How to Lose Worse Than John McCain

SteveDeace.com ^ | May 4th, 2012 | Steve Deace

[SoConPubbie]

One of my 10 Commandments of Political Warfare states: Never Abandon Your Base (unless they’re morally wrong).

Yesterday, the Mitt Romney presidential campaign violated that commandment.

In what can only be described as one of the absolute dumbest things a Republican presidential nominee can say, unless that nominee is purposefully trying to throw his base under the bus, Romney campaign spokesman Eric “Etch-a-Sketch” Fehrnstrom described Christians who believe what the Bible says about marriage, gender identity, and sexuality is true as “voices of intolerance” within the Republican Party.

This is the sort of insidious put-down of Christians one would expect from the American Left, not a Republican nominee for president. There have been many stories in the media recently about Romney reaching out to social conservatives. If this is how the Romney campaign reaches out, I’d hate to see what a shunning looks like.

This prompts several questions.

Should Romney be criticized for validating “voices of intolerance” by agreeing to speak at Liberty University’s upcoming commencement?

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s husband, Marcus, counsels those struggling with same-sex attraction in their family business. Yesterday Bachmann “enthusiastically” endorsed Romney for president. Does she know she endorsed for president a campaign that thinks she’s among the “voices of intolerance?”

Romney himself is a bishop in the Mormon Church, which has been steadfast in the defense of marriage and considers homosexuality a “sin” and “immoral.” The church also says that to permit homosexuality is to “make light of the very serious and sacred foundation of God-sanctioned marriage and its very purpose, the rearing of families.” Does the Romney campaign now see its candidate’s own church as one of the “voices of intolerance?”

Should Christian leaders who are currently or have been all along backing Romney consider themselves “voices of intolerance?”

Either somebody needs to be fired here, or the Romney campaign is persisting in a strategy that is going to ask Christians to choose between an election and the Word of God. If they persist in that strategy they will not like the answer they will get come November. It’s one thing to try and marginalize your base as Romney’s campaign has been attempting all along, but it’s entirely another thing to undercut them and betray them publicly like this.

This is the political equivalent of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, which is the act of a traitor. At the same time Romney’s campaign is demanding loyalty pledges from its base, it’s describing its base as “voices of intolerance.”

This only confirms what I have been saying all along, the only group the Republican Party establishment loathes more than Democrats is its own base. In 2008 the GOP also ran a candidate who despised his own base, which prompts one more question.

How did he do?

[2ndDivisionVet]

So he's the smoke-free, white, decaffeinated Obama?

[HeartlandOfAmerica]

I won't either. Nobody will EVER convince me that he's any different than Obama. If he gets elected, like obama we'll have more gay, more abortion, more taxing, more global warming, more oil constriction, more unemployment and more liberal Supremes.

I'm not only not voting for him, I'm leaving the Republican Party. 2 Bush's, 1 McCain and 1 Romney are enough for me to see the writing on the wall.

The Party will NEVER, EVER support a conservative.

The hell with em!

And please, save y'all's breath with the "Then you'll re-elect Obama" propaganda. I been voting since 76 and at this stage, I don't even care any more. there's absolutely ZERO difference between the parties.