November 12, 2007
WH '08: Think Of The Cup As Overfloweth-ing
Is this a good or bad cycle for the religious right, already?
Despite a season of complaints, it turns out all sorts of Christian conservatives are finding something they like in each of the leading Republican candidates. The latest recipient of endorsement manna: Fred Thompson, who has picked up the National Right To Life Committee.
The timing couldn't be better for the "Law & Order" star, whose two-month-long campaign is getting ho-hum reviews (subscription). Joe Klein all but wrote Thompson off today, before news of the NRLC nod broke.
Clearly some will have to rethink the ETA of Thompson's political demise. The NRLC is expected to formally announce its endorsement tomorrow, and it will be worth keeping an ear open for the language they use. Thompson is a federalist on the abortion issue. That's pretty in line with a lot of conservatives, but not with advocacy groups like NRLC that won't settle for less than a federal ban on the procedure.
Thompson is at odds with the NRLC on right-to-die issues as well. NRLC, the largest pro-life organization in the country, was highly visible during that incredibly prolonged and painful tug-of-war between the parents of Terri Schiavo and her husband, who argued that his wife would not want to be kept alive by artificial means if there was no chance she would regain consciousness on her own. Thompson seemed to not know where he was on the issue when first asked about it, but more recently indicated that the matter was too personal for him to talk casually about.
"It should be decided by families," Thompson said when pressed for a definitive response. "The federal government and the state government, too except for the court system ought to stay out of it, as far as I'm concerned."
While the former Tennessee senator does have a solid anti-abortion voting record, he has previously indicated comfort with keeping abortion legal. He has also repeatedly said that women and girls ought not be "criminalized" by abortion laws -- which as Robert Novak lamented is a favorite mischaracterization of the pro-life movement by pro-choice activists.
"File under: Robertson endorses Giuliani," Klein advises. In other words, try to resist reading too much into this one endorsement. The religious right is clearly fractured this cycle, as seen in the pairings off of Rudy Giuliani and Pat Robertson, Mitt Romney and Paul Weyrich of Moral Majority, and John McCain and Sam Brownback, the most prominent rep of the pro-life movement in Congress.
"I think those voters can be brought around," Weyrich said of Christians who are skeptical of Romney. "There is a hardcore group that absolutely will not vote for Giuliani… I don't think they'll go for a third party candidate, I think they'll stay home. I think there's no convincing them."
No surprise that political calculation -- as opposed to inspiration -- is driving these endorsements. On the upside, knowing there is something to like (or live with) about each of the front-runners may make things easier for the religious right after a Republican nominee emerges.
What about Mike Huckabee, you ask? Here's what. Last month, we also realized that abortion might work against the GOP next year.
Posted at 5:54 PM
Posted to:
Abortion, Campaigns, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Rudy Giuliani, Sam Brownback, WH 2008
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