to see it.
Turns out Focus on the Family and other Christian groups are very unhappy with Giuliani's Pro-Choice stance. They've committed themselves to fielding a 3rd party candidate if Giuliani gets the nomination.
A Rasmussen poll indicates that 27 percent of Republicans will bolt to the unnamed, pro-life, 3rd party candidate, even against Hillary Clinton.
I'd say either Giuliani is sunk, or the Republicans are.
As for the conservative Christians, they have just enough power to sink the Republicans.
If Rudy wins the nomination, Dobson and his Christian Soldiers wind up marching off to a 3rd party block, thereby virtually guaran-damn-teeing a Democratic victory in the election.
The devilish arrogance of the Christian right never ceases to amaze me, both for its hubris, and its stupidity.
Don't mistake pre-nomination maneuvering with the reality of an election.
The last time the so called "Christian right" with held support to send the party leadership a "message" they pretty much gutted their influence in presidential politics. While still a major force in some states and districts, republican party leaders realized that they could not depend on fringe idealogs in national races.
To the extent that they actually continue to exist as a voting segment, the rank and file members of the Christian right, learned from that election and its aftermath that there is a price to with holding their support. That is at least 4 years living with an administration that blamed them for the ills of the country and called them terrorists in virtually every national forum. This is a mistake that the vast majority of them are not willing to make again. That memory has also polarized their view of Hilliary to a degree never before seen in modern politics. The notion that they will either sit home on election day or create a protest vote is largely the creation of the media. These are after all the segment of the republican party dubbed "broken glass republicans" because they have vowed to crawl through broken glass to vote against Hillary. If Hillary is not the democratic nominee, then perhaps some of them might stay home, otherwise look for a unified republican party.
Dobson and his ilk are making proclamations now because they realize that their influence will be greatly reduced if not eliminated once a Republican nominee is selected.
Just my $.02
-J
write off the Christian right. I think there's a lot of them, and they are incredibly disciplined. They are a reliable margin of victory.
IMHO, if Hillary were smart, she would recognize how polarizing she is, and her nomination is one of the few things that could allow a Republican victory.
If I were her, I'd step back into the shadows, and stay in New York, and settle for a powerful influence in the Dem party. But it sure doesn't look that way, and once again, the Democrats will have to fight to present somebody electable.
The Republican party is Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee.
I agree, the christian right, while being a very scary group of wackjobs IMHO, are not stupid, and they are way to pragmatic to actually carry out their threat.
Hillary on the other hand is too arrogant to realize what has been said here repeatedly, her nomination would open the door to another Republican victory. I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine a Republican nominee vile enough to get me to vote for Hillary. Nominating Hillary would be the equivalant of the Reps nominating Cheney.
Of course I've seen nothing in the last eight years that gives me the slightest indication that Hillary or the DNC are even as intelligent as the posters here on an escort board.
somehow I can't believe that the DNC has any brains we can't see.
Well, the reason is pretty simple - the Republicons are pretty disciplined. Even when little pieces like churches and McCain go flying off, they still hold together better than anybody else. That could be why they are such believers in Intelligent Design (TM) (Poetic license pending).
The Democrats are OTOH a collection of catsndogs that really don't have a lot in common except that they aren't Republicons - and these days, who can blame them?
So where are they going to hide any brains? It's not like they have any closets left over.
But in fairness to the Dems, they are far more likely to KNOW that they don't know WTF they are doing, and way more likely to pay attention to like, the rocket scientists in NASA, and that does improve their odds of getting something done when they finally figure out that they do want to do something.
But I'd rather elect Bozo the Fucking Clown to run the country than a dry drunk who's high on Jesus.
be careful what you ask for.
"But I'd rather elect Bozo the Fucking Clown to run the country than a dry drunk who's high on Jesus."
That may very well be the choice you are faced with come 2008.