?

With polls suggesting an increased likelihood that Republicans may lose one or both houses of Congress, g.o.p. strategists calculate that a calamitous Category 5 election might be tamed to a merely scary Category 4 if they can somehow conjure a solid turnout of evangelical voters, the white suburbanites who fill the megachurches and can usually be counted on even in light-turnout elections like midterms. Party operatives plan to devote the election's closing weeks to courting Christians more intensely than any other single stripe of the electorate, all but begging the parishioners to give them one more chance even after the Foley scandal.

Leaders of Christian-conservative lobbying organizations are going along with the G.O.P. push, despite their misgivings about Mark Foley, the now resigned Republican Florida Congressman caught sending lewd e-mails to teenage pages, and the lackadaisical response by the House leadership. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, last week told listeners of his radio program, carried on 1,000 stations in the U.S., "Yes, what Mark Foley did was wrong, but it is still important to go to the polls and let our voices be heard … Take about five people with you and vote. It would be a sin not to." The Family Research Council has been e-mailing "No Time to Be Complacent" bulletins and held a Liberty Sunday turnout rally at the base of Boston's Beacon Hill that was televised to hundreds of church-fellowship halls, evening services and small-group meetings. These leaders have calculated that remaining aloof would just diminish their power. "You only gain clout by activity," says Michael Farris, chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association. His group plans to send hundreds of teenagers who are home schooled to 10 states in the election's closing week to make phone calls and knock on doors on behalf of conservative candidates.

Like many of his supporters, though, Farris has over time become a more reluctant warrior for the g.o.p. Polls of white evangelical Protestants show that their support for the Republican Party grew substantially from 1999 to 2004, then began a steady decline. An October poll by the Pew Research Center found that just 42% of Evangelicals thought that "governs in an honest and ethical way" described the Republican Party better than the Democratic Party. Also, 31% said they intended to vote for a Democrat, up from the 22% who voted for John Kerry in 2004.

The souring of churchgoers' feelings toward the party is largely the result of frustrated expectations. Before the 2004 election, Bush and other Republican candidates promised to work for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, then largely ignored the issue once elected. "There's little to show for all the effort," says Farris. Also, many conservative leaders argue that the Foley embarrassment has shown that the party has become too permissive. "The big tent has become a three-ring circus," says Tony Perkins, the president of the influential Family Research Council. The Administration got a fresh blast of animus from such groups last week after remarks by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the swearing-in ceremony for the nation's global aids coordinator. She referred to the parents of his male partner as his "in-laws," which the Administration says was a mistake based on notes she had been handed and was not any sort of statement of policy. Meanwhile, David Kuo, who has just published an expose of his stint as deputy director of Bush's faith-based office, used a spate of television appearances to argue that the White House had politically exploited the devout.

Christian conservatives who are sticking by the G.O.P. point out that there have been victories, most notably the confirmation of two conservatives to the Supreme Court. And the President has restricted federal funding for stem-cell research. But recognizing that their followers are out of sorts, leaders like Dobson have expanded their pitch beyond the traditional social issues like abortion and are making the fear of terrorism—Focus on the Family calls it the issue of "national sovereignty"—a central argument for turning out for Republicans. At three Stand for the Family rallies, which drew smaller crowds than similar ones in 2004, Dobson said "World War III," a battle against violent Muslims, "has started, and no one seems to know it."

Republican campaign operatives, meanwhile, are working directly to stoke turnout of these cranky but vital religious voters. Senator Jim Talent of Missouri, battling in one of the nation's closest races, appointed a Conservative Coalition director who organizes volunteers specializing in reaching traditionalists with messages about everything from taxes to marriage. In Tennessee, Republican Senate candidate Bob Corker has organized ministers to reach out to their churches' members on his behalf. For those campaigns, such efforts could be the difference between winning and losing.

But that could be true for Christian conservatives as well. Evangelical leaders often complain that Republican officials have not given them sufficient credit for their muscle in the past three elections. If Nov. 7 turns into a g.o.p. wipeout, those same officials can be counted on to blame Christian voters above others.

Note numerous references to the DNC ginned up Mark Foley scandal. And the mention of the obscure rushed-out David Kuo (CBS-Viacom) screed.

Note the hints at other amorphous moral lapses on the part of the GOP. (Heck, Time is so disgusted by the Republicans it couldn't even bring itself to capitalize the acronym GOP most of the time.)

An October poll by the Pew Research Center found that just 42% of Evangelicals thought that "governs in an honest and ethical way" described the Republican Party better than the Democratic Party.

Does anyone believe this?

Note too how Time portrays Christian voters as cranky stupid cattle being prodded by the cynical Republican party machinery to do their bidding despite the GOP's rampant immorality. And their further suggestion that it is only the Republicans that use churches to get out the vote.

Of course the truth is just the opposite. The Democrats use church pulpits (and "charity organizations") a helluva lot more to deliver their propaganda than the right ever has.

But Time must perpetuate the myth of the "Christian Taliban" to try to scare their readers into voting for their DNC masters.

Indeed, the fabled Christian Taliban is the only Taliban Time doesn't support.

Related Articles:

This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Sunday, October 22nd, 2006 at 2:21 pm. You can leave a response.

30 Responses to “Time: “GOP Operatives” Exploiting Christians”

1sttofight
October 22nd, 2006 at 2:45 pm
The democrats are running scared.
For all their bluster and bluff, they know they are not going to win either house in 2006.
What they are doing is setting up their usual , We was cheated again by the mean old Republican defense once again.

If it wasnt so serious, it would be comical.
SG
October 22nd, 2006 at 2:47 pm
Speaking of the laughable Time Magazine, this is their current “quote of the week”:

“If the U.S. makes a concession to some degree, we will also make a concession to some degree.” — Kim Jong Il

But, sure, they’re a real news service. Really they are.
1sttofight
October 22nd, 2006 at 3:03 pm
The only consession the US is going to make is not nuking their ass today, maybe tomorrow, but not today.
suek
October 22nd, 2006 at 5:38 pm
They’re _so_ dumb! They seem to have no concept that Christians _expect_ people to sin…..and to be held accountable. Foley sinned and he’s out. No big deal. Dems seem to think people are going to be perfect, and then they’re _shocked_ …. SHOCKED, I say…when they’re not….! They’d just rather not hold people accountable, so they simply don’t make any rules - that way, nobody can do anything bad because nothing is forbidden…..!
mathews
October 22nd, 2006 at 6:04 pm
DNC gets help from defeated liberal former German chancellor. Maybe just maybe this is why Schroeder lost his last chancellor’s election.

Schroeder says Bush’s religious talk worried him

Oct 22, 10:18 AM (ET)
By Erik Kirschbaum

BERLIN (Reuters) - Ex-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has written in a new book that George W. Bush’s frequent references to God in their meetings before the Iraq war had made him wary of the U.S. president’s political decisions.

Schroeder wrote in an advance excerpt of his memoirs that Germany had stood by its vow of “unlimited solidarity” after the September 11 attacks in 2001. But Germany stayed out of Iraq, causing a breach in U.S.-German ties.

He said in “Decisions: My Life in Politics,” published on Sunday in Der Spiegel magazine, he was alarmed by Bush’s talk of God, which made him fear religion influenced decisions.

“What worried me, despite a relaxed atmosphere to our talks, and to a certain degree what made me sceptical was how much it came through that this president saw himself as ‘God-fearing’ and saw that as the highest authority,” Schroeder wrote.

Schroeder, a Social Democrat who left politics after his party lost a 2005 election to end his seven years in power, said he had no qualms with Bush’s Christian faith but could not escape a fear religion was a driving force behind his decisions.

“I can well understand if someone is devout and strives for a dialogue with God, in this case prayer. The problem that I have with that starts when the impression arises that political decisions are the result of a dialogue with God.”

Schroeder said the problem with decisions made in “dialogue with God” is they cannot be modified or negotiated. Bush broke off ties with Schroeder for a while after he publicly questioned the wisdom of invading Iraq as part of his war on terrorism.

Even though Schroeder said he wept when the United States was attacked on 9/11, his anti-war stance on Iraq a year later helped him win re-election just months before the U.S. invasion.

“Anyone who tries to legitimize political decisions that way (in dialogue with God) simply cannot allow these decisions to be changed through criticism or an exchange of ideas. Because if you do, you then breach the mission from God,” Schroeder wrote.

“This absoluteness I saw in the American president in 2002, not only in our private talks but also in his public comments, reinforced my political skepticism — even though I personally like America and its president.”

Germany had sent nearly 4,000 troops to support the U.S.-led war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Africa before that in 2001.

Schroeder wrote he believes in the separation between church and state.

“Quite rightly we criticize that in most Islamic states the role of religion in society and the secular character of the legal system are not clearly separated. But we haven’t taken note as readily of the U.S. Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the bible that show similar tendencies.

“There is thus little scope for peaceful resolutions if both sides claim to have a monopoly on the only truth.”
mathews
October 22nd, 2006 at 6:12 pm
An Episcopialians are not leaving their church from gay marriages, right.

Episcopal bishop in Conn. says priests can bless same-sex couples

October 22, 2006

HARTFORD, Conn. –Episcopal parishes in Connecticut may bless same-sex couples, the state’s bishop announced over the weekend.

Bishop Andrew Smith’s decision does not create an official prayer service for the blessings and does not allow Episcopal clergy to officiate at civil unions. But it allows parishes to acknowledge gay and lesbian couples who have had a civil union granted by the state.

“What I have permitted is a pastoral ministry of blessing, which does not mimic a wedding ceremony,” Smith said Saturday after the diocese’s two-day annual convention ended.

Smith said he acted because Connecticut began recognizing civil unions last year, but there has been no movement on the issue by the national Episcopal Church. Each diocese handles the issue differently, with some allowing parishes to decide on their own whether they should bless gay couples and others barring the practice.

At the heart of the matter is whether the church will “bless persons who are homosexual and partnered as cherished and fully accepted members of the body of Christ,” Smith told the convention.

Smith’s decision was greeted with joy by the Rev. Pat Gallagher, who leads St. Paul’s Church in Willimantic.

“I couldn’t be happier,” she said. “I’m just so excited about it. It’s a right we should have.”

But the Rev. Christopher Leighton, rector at St. Paul’s Church in Darien, called Smith a “perpetrator of false teaching” and said his decision defied “Scripture and worldwide Christianity.”

The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of Anglicanism.

The global Anglican Communion is struggling to stay unified despite deep divisions over how to interpret the Bible on many issues, including gay clergy and same-sex relationships.

The 2003 election of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, caused an uproar among overseas Anglican leaders, who have asked the U.S. denomination to stop ordaining more gay bishops for now and to temporarily refrain from developing official prayer ceremonies for same-gender couples.

http://www.boston.com/news/loc.....x_couples/
Nimblicity
October 22nd, 2006 at 10:12 pm
“Take about five people with you and vote. It would be a sin not to.”
Amen.
Don’t fall for the claptrap, the scandal-trap, or the pessimistic self-defeating tripe.
Christian, Jew, Agnostic, Atheist, Pagan, Hindu, Buddhist, Mooselimb: Go vote for the continuation of National Sovereignty and the constitutional rule of law.
Or relinquish all credibility of opinion for the next two years at least (ie shut up).
groovygrl
October 22nd, 2006 at 10:15 pm
It’s getting very close to the time that being a Christian is a dirty word. The ground work is being laid right now.
wytammic
October 22nd, 2006 at 10:28 pm
As disappointing as the Republican Congress has been over the last several years, the alternative, well … there is no other sensible alternative. Wyoming has little national representation due to our small population — but the ones we have do a fine job. There’s nothing the DemonRats would love more than for Christian Conservatives to get discouraged and stay home. Really, I don’t think we’re that stupid.
BillK
October 23rd, 2006 at 2:24 am
While the Democrats never want a single potential voter to be disenfranchised, they’re doing everything they possibly can to get Christians to stay home on election day.

They KNOW there’s no way they will ever vote for the Democrats - blow jobs from aides in the White House, leaving women to drown in sinking cars, the daily attack on everything they hold dear - they know these things will never endear them to Christians so the only solution is to relentlessly bang the drum that there’s no possible way Republicans can win. Get the Christians depressed, show them the “polls,” convince them their time would be better spent watching TV than voting. THAT’S the key to a Democratic victory. (It’s difficult, given most people who think watching TV is a better use of their time than voting ARE Democrats.)

At least that’s their plan until they manage to convince the Supreme Court that allowing Christians to vote is unconstitutional as a violation of the Separation of Church and State.
Nahanni
October 23rd, 2006 at 4:59 pm
Well, at least they are alive.

Unlike the Democrats who take five dead people with them to vote.
DB of Denver
October 24th, 2006 at 8:35 am
I read the article of the boy who tapped a Muslim woman on the head, nearly pulling off her headscarf and he’s sentenced to 40 hours of sensitive training. Then further down I read this article written by Mike Allen/Washington Times
You tell me who needs sensitive training more; The boy who pulled a stupid prank or Mike Allen who in his article clearly demonstrates his dislike and insensitivity towards Christians. The boys made an error in judgment but Mike Allen’s is a belief.

· evangelical voters, the white suburbanites who fill the mega-churches

WOW! Has Mr. Allen ever been in a Christian church, one you may find in a small town or his so called mega-church, if so he would just have to look around to see that it’s not filled with just white suburbanites.

· white evangelical Protestants

I can be considered a Protestants or a Baptist and was raised as Catholic, but I’ve never been considered white

· The souring of churchgoers

The people you see coming out of churches are just churchgoers, they have no faith in the almighty their just churchgoers with sour looks on their faces.

· leaders like Dobson have expanded their pitch beyond the traditional social issues like abortion and are making the fear of terrorism

“traditional social issues like abortion” this really takes the cake, Mike Allen’s use of this word is insulting Websters definition of tra·di·tion·al
1. of or pertaining to tradition.
2. handed down by tradition.
3. in accordance with tradition.
The use of this word to describe my belief makes it impersonal, that Christians are against abortion because it has become part of our tradition as if it were an heirloom. I have not meet one single person, Christian or non-Christian that was against abortion on the grounds it was part of their tradition.
This is part-n-parcel of how the left views anyone that disagrees with them and their beliefs. Oh the poor things have no brains it’s a Tradition they follow.

· cranky but vital religious voters

I have a belief in God and I am a voter, which makes me Cranky. NO what makes me cranky is reading articles by opinionated, misinformed people like Mike Allen.

Mr. Allen I sentence you to 40 hours of sensitive training, at your local so called mega-church
Warmonger Infidel
October 24th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
DB of Denver….good points all and I’m not even a churchgoer, but that’s my choice. However, I would add a bit to what you said. Sensitivity traning is just more PC bullshit. You can’t change people’s minds and hearts with some sensitivity “trainer” who buy their very presence has an agenda. And the young jerk that tapped the woman on the head? He dosen’t need sensitivity training, he needs his ass kicked because he would probably do the same thing to any other woman that he thought looked strange to him. He is just a jerk and probably will be for the rest of his life, because that’s the way he was raised. His dad should be on the receiving end of a good ass kicking also.
1sttofight
October 24th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
Dang WI, You are in an Ass Kicking mood today. ;)
Glad to hear from you. I had been wondering where you have been.
Warmonger Infidel
October 24th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Hey 1st…..probably just my mood this morning. I’m taking a few hours off from my 7/14 days to reflect a bit. My mother passed about 4:00 AM this morning. We didn’t have a good relationship for many reasons but I just needed to shut down and reflect. Since my wife has returned home I just needed a place to be where I wasn’t alone. No matter my thoughts of her, she was my mother. You folks here are a comfort zone, so I’m visiting my comfort zone. Damn sure could use a hug from my wife and a few licks from my dogs right now though. I’ll go back to work around noon here.
wardmama4
October 24th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
Conservative Christians pay attention - the DNC wants you to not vote for Republicans, because one of them was doing something dirty, wrong and maybe illegal - but who was out of office within hours of the story breaking. They want you to ignore

1) they have an openly gay Rep. and allowed a Rep who actually had sex with a male page stay in office (and get re-elected) and also stood by a President who had sex with an intern.
2) they and their operatives and activists openly are attempting to remove God and Religion from everything American forever.
3) their President Bill ‘I never had sex with that woman’ Clinton mentioned God more times in his first two years in office than President Bush did during his first two years in office. And who is more religious?
4) and they are and will continue to lose elections because they have no ideas, no platform and can be summed up in - no morals and more taxes - so they lie, cheat, commt fraud and try to discourage voters not them from voting. I wonder if they go after Independents as much as Christians and base Conservatives?
DW
October 24th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Oh damn. My condolences WI.
1sttofight
October 24th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
Sorry to hear about your Mother, no matter your relationship, she was still the one who brought you into this world .
We all will go someday, some sooner than others. I have learned to take each day like it could be my last and when I speak or meet folks like it could be the last time .
I am glad you feel comfortable here like I do, yall are am amazing group of good folks.
Warmonger Infidel
October 24th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
Thanks guys…..and I know that. That’s why I’m hanging around here this morning for a while. It’s hell when things like this happen when your away from home and your loved ones. Makes one feel really isolated from their comfort/safety zone if you know what I mean.
rocketman
October 24th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
WI - My condolences.
May she RIP
Gila Monster
October 24th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
Condolences WI, my family’s thoughts and prayers are with you.

I lost my mother three years ago to the day and whether you were close to her or not, it is always tough to deal with the loss of a parent.
spelunker
October 24th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
WI,

Condolences.
DB of Denver
October 25th, 2006 at 8:07 am
Warmonger Infidel … I am in total agreement with you on sensitive tanning; I was closing with a little satire.

You brought up the boys father as needing an ass kicking. I am in total disagreement with that.

There’s a belief spreading through out this country which has it’s roots within liberalism, I believe it’s called “Environmental Conditioning” the belief that it’s not our fault for who we are or what we’ve done, how can one be held responsible for their a product of their environment (which was insufficient at best).
This is social engineering, I.E. if everyone had adequate housing, food, medical care, and nurturing we would all be good little boy and girls that grow up to be good little workers. Sounds like socialism to me. Remember, “It takes a village”

We are who we are, a product of free will.

PS My condolences to you and your family
sheehanjihad
October 25th, 2006 at 9:01 am
Damn..WI…sorry man.
Kilmeny
October 25th, 2006 at 10:35 am
I am sorry, WI, my thoughts are with you.
dulcimergrl
October 25th, 2006 at 10:43 am
Sincere condolences, WI.
Warmonger Infidel
October 26th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Thanks to all of you for your thoughts. I felt very alone the other day because I’m not home and can’t go home right now. I came to S & L because it’s in my comfort zone. You all are wonderful.
wampaku40
October 26th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
You are part of S & L and part of what makes it what it is…. home if you want to call it that.

I vote WI the recliner.
1sttofight
October 26th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
Sorry, The recliner is already taken , I need it for my naps.

Of course he is welcome to use it between my naps while I am jumping over the camp fire. ;)
sheehanjihad
October 26th, 2006 at 10:41 pm
While 1st scorches his danglers…..WI is obviously in everyone’s prayers. It should be known that I will wager that a lot of us come to this site when we are put upon with various assundried woes that life brings us….this is the cool tonic…the warm toddy, what gives us a sense of belonging. S&L is that for those of us in the know….we are way cool.

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Time: “GOP Operatives” Exploiting Christians

30 Responses to “Time: “GOP Operatives” Exploiting Christians”

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