NPR: Giuliani Gets Strange Bedfellow

Giuliani Gets Strange Bedfellow

Filed under: Election 2008

Politics. Strange bedfellows. You know the saying. And I wish I could avoid using it, but I can't because it's so true in this case. Evangelical Christian leader Pat Robertson has officially endorsed Rudy Giuliani for in the '08 run for the White House.

This is clearly an effort to boost Giuliani's numbers among evangelicals. I wouldn't want to generalize, but I feel pretty safe in saying most voters in that camp are not super-keen on voting for a guy who supports abortion rights and has been divorced more than once. It's not so much the divorced thing as it is the abortion issue.

Back in the day when I covered religion for NPR, I talked with quite a few self-identified evangelical Christians (and many Catholics and mainstream Protestants) who said flat out that they would never vote for a pro-choice candidate. Who knows, maybe beating a potential Hillary Clinton nomination is all that matters, so the social agenda that was such a motivator in the 2004 elections will take a back seat to the national security platform Giuliani is pushing.

No question, the Robertson endorsement is a powerful symbol for Giuliani -- but the other question is how much good it will actually do him. Pat Robertson is a polarizing figure among evangelical Christians, and many young up-and-comers within the movement don't believe he speaks for them.

We should also mention that Sam Brownback, former GOP presidential candidate, has thrown his support behind John McCain -- who needs just as much help as Giuliani in ginning up support from the coveted "values voters." But if Sam Brownback meant that much to conservative evangelicals, they would have given him more money and support so he could have stayed in the race. So who knows how much difference he'll make for McCain.

There's still no clear choice for evangelicals in the election -- maybe that elusive third party conservatives have been talking up will come together after all.

Rachel Martin

1:10 PM ET | 11- 7-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Wait a sec . . . does this mean that Mr. Robertson now supports gay marriage, federally funded abortion, and anti-family values?

If the right-wing evangelical movement is as internally hypocritical as this endorsement makes them appear, wouldn't it have been a better move to endorse Mitt Romney rather than trying to emulate him?

Sent by Will G | 2:26 PM ET | 11-07-2007

Why are we so BLIND?>?Q?~!!!!
These things do not just happen. Chaney-Bush and Daddy Bush deceides who is going to be the GOP front runner and #1 boy. They picked Rudy by way of a Pat Robertson endorsement because Rudy is a company man. He will toe the company line- TERROR,TERROR,TERROR, TERROR AND TERRORIST. THAT'S THE FAMILY BUSINESS FOLKS... Don't you think that the privatization of our military directly benefits Carlyle and other family businesses. The $2 billion a DAY! we throw down the toilet in the name of Freedom and the WAR.
They have privatized the military and now through Chaney Bush have taken the powers of the presidency to limits Nixon could only dream of. Chaney almost had the power during Nixon's time but it was taken away with Watergate. He swore he would get back the Presidential Power and he did. Warrantless wiretaps, a whitless wonder Al Gonlalez for Attorney General, Bush only had to veto once or twice because he usually got his way by executive order. Instructing the executive branch on how to ingore or make impotent a bill that he did not like. He used executive orders like a weapon forever changing and expanding the power of the executive branch.
Warantless wiretaps eroded our consitutional rights. Anyway the reason Pat Robertson annointed Rudy was because Chaney Bush told him to. They figured if they did get impeached, Rudy would be the only candidate they could trust to pardon them. Beleive me the deal is done.
Please Nation, do not let them sucker punch us a third time!!!

Sent by mortgmkr | 4:36 AM ET | 11-08-2007

exactly, exactly, exactly mort...there are no strange bedfellows or bedgals...it is never strange, it is merely strategically correct...which truly supports the liberal position...bed partners can be anyone you so desire!!!

Sent by jay | 9:00 AM ET | 11-08-2007

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