Searching for love in all the Right's places
Bill Berkowitz
from Media Transparency
While Giuliani and McCain register 'morally repugnant' on the religious right's traditional-values meter, Romney has a bigger problem: many conservative Christian evangelical leaders don't believe his religion measures up
For more than two decades social and economic conservatives have artfully put aside their differences and forged a powerful coalition -- under the umbrella of the Republican Party -- that has won five of the last seven presidential elections and, until this past November, controlled Congress for more than a decade. Ken Connor, the Chairman of the Center for a Just Society, described it in a recent column titled "Base to GOP: Hasta la Vista, Baby!" as "One of the most successful coalitions in modern political history."
The "Reagan Coalition," as Connor termed it, "brought the Republicans great success, including occupancy of the White House and twelve years of control over the House of Representatives."
According to Connor, a trial lawyer who represented former Florida Governor Jeb Bush in the Terri Schiavo case and who formerly headed up the powerful Washington, DC-based Family Research Council, "the most influential among the economic conservatives" are what he calls the "blue bloods"; they "are fiscally conservative, but often socially liberal." Connor's "blue bloods" are interested in "money and power and see politics as a means of increasing both." Contributing to political campaigns is seen as a "cost of doing business" and they expect to receive a "return on investment," which usually "comes in the form of tax breaks, financial subsidies, or limited accountability for their misconduct."
Social conservatives on the other hand, are motivated by how they view "the direction in which the country is moving." They tend to be "both socially and theologically conservative." They are "disturbed by what they regard as the unraveling of the social fabric and the breakdown of the social order." According to Connor, social conservatives are involved in politics to "bring about a 'course correction' for the country." Without great financial resources, they make up the soldiers in the field "invest[ing] sweat and shoe leather."
(Continued here.)
from Media Transparency
While Giuliani and McCain register 'morally repugnant' on the religious right's traditional-values meter, Romney has a bigger problem: many conservative Christian evangelical leaders don't believe his religion measures up
For more than two decades social and economic conservatives have artfully put aside their differences and forged a powerful coalition -- under the umbrella of the Republican Party -- that has won five of the last seven presidential elections and, until this past November, controlled Congress for more than a decade. Ken Connor, the Chairman of the Center for a Just Society, described it in a recent column titled "Base to GOP: Hasta la Vista, Baby!" as "One of the most successful coalitions in modern political history."
The "Reagan Coalition," as Connor termed it, "brought the Republicans great success, including occupancy of the White House and twelve years of control over the House of Representatives."
According to Connor, a trial lawyer who represented former Florida Governor Jeb Bush in the Terri Schiavo case and who formerly headed up the powerful Washington, DC-based Family Research Council, "the most influential among the economic conservatives" are what he calls the "blue bloods"; they "are fiscally conservative, but often socially liberal." Connor's "blue bloods" are interested in "money and power and see politics as a means of increasing both." Contributing to political campaigns is seen as a "cost of doing business" and they expect to receive a "return on investment," which usually "comes in the form of tax breaks, financial subsidies, or limited accountability for their misconduct."
Social conservatives on the other hand, are motivated by how they view "the direction in which the country is moving." They tend to be "both socially and theologically conservative." They are "disturbed by what they regard as the unraveling of the social fabric and the breakdown of the social order." According to Connor, social conservatives are involved in politics to "bring about a 'course correction' for the country." Without great financial resources, they make up the soldiers in the field "invest[ing] sweat and shoe leather."
(Continued here.)
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