Riverwood Presbyterian Church

Politics

GOP Primary Update

by Clay Staggs

Because I’ve written so much on this blog slamming Dr. Dobson and some of his fellow travelers about their third-party rumblings, I thought I’d note that there are some high profile social conservative figures who are living in the “reality-based community” and are making endorsements for various primary candidates.

Interestingly, Romney seems to be commanding the majority of those endorsements, at least until today. The latest big name to endorse Romney is Paul Weyrich, who founded, among other things, the Heritage Foundation. According to the NYT (of all papers), Weyrich joins Jay Sekulow and Bob Jones III (among some others) who are prominent among social/Christian conservative activists supporting Romney. Personally, I think this must be something of a coup for Romney, to have these folks support him despite his Mormonism. I just never thought they’d do such a thing.

Today, though, the latest big name in Christian political circles came down off the fence. I’m assuming that you’re sitting down - if not, you need to be. Ready? Pat Robertson is endorsing Rudy. Seriously. Link is here.

Now, a couple of caveats. First, none of this means anything to me as far as influencing my vote, nor do I think it should have any influence on anyone else’s vote. However, this being a fallen world and all, there are some folks who will pay attention to what these folks do. Secondly, I think that most of these folks are WAY too entrenched in the political power structure of this world, and that as a Christian, I don’t know how they can really play the game the way they do. By pointing out all these endorsements, I don’t mean to suggest that I approve of their MO.

The thing that is important (and slightly encouraging) to me is that not everyone is following Dobson’s lead off the political cliff. I’m very happy to see that an element of pragmatism is finally coming to the surface.

Finally, note that no big-time endorsements seem to be heading Fred or McCain’s way. I’m thinking that the Republicans may just be heading for a two-man race. Romney is leading in all the polls in NH and IA, and Rudy is leading in the national polls, and in big early states like Florida. Fred’s performance over the next two months will tell whether my speculation is correct or not, but if so, it will be very interesting to see how a Rudy/Romney race plays out.