Dr. James Dobson’s recent announcement that leaders of the religious right might support a third party candidate – or run one of their own – if the pro-choice Rudy Giuliani were the 2008 Republican presidential nominee sent ominous ripples throughout GOP circles. In no small part, that’s because the religious right has become an important part of the Republican coalition, and it’s difficult (if not impossible) for a Republican to win without the support of that group.
In the event of a walkout by the religious right, the damage to the Republican Party in 2008 is as clear as the harm the country as a whole would suffer if Hillary Clinton were given the keys to The White House. Less obvious – but no less real -- are the repercussions to the religious right itself should its leaders, through a well-intentioned, principled but ill-advised strategy, ensure the election of Senator Clinton.
Such a result would create years of bitterness and division within the conservative movement. The mere mention of a boycott alienates those who are otherwise the religious right’s natural allies – supportive of socially conservative policies and sympathetic to the aims of people of faith. In fact, one email correspondent who professed “evangelical roots” and “great admiration” for religious right leaders Dr. James Dobson and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins wrote me last week:
I am angry at [Dr. Dobson and Mr. Perkins] for trying to essentially scare me into voting in a particular way.
What Dr. Dobson has done is to try to influence my vote not by offering open support for an electable pro-life candidate but by threatening me with the specter of virtually handing the election to Hillary Clinton unless I, as a Republican, vote to nominate an avowedly pro-life candidate. This is flat out bullying of the religious right in the name of "principle."
Certainly, neither of these honorable, patriotic men means to elicit such sentiments. But similar opinions are being voiced in many conservative circles, and they threaten to undermine the credibility and good-will to which the religious right is entitled after years of hard work and committed leadership.
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