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Advises Obscuring Real Goals to Win for George Bush Abortion's a 'Political Land Mine' Says 700 Club Preacher |
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Compiled By GayToday
Robertson's nationally syndicated 700 Club program ran several news features about the Iowa caucuses today, including one noting that religious conservatives are divided among the Republican candidates. Some Religious Right activists were quoted as criticizing Bush for refusing to say whether he will name an anti-abortion running mate or apply an anti-abortion litmus test to judicial nominees. Speaking on the morning of the Iowa caucuses and the anniversary march in Washington against the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, Robertson chided the Religious Right for lacking political savvy. Warning that a public commitment to an anti-abortion litmus test for judges would cost Bush votes, Robertson said, "The people have got to get more sophisticated in this Christian...movement, so to speak, to understand that you have to, to get people elected. If they're not elected they're not going to do you any good." Observed Robertson, "Look, George Bush right now does not want to step into a land mine, you know. And the land mine is, 'I will have a litmus test for judges.' Well, if you say that, bingo, you've just lost a large part of the general electorate."
"[W]hen someone says, 'I'm going to put in judges who are strict constructionists with the Constitution,' that says an enormous amount," observed the TV preacher. "And as [U.S. Sen.] John Ashcroft said, that means that they'd be opposed to a whole lot of the things that the Supreme Court's been doing for the last 30 or 40 years." According to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Robertson comments serve as the latest reminder that Robertson and the Christian Coalition are a loyal part of the Republican Party establishment, and not a nonpartisan group as Robertson pretends. "Robertson wants the Republican Party to win in 2000, and he doesn't mind playing down Religious Right priorities to achieve that goal," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. "He clearly thinks it's okay for candidates to obscure their positions on the issues in order to mislead the voters. That's not very Christian of him." Lynn expressed amazement that Robertson is now touting former president Johnson, a leader he had repeatedly maligned, as the role model for political candidates. "I guess it's a new kind of WWJD," said Lynn. "Instead of 'What would Jesus do?,' it's 'What would Johnson do?'" Transcript of Robertson's remarks: www.au.org/tr12400.htm |
