Posted on 03/22/2007 4:24:28 PM PDT by pissant
A top leader in the Southern Baptist Convention predicted that former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani would not succeed in winning the votes of Southern Baptists if he were to become the Republican nominee for president in 2008.
In brief comments after a chapel service at the North Carolina legislature on Wednesday, Richard Land, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich would likely fail for the same reason.
"Three is one marriage too many for them," said Land, referring to the 16.4 million members of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant group. Both Giuliani and Gingrich have been married three times.
A friend and adviser to President Bush, Land keeps close watch on politics as head of the commission, which studies moral, social, and religious liberty issues for the convention.
Though Southern Baptists are independent and do not necessarily follow his counsel, Land said three others who have already entered the presidential fray were more likely to win support among Southern Baptists. Those three are Sam Brownback, a Republican Senator from Kansas, Michael Huckabee, the former Republican governor of Arkansas, and Duncan Hunter, Republican Congressman from California.
As for Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, who is a Mormon, Land didn't rule him out. But, he said, the Republican hopeful has to convince the American people that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints won't dictate his policy. Land said he met with Romney recently and told him: "That's not a hill that can't be climbed. But you're going to have to climb it."
Finally, Land said he sensed that U.S. Senator John McCain was perceived as a wild card.
"People are uncomfortable with his predictability," said Land. "They tell me, 'We don't know how he's going to come down on the issues.'"
I wouldn't vote for him, either.
I would enjoy having a conversation with him, though.
Maybe Donna Hanover had alienated him so much by this point that they were done. We just don't know, do we?
I guess in your world Presidents don't sign/veto bills....
You are making no sense. Bush is a mainstream conservative republican, and a methodist. While they admire Bush, he was not the darling of the evangelicals, he was the darling of the GOP establishment much more so.
And not being baptist myself, but Roman Catholic, it was the shift in RC voting to the GOP that allowed him to win two elections. They had always been majority dem previously. So I credit the Pope for getting him elected.
His main rival was McCain, a thorn in the side to the GOP establishment.
And FWIW, moderate GWB is solid president. And though he normally does not speak well off the cuff, he has given several speeches worthy of the presidential hall of fame. And while he is not nearly as strong on the border as I would like, he gladly signed Duncan Hunter's border fence bill when Hunter ramrodded it through congress. And while he is not been the best at inspiring confidence in the war, the GOP senate has been much worse. And while GOPers were fretting about the war, Bush is committed to victory, and victory is well under way.
Well, practicality first and foremost. I see no practical way we can outlaw first trimester abortions, for example, if more people than not want it that way.
Alongside the false dichotomy and ad hominem they keep their concealed carry Straw Man.
His votes on legal immigration were even worse than his votes on illegal immigration.
Well, a couple of hundred years have passed, after all. To those of us paying attention that is.
Where do you stand on that damned Stamp Act, by the way?
Now there are a bunch of folks calling themselves evangelicals that sound more like greenpeace idiots.
I don't care. If he wanted out, he should have divorced before
starting a fling, not tried in court to force his children to be present during his sleepovers with the little tramp.
Your definition of gay (having sex with men) would make most of the women in this country gay. I think not.
Okay, seriously -- I see the abortion issue going back to the states. Abortions have always been readily available to those who wanted them and could afford them.
I am a judgmental little fellow, I admit! ;-)
LOL. Seems so.
Simple. Pass a law. Substitute any other crime in for abortion and see if your argument holds: If most people want to keep partial birth abortion, I don't see how it can be done. How about if most people want to own slaves? Or...take cocaine? Smoke pot? Drink and drive? Drink underage? Commit bestiality? gang rape a woman? Put Jews in concentration camps?
I am just speaking in terms of the broad dissatisfaction the president enjoys. Whether we like him or not isn't important towards that end.
If I overstated his appeal to evangelicals, I'm sorry. That's been my understanding of the dynamics. Maybe I'm wrong.
You are far too kind! Thank you very much.
Ideally, you are right.
Life isn't ideal, though.
Bush won the white evangelical vote, in 2004, by a margin of 80-20 with record turnout.
if an 80-20 spread doesn't make you a "darling", I don't know what does.
Well, I didn't give my complete definition of being gay. :-)
Anyway, you are correct regarding abortion. I wish more Freepers saw this issue with more clarity.
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