Governor Palin And The Religious Right

Senator

McCain’s Vice Presidential selection of Alaskan Governer Sarah Palin really has

the talking heads, pundits and bloggers going at it today. The focus has been
on various issues such as her experience and ability to win over Clinton women.

With
all the talking and speculating going on there is one fact we can all agree on:
no one really knows enough about Governor Palin to make any conclusive,
rational observations. We can only speculate and out of this discourse look for
and allow the facts about who she is and what she has done in public life
surface.

One
area that is receiving little attention on the national news and cable talk
shows is her association with the Religious Right. National pundits and talking
heads, from their coastal beachheads, usually miss certain currents and facts
related to faith that the mass of the nation can be acutely aware. I think this
issue is just such the case. Here’s why:

David
Brody of Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) says “I am told that when
conservative leaders heard the news this morning at a meeting at the Council
for National Policy, one attendee told me that there is ‘nothing but elation. People
are giddy. They are energized and they now believe that in fact this campaign
has the ability to win this election.'”

Mat
Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel, says, “Absolutely brilliant choice. John
McCain could not have chosen a better vice-presidential nominee than Gov.
Palin. She is attractive, articulate, conservative, pro-family, pro-life,
and pro-marriage. John McCain hit this one out of the ballpark.”

Tony
Perkins, President of the Family Research Council says, “Senator McCain
made an outstanding pick from the choices that were on the table. Sarah Palin
clearly addresses the issues so many conservatives are concerned about. It
balances out the ticket.”

And
prior to the public announcement, on Monday, August 11, CBSNews.com
asked Dr. Rev. Richard Land, of the Southern Baptist Convention who McCain
should pick and he said, “Probably Governor
Palin of Alaska, because she’s a person of strong faith. She just had her fifth
child, a Downs Syndrome child… She’s strongly pro-life. She’s a virtual
lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. She
would ring so many bells. And I just think it would help with independents
because she’s a woman… I think that, from what I hear, that would be the
choice that would probably ring the most bells…”

Now
that’s a lot of bell ringing within the Religious Right.

O,
I must also note that Gov. Palin is listed as an invitee to this year’s “Values Summit”
of Religious Right faithful.

Governor
Palin seems like a remarkable person. She appears to be firmly planted in
nourishing and experiencing life within a strong and good family and this is a
substantial foundation to admire and applaud for this writer.

My
point is that it seems likely that Governor Palin’s choice had as much to do
with consolidating and intensifying the support from the Religious Right base
as it did anything else. Quite Roveian, right? Yep. Energize and intensify the
base. Make it whistle and push it to the polls on Election day. Then shave off
swing voters until you are over the top.

Senator
McCain really has no where to turn but to the old strategies of Republican
electoral politics. He’s retreating to this base of voters out of default,
there’s no where else to go even if the Religious Right is waning in power as
more and more Evangelicals embrace the larger plate of values such as poverty
and climate change and look to the Democratic Party for economic policies that
support stronger families. The better known leaders of the Religious Right are
gone or sidelined as well. It’s not your grandfather’s Religious Right, that’s
for sure. But, its all McCain has.

The
real play; the real battlefield will be with those millions of Evangelicals and
Catholics who are swing voters, who are honestly considering both tickets and
have yet to make a choice. Can Governor Palin help bring these voters to the
Republican side? That remains to be seen. It won’t be a set of swing voters the
Republicans have to themselves this election cycle. The Democrats are there,
too, having conversations, reaching out, sharing their message and story and,
by many accounts, making the inroads needed for Election Day.

Here’s
the big question: Can the candidate of the Religious Right win Clinton voters?
Now, that’s an interesting challenge. With total disclosure, I was there, with Senator
Clinton, during the primaries. And I don’t think a Religious Right candidate
can win these voters. The Religious Right kind of speaks only to itself these
days and they are too polarizing and play with too narrow a set of issues.

It’s
important for people to know Governor Palin, including the adherence to and
support from the Religious Right that is emerging in various statements and
narratives during this first day of being the Republican Vice Presidential
nominee.

It
seems impossible to discuss Governor Palin’s ability to attract Clinton voters
or any voters without full knowledge of her ties to the Religious Right.

This piece was originally posted on Beliefnet at http://blog.beliefnet.com/progressiverevival/