According to the NYT there is some kind of cabal of religious and conservative leaders who are trying to find a presidential candidate they can support. They recently summoned the current crop of candidates and had them audition for them.
A group of influential Christian conservatives and their allies emerged from a private meeting at a Florida resort this month dissatisfied with the Republican presidential field and uncertain where to turn.They had problems with each of the candidates. The front runners weren't solid conservatives. McCain has dissed them in the past and Giuliani is not conservative at all:
The event was a meeting of the Council for National Policy, a secretive club whose few hundred members include Dr. James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, the Rev. Jerry Falwell of Liberty University and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. Although little known outside the conservative movement, the council has become a pivotal stop for Republican presidential primary hopefuls, including George W. Bush on the eve of his 1999 primary campaign.
But in a stark shift from the group’s influence under President Bush, the group risks relegation to the margins. Many of the conservatives who attended the event, held at the beginning of the month at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Fla., said they were dismayed at the absence of a champion to carry their banner in the next election.
Many conservatives have already declared their hostility to Senator John McCain of Arizona, who once denounced Christian conservative leaders as “agents of intolerance,” and former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, a liberal on abortion and gay rights issues who has been married three times.And Romney, a moderate, has had a change of heart and has converted to conservatism just in time for the election. This is, of course, viewed with suspicion because you can't really change what you believe, can you?
Mike Huckabee is a Southern Baptist pastor who should have an in but who is looked at with distrust from the "limited-government, antitax wing" of the movement because he is not a fiscal conservative. (Maybe the tent is too big, all these waring factions in their cabal might make it hard to find someone who pleases both fiscal and social conservatives.)
Duncan Hunter and Sam Brownback were viewed as minor candidates, Hunter was not acceptable because of his stand on trade (making it harder for him to raise funds) and Brownback has immigration issues and he doesn't show enough concern about the war on terror.
And if they can't find someone they like, they kind of threaten to vote for a third-party candidate:
The conservative concern may also be an ominous sign for the Republican Party about the morale of a core element of its political base. Conservatives warn that the 2008 election could shape up like 1996, when conservatives faced a lesser-of-two evils choice between a Republican they distrusted, former Senator Bob Dole, and a Democrat they disdained, President Bill Clinton. Dr. Dobson of Focus on the Family later said in a speech to the council that he voted for a conservative third-party candidate that year rather than pull a lever for Mr. Dole.But they are optimistic that they can make sure that even the unacceptable can be made acceptable with a little promise:
But can we trust that they won't be seduced by Congress into raise taxes the way that Bush I was? Do they have the inner desire to remain chaste? That's the candidate I want, the one who knows why they shouldn't do it (it's bad for the economy).Mr. Norquist said he remained open to any of the three candidates who spoke to the council or to Mr. Romney. He argued that with the right promises, any of the four could redeem themselves in the eyes of the conservative movement despite their past records, just as some high school students take abstinence pledges even after having had sex.
“It’s called secondary virginity,” he said. “It is a big movement in high school and also available for politicians.”
My question is this: why are the Republicans dancing to their tune? Given that they can't even be trusted to vote for you, why bother with them? Yeah, I know that the Republicans think they are powerful but do the religious right really listen to them? Dobson can't even endorse a candidate because of his not for profit status. I certainly could care less who they support, I don't get my marching orders from them. I'm tired of the media and the politicians thinking that they speak for us. They don't and I would have a lot more respect for these candidates if they simply ignored them.
BTW, since this is the NYT, we may want to verify the facts somewhere else before we accept that there is some secret cabal of conservatives and religious right who pick our candidate for us (or at least endorse someone or raise money for them or work to get out the vote for them or whatever it is they are doing in their secret meetings that are protected by vows of secrecy).
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