The Republican sell outs for Bush.

From http://www.theamericanview.com/index.php?id=623


Latest Christian/Conservative Griping About Republican Sell-Out

A Tale Full Of Sound, Fury, Signifying Nothing


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By John Lofton, EditorRecovering Republican(And recovering Constitution Party member but that’s another story…)

The time: Shortly before the election of 2004. The event: a large meeting of many well-known, Christian/conservative activist “leaders.” Karl Rove is speaking to them. Richard Viguerie walks into the room. Rove asks Richard if he is voting to re-elect George Bush? Yes — “enthusiastically! ,” Richard exclaims.
Well, that was then and now is now.

Conservative Christians Warn Republicans Against Inaction
Now, Richard is somewhat less than enthusiastic about the Republicans and George Bush as President. In fact, he is quoted in a recent front-page “New York Times” story as saying: “There is a growing feeling among conservatives that the only way to cure the problem is for Republicans to lose the Congressional elections this fall. I can’t tell you how much anger there is at the Republican leadership. I have never seen anything like it.”

This “Times” story says: “Some of President Bush’s most influential conservative Christian allies are becoming openly critical of the White House and Republicans in Congress, warning that they will withhold their support in the midterm elections unless Congress does more to oppose same-sex marriage, obscenity and abortion.” And there is dissatisfaction regarding the GOP on government spending, the war in Iraq and the immigration-policy debate.
And Richard Viguerie is not the only Christian/conservative complaining in this “Times” story which is headlined: “”Conservative Christians Warn Republicans Against Inaction.” This story says that in the last several weeks, Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of “Focus on the Family,” has publicly accused Republican leaders of betraying the social conservatives who helped elect them in 2004. He has also warned in private meetings with about a dozen of the top Republicans in Washington that he may turn critic this fall unless the party delivers on conservative goals.
This story continues: “And at a meeting in Northern Virginia this weekend of the Council for National Policy, an alliance of the most prominent Christian conservatives, several participants said sentiment toward the White House and Republicans in Congress had deteriorated sharply since the 2004 elections.

“When the group met in the summer of 2004, it resembled a pep rally for Mr. Bush and his allies on Capitol Hill, and one session focused on how to use state initiatives seeking to ban same-sex marriage to help turn out the vote. This year, some participants are complaining that as soon as Mr. Bush was re-elected he stopped expressing his support for a constitutional amendment banning such unions….

SOUTHERN BAPTIST leader Land, another pom-pom-waver for the GOP, also ‘upset’ with Bush

“The complaints this year are especially significant because they underscore how the broad decline in public approval for Mr. Bush and Congressional Republicans is beginning to cut into their core supporters. The threatened defections come just two years after many Christian conservatives — most notably Dr. Dobson — abandoned much of their previous reservations and poured energy into electing Republicans in 2004.

“Dr. Dobson gave his first presidential endorsement to Mr. Bush and held get-out-the-vote rallies that attracted thousands of admirers in states with pivotal Senate races while Focus on the Family and many of its allies helped register voters in conservative churches.
“Dr. Dobson, whose daily radio broadcast has millions of listeners, has already signaled his willingness to criticize Republican leaders. In a recent interview with Fox News on the eve of a visit to the White House, he accused Republicans of ‘just ignoring those that put them in office.’ Dr. Dobson cited the House’s actions on two measures that passed over the objections of social conservatives: a hate-crime bill that extended protections to gay people, and increased support for embryonic stem cell research.

“‘There’s just very, very little to show for what has happened,’ Dr. Dobson said, ‘and I think there’s going to be some trouble down the road if they don’t get on the ball.’ According to people who were at the meetings or were briefed on them, Dr. Dobson has made the same point more politely in a series of private conversations over the last two weeks in meetings with several top Republicans, including Karl Rove, the president’s top political adviser; Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Republican leader; Representative J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, the House speaker; and Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the majority leader.
DOBSON still gathering ‘facts’ but the fact, sir, is that you and your fellow Republican Party cheerleaders were had and you still don’t get it

“‘People are getting concerned that they have not seen some of these issues move forward that were central to the 2004 election,’ said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, who attended the meetings.

Richard D. Land, a top official of the Southern Baptist Convention who has been one of Mr. Bush’s most loyal allies, said in an interview last week that many conservatives were upset that Mr. Bush had not talked more about a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. ‘A lot of people are disappointed that he hasn’t put as much effort into the marriage amendment as he did for the prescription drug benefit or Social Security reform,’ Dr. Land said.”
The “Times” reports that Dr. Dobson declined to comment on all this. His spokesman Paul Hetrick said that Dr. Dobson was “‘on a fact-finding trip to see where Republicans are regarding the issues that concern values voters most, especially the Marriage Protection Act,” and that it was too soon to tell the results.

Too soon to tell the results?! The facts are crystal clear, Dr. Dobson. For more than five years Mr. Bush has ignored the issues of greatest concern to conservative Christians! Wake up, please, sir!
VIGUERIE for Bush ‘enthusiastically’ but now, of course, complaining about the man he helped elect

And how can Dr. Dobson, of all people, criticize the GOP-controlled House for passing a hate-crime bill that extended protections to homosexuals, and increasing support for embryonic stem cell research? In Colorado, he and “Focus On The Family” endorsed a bill (SB 166) that would have given special benefits to, among others, homosexuals living together. The bill died in committee. And Dr. Dobson enthusiastically supported Bush for President even though he was the first President ever to advocate Federal funding of embryonic stem cell research!
So, what is one to make of all this? Well, what this means is obvious to all — except to Republican Party cheerleaders such as Viguerie, Dobson, Land and others. Simply put: They were had. They have been used. Despite the fact that they frantically waved their pom-poms and yelled themselves hoarse for Bush to be President, now that he has been elected, he ignores them and their issues.

The headline on the previously mentioned “NY Times” story says that all this Christian/conservative complaining is supposed to “Warn” Republicans against inaction. Really? And what, exactly, is the threat here? If this “warning” in not heeded, then what? The answer: then nothing!

Seriously, for decades Christian/conservatives have been helping to elect Republican Presidents and Congresses and then these same Christian/conservatives spend the post-election years griping and complaining because the Republicans have sold them out. Then despite these repeated sell-outs, these same Christian/conservatives once again cheerlead for Republicans to be elected! Thus, Republicans at the national level have no reason whatsoever to care about what Christian/conservatives think about anything. So, they don’t.