It's good to see even more Republican commenters catching on to the drag of catering to the evangelical wing of the party. Add David Harsanyi to the list of those that are getting it:
"Sure, there are citizens who oppose gay marriage not out of bigotry or irrational loathing but out of a sense of tradition and faith. The problem is that the Dobson wing hinders Republicans from offering any feasible counter-solutions. Dobson opposes not only man-on-man matrimony but also civil unions. He opposes adoption for gay couples. Let's face it; he opposes the existence of gays.
Good luck with that.
These are not so much ideologically 'conservative' positions as they are moral injunctions. Dobson may grouse in conservative jargon about a court undermining the will of the people. But does anyone believe that Dobson will pound the dais similarly when judicial activism falls his way -- as it has on issues ranging from free speech to medical marijuana?
Aren't Republicans also (hypothetically) the party of limited government and individual freedom?
Dobson claims that Parker and other secular conservatives are trying to marginalize Christian voters, when, in effect, he has it backward. Poor Rudy Giuliani once dressed up as a woman. And Mitt Romney, yeah, he was born into a cult. And this one was divorced too many times, and the other one well, pleasing James Dobson can be a holy hassle.
No, evangelicals are not 'ailing' the Republican Party, as Parker contends, but the acceptance of the traditional values wing should not be a prerequisite for being a 'real' conservative.
Unless Jesus is going to rectify the stock market, Republicans are in for a lonely ride. And as long as the Dobson wing fools itself into believing political fortunes can be resuscitated by ruining Billy and Bobby's honeymoon, they are in for a decade-long surprise."
It reminds me of an appearance James Randi made on Larry King when some preacher mocked Randi's magic as a solution for the world's problems:
Randi: What's your answer to the world's problems?
Preacher: The answer is the answer to all problems, Jesus Christ
Randi: That's not going to stop global warming.
Harsanyi recognizes that the problem with the Dobson wing of the GOP isn't that they are there, but that they think their religious views should hold sway in public policy, even to the point of denying solid evidence to the contrary (evolution, sex education, etc.)
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The theocrats have been trying to take over the GOP since Reagan and the Moral Majority. With the election of Bush they proved that they had. At least John McCain obviously thought so. Otherwise he wouldn't have chosen the VP he did. The sad truth is that the Goldwater conservatives are the ones that are going to (if they haven't already) find themselves the ones expunged from the party.
Seems they have sown the wind...
Perhaps. My father is such a person, and he right now is essentially a man without a party. The Palinists need to break away and start their own party.
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