Faithful Democrats
Greetings everyone, I'm Rob Lalka, and I'm here at the Values Voter
Summit — an annual conference for the religious right, which has long
dominated our nation's values debate. We've heard that this bloc is
starting to lose their control over the direction of the Republican
Party recently, and particularly with the leading Republican candidate
being Rudy Guiliani, that very well may be the case.
I'll be here all weekend blogging the conference for Faithful
Democrats, updating you regularly on the happenings here. This could
well be a major turning point for the religious right, or maybe not. A
few interesting anecdotes are sure to emerge regardless, and I'm here
to chronicle some of the more amusing and intriguing details of what
happens. Because while the papers might miss the more scintillating
stories, you won't want to, so check in regularly for my updates by
clicking the link below.
For Friday's coverage, click here; for today's, see below.
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Click here for yesterday's live blogging of the conference.
10/20, 3:40p ET: The results are in. Huckabee received 488 on site votes to Romney's 99, while with the online voting, Romney brought in 1595 to Huckabee's 1565. Clearly, the Romney camp will be touting this as evidence that Evangelicals will support their candidate even though he is a Mormon; but from the reaction of the crowd in attendance was resoundingly for Huckabee (and let's keep in mind that those who came to DC are likely to be the most dedicated of the religious right, so this is a self-selected group as well). That's all from the Values Voter Summit, thanks for tuning in. Now let's get a discussion going on all of this, so please post your thoughts in the comments section of this page…
10/20, 3:00p ET: As we wait for the results of this, let's remember that Huckabee came out with 64% of the vote after the Values Voter debate in September…
10/20, 2:55p ET: Since the papers may or may not pick this up, I wanted to mention that in the press conference after Huckabee's speech, he was confronted by one person in attendance about why he was not wearing an American flag lapel pin. Huckabee dismissed the man's reasoning as misguided, called him confrontational, and stated that he was proud to be an American but he didn't need to wear a certain type of jewelry to prove it. He also told the crowd that he had supported Obama publicly last week when the Illinois Senator came under fire for the same issue. Well, that is true, but it wasn't really a statement of support through and through, according to The Swamp. Here's the report:
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says Sen.
Barack Obama has a good reason for not wearing a pin with an American
flag on it. Since Obama is seen bare-chested in photos so often,
pinning himself "could be very painful," Huckabee said.
Huckabee, running for the Republican presidential nomination, is
known for his sense of humor on the campaign trail, and he used it to
make light of the national brouhaha over Obama's pinless lapel during
campaign appearances in the nation's capital on Friday.
"There
are so many things we need to be talking about" other than what a
candidate wears on his lapel, Huckabee said, adding that he does not
wear a flag pin on his.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2007/10/huckabee_a_flag_pin_could_lite.html
On the GOP side, this moment shows a great deal about what Huckabee is trying to make clear at today's conference, where he has certainly made a powerful impression (and with his current poll numbers, he can afford to do no less). Huckabee is trying to come across as the most genuine and consistent of the candidates in the field, which he hopes will garner a stronger following that will make it so that Republicans won't have to say, "Sometimes we don't always get the candidate we
believe in 100%, but sometimes we have to look at the better prizes out
there," as Ohio Republican Jean Schmidt said last week in the WSJ.
How is he doing this? I'll let Huckabee speak for himself, because his words from today's address truly speak volumes:
"We have aborted over a million people who would have been in our
workforce."
"We are accommodating sexual irresponsibility and it is not the
responsibility of the government to adjust to the culture."
"If you are basketball team and your team is not playing very
well, you do not lower the goal to make it easier, so you do not lower God's standards to meet cultural norms, you
raise yourself to God's standards.”
As I wrote earlier, if the Values Voters endorse Thompson or Romney, it would be a surprise. If they take Huckabee, then one of the strongest forces within the GOP will have just thrown their support behind a candidate currently polling at 5.4% amongst the GOP nationally (according to RCP data here). If they go for Guiliani, then they will have made the smart move in terms of political numbers — but will have lost much by endorsing someone who largely doesn't stand for the core principles that make up their ideology, thus putting politics before their Christian principles. Either way, there is a general sense, from the speeches given and the conversations on the side, that both results demonstrate just how surprisingly weak of a voice the religious right now has in the GOP in such a short time.
The straw poll results will be released in the next five minutes…
10/20, 11:40a ET: Huckabee is wrapping up his speech with these words: "I want to make it very clear that I do not spell 'G-O-D' 'G-O-P.' Our party may be important but
our principles are even more important." He then talked about how the Founding Fathers bravely signed a document in order to achieve what they wanted; and he stated that it was what he was planning to do as well. Regarding the issue of Party, Huckabee stated, "I sign here so that I can have a seat at the
table so that I can receive a few crumbs from King George’s table," gesticulating as if he was signing his John Hancock. But then he called on the Values Voters to follow him to higher ground where they have true power in the party by asking them to endorse his efforts, saying, "It is time for us who call ourselves Values Voters to pledge
ourselves to that which is true, right, and eternal."
10/20, 11:35a ET: Huckabee just compared his campaign to Lazarus and he declared that he believes that God will resurrect his campaign, if the audience only has faith.
10/20, 11:33a ET:
Here's a direct quote, which summarizes Huckabee's speech:
"Faith is threatened and let me share with you how. I believe that there are many who will seek
our support, but let me say that it is important that people sing from their
hearts and don’t merely lip-synch the lyrics to our songs. The language of Zionism is a mother tongue and
not a recently acquired second-language. Some of those who have come before you have
had more positions on issues than Elvis had waist sizes. Let us never sacrifice our principles for
anybody’s politics – not now, not ever."
10/20, 11:27a ET: Huckabee is blowing the hinges off the door here. The crowd is on their feet at least once a minute. They are cheering and there's a buzz in the room as they hear what they agree with and wait for more. His speech is structured around three themes: Freedom, Family, and Faith, and the crowd is loving it as the preacher preaches.
10/20, 11:11a ET: Texas Governor Rick Perry endorsed Rudy a couple of days ago, and I'm going to copy part of the article in this space, because I think it gives some interesting insights into what is being discussed here at the Values Voter Summit, where the general sentiment is that the religious right is going to have to do the best they can with what they have. Or, as one speaker said yesterday, "Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, or the good be the enemy of the better." On that note, Huckabee is coming up, and I'll get back to the Giuliani story shortly. The religious conservatives did not all respond well to this mvoe, particularly Attorney General Greg
Abbott and land commissioner Jerry Patterson, who are backing Fred Thompson, along with Laurence White, chairman of the conservative Texas Restoration Project. White had this to say: "We are stunned, betrayed, disappointed and as I told Gov. Perry's
political adviser yesterday, we see this as a contradiction of
everything the governor told us in the past and will find it very
difficult to accept and believe what he tells us in future."
Click here for the full article. And be sure to note the following sections, because they speak to a lot of what Rudy emphasized during his speech: that he will appoint strict constructionist judges who will be against Roe v. Wade, which will have the longest lasting impact in determining policy in that regard anyway:
"Where is that perfect candidate? Is it one of the others? I think
not," Perry said, in response to criticism that he was urging
Republicans to settle for a candidate who doesn't completely represent
their views.
[…]
Giuliani has favored abortion rights and gun control, which Perry and other Texas conservatives ardently oppose.
"What is the result that they would like to see?" Perry said of
anti-abortion activists. "It is that Roe v. Wade would be overturned
and that that would fall back to the states. How does that happen? It
happens when the next president of the United States appoints strict
constructionists to the Supreme Court. Rudy Giuliani has looked me in
the eye and told me that is what he will do."
10/20, 10:41a ET: There were a couple of comments last night and one of them mentioned that there are members of this community who are liberals. Yes, indeed, and thank goodness that's the case. My point was just that Faithful Democrats is not a group that was setup to counter the far right religious conservatives. Jim Wallis had the, well, some would say the gall, others the temerity, to show up at this meeting of the fundamentalist conservatives. You get a feeling that considering the other speakers chosen to speak here, the choir came to be preached to, not to be attentive and reflective. They came together to rally. They are here to listen to proclamations like "this is our country, we own it, and if we are not happy with the candidates, it's our fault, not to start a third party and to turn the election over to a Clinton like we did in 1992."
Day Two will have the religious right's only remaining darling of the race, Mike Huckabee, on stage in about an hour. Thompson's speech was by most accounts dry and dull, so it may give Huckabee a window of opportunity to rally these supporters. Until then, I'll make a few notes about the proceedings while going back and cleaning up my notes about Giuliani's speech this morning.
Radio Talk Show Host Mark Levin just called what is happening in the conservative movement "a civil war" and the crowd bellowed and roared when he said that "we don't deserve to be called compassionate conservatives, as if being conservative is something we need to be apologetic for … we are the enlightened people, not the statists. We are the advocates of human choice; we are the advocates of the little guy, not those statists. We stand for the union member; they stand for the union bosses; we stand for the family, they stand for the abortion clinics." In the middle of Levin's speech, they stood and they applauded, drowning out his words with their approval.
He also just referred to Hillary Clinton as "Her Thighness" and then
said, "The media supports her but then turns around and loves that
husband of hers as well." And the crowd laughed and they clapped, for
in a time when the national scene is shifting away from the religious
right, the FRC Action Summit provides them a rare moment to join with
like-minded conservatives and spend time together. Another line that
was just delivered was "How are things going for Hillary? I don't
know, but I can say this. We put our 'Run, Hillary, Run' bumper
stickers on the front of our cars, not on the back." Even Values
Voters aren't above turning to malice when it comes to Mrs. Clinton,
apparently (but can you imagine what the reaction would be if such a
comment was made by a Democrat?).
So they've all gathered to discuss their values, which is fine, but how
are the far right Republicans actually spending their time together?
They're deciding to lambaste the other side with personal attacks and
partake in dogmatism that can be at times undiscerning, and at others even hateful. I'd describe the atmosphere as almost what it's like when an animal is cornered, scared, and hostile.
10/20, 10:05a ET: As many folks have been saying to me, it's going to be difficult for anyone here to support Rudy. Despite all of his "this is what we have in common" rhetoric, they all know they are half-heartedly clapping for a man who is pro-choice and who has supported the rights of homosexuals. With those issues in mind, I feel like many of the people I've met here are even more worried about his personal life and the type of figurehead he would be for the Republican Party (for a humorous take on that very issue, see Giuliani's Ex-Wives March on Washington).
So when it was all said and done, what was the outcome of Rudy's much-anticipated speech? All in all, it was highly conversational and informal, in a kind of "let me level with you" tone. The line that will be most quoted in the press will be Guiliani's statement that "you have absolutely nothing to fear from me," which he stated at the start and which just shows how much on the defensive he was in front of this crowd. There was reason to feeling that way, because this is just the group of Republicans who used to frame the debate. These days, they find themselves facing what they consider a Devil's Bargain.
Rudy Giuliani is the leading candidate, but the next two in line, Thompson and Romney, have neither impressed nor convinced this group that they believe what they say. With Brownback out of the race, Huckabee quickly became the social conservatives' favorite son. Yet, he has faced perilous difficulties raising funds up until this point in the game. Essentially, this leads the religious right with the choice to be politically opportunist or indefeasibly principled.
Right now, it seems as if they will split their support between a few groups: those who feel that Rudy will at least not do anything to hinder their cause even if he may not help them, those who feel that despite Romney's recent shifts on important social issues that he is at least keeping on message, those who hope that Thompson will truly be the next Reagan and he will find a way to be more inspirational than he has shown himself to be, and those who know that Huckabee is their candidate by principle and so they will support him in practice, even if it means becoming marginalized compared to the direction of the rest of the GOP towards Rudy.
It is quite the dilemma. On the other side of this tumult, we will find out whether the Christian conservatives have decided to back a candidate who, in word and in deed, has defied their most, well, fundamental stances. That is the reason I have heard them phrasing it as a "Devil's Bargain," because if they support Rudy then they are backing a candidate who doesn't believe what they do; and so they give up their principles in order to take the smartest political approach. If they support Huckabee, a Baptist minister, then their values are certainly going to be espoused but they gravely risk having any chance of influencing the outcome of the 2008 election unless he can raise both money and poll numbers in a matter of months. So, the question underlying the Rudy story is this: will the now-struggling religious right pursue the wise political play and sacrifice principle?
As Guiliani put it, they will not need to because he will only appoint judges that agree with what they do. As seen in the reaction to Rudy's speech, the only response possible has been reluctant resignation.
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