by Mark Silva
It's a day for endorsements in the Republican campaign for president, as one of the self-styled true conservatives in the contest picks up an even more conservative endorsement and the front-runner, in search of any conservative credentials, picks up a Christian right stalwart.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona is touting the endorsement of Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback today in Iowa. McCain, fighting for a foothold in a caucus state that he bypassed during his first bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2000, is welcoming the support of a rock-ribbed conservative who was waging his own campaign for president until only recently.
And Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, picked up the endorsement of Pat Robertson this morning in Washington. Giuliani welcomes Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition and a onetime candidate who made a strong run of his own in Iowa many years ago, as an antidote to the rap that he cannot rally the religious right.
In announcing his support for Giuliani, Robertson said he thinks the most important issue on the radar right now is "Islamic terrorism."
"American must be kept safe," Robertson said. "We need a leader who is strong."
Joining Robertson at a press conference, Giuliani said he hopes the endorsement "sends the message that we have the same goals" even though there are "always some disagreements about means."
Giuliani, who supports abortion rights and gay rights, was all but shunned at a recent conference of "Values Voters'' sponsored by the Family Research Council. McCain fared even worse in that forum -- trailing Giuliani at the back of the pack in a straw-poll conducted in-house and online.
Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, won the Iowa Republican Party's presidential straw poll in the summer of 1987, though former Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas carried the caucuses the following winter -- and George H.W. Bush went on to win the party's nomination and the White House.
Brownback, with his endorsement of McCain today, said: "John McCain is the only candidate who can rally the Reagan coalition of conservatives, Independents, and conservative Democrats needed to defeat Hillary Clinton or any other Democrat in the general election next year.''
Both McCain and Giuliani today face a common competitor in Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is leading in pre-caucus polling in Iowa and primary polling in New Hampshire and tied with Giuliani in a recent South Carolina survey. Romney, who once supported abortion rights, has become an opponent of abortion.
They also face Fred Thompson, the former senator from Tennessee, who is accusing Romney of trying to buy the nomination with the millions of dollars that Romney has pumped into his own campaign, particularly in TV advertising. And Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and Baptist preacher who has won the hearts of a lot of social conservatives.
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Comments
The Brownback endorsement is a coup for McCain, but Pat Robertson is mentally ill and everyone knows that.
Posted by: Tom | November 7, 2007 9:40 AM
I can't wait until George's next confab with the Almighty so he can report to us all which republican candidate God will be endorsing this year. All hail the profit from Crawford.
Maybe one of the wingnut candidates will dig up Jerry Fawell for a photo op too.
Posted by: kg123 | November 7, 2007 9:54 AM
Does this mean that Rudy (Noun, Verb, 9/11) Giuliani
now concurs with this assesment of responsibility for 9/11?
"PAT ROBERTSON: Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population.
JERRY FALWELL: The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.
PAT ROBERTSON: Well, yes
JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen'.
PAT ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system. "
Pat Robertson 9/13/01
Was it Rudy's pro-choice stance that brought 9/11 to NYC? I guess so. Rudy's cuddling up to the man who claimed just that.
Posted by: AJF | November 7, 2007 10:08 AM
The lede should say: "Republicans packing Nitwit endorsements"
Brownback does not believe in Evolution and Robertson is simply a kook. The real question is who does Rev. Fred Phelps endorse? You know it ain't a Democrat.
Posted by: weinerdog43 | November 7, 2007 10:29 AM
Gimme a break. Robertson is an idiot. Such a move can't help Rudy's campaign - none of the Evangelicals will vote for Rudy. Wasted endorsement if you ask me. If he is such a bigot that he doesn't like Mormons, then the least he could have done is endorse someone like Huckabee. At least that endorsement would be believable - even though it would be almost equally useless.
The race will come down to Romney and Rudy. Romney has the Christian right vote as soon as everyone realizes that. They'd rather have a good upstanding Mormon than a bad Catholic any day. Strong? Rudy showed no real strength after 9/11 - he screwed up so bad that the real heroes of that day hate him. Rudy is a one trick pony, and the trick isn't that good.
If Robertson wants Christian Jihad, he should look for another country to live in. In the mean time, I want a president who can stabilize our economy, cut waste, and work with the democrats on social programs worth pursuing - like health care and (fixing) social security.
Rudy would be better than Hillary. At least he's run something. But Romney would make a freaking stellar president. Excluding him because he's Mormon is just stupid.
Anyone who has worked for the Federal Government knows that there is a TON of waste that needs to be trimmed out. It's pretty obvious who the guy to do it is. Want jobs? Want the dollar to be globally competitive? Want social programs worth having? Want to fix Social Security? We need an analytical guy. Not someone who can be "perceived" as strong in the face of Jihadists. We need a guy like Romney - don't be too proud to admit it.
Posted by: A. Burns | November 7, 2007 10:37 AM
I find it interesting that the GOP thinks they own "the line to God." Playing into religion to get votes sickens me.
Posted by: RJinChi | November 7, 2007 10:47 AM
Who cares about Robertson? The right wing is eagerly awaiting who Tinky Winky decides to back...
Posted by: Gibster | November 7, 2007 11:42 AM
I would like to see laws forbidding religious endorsements of politicians as I thought, was the separation of church and state, these holy rollers are no better than the radical muslim fundamentalists, only one difference, they are not suicide bombers, but, can be very destructive via (so called ) Christianity , as their psychological terrorist tool everyday in our federal gov't
Posted by: Gary Hansen | November 7, 2007 12:16 PM
In announcing his support for Giuliani, Robertson said he thinks the most important issue on the radar right now is "Islamic terrorism."
"American must be kept safe," Robertson said. "We need a leader who is strong."
A strong leader? like this chick? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_90nRRoXK8strong
Translated this means if Rudy Julieannie wins the Presidents job the USA DOJ dept will continue to be filled with droids from Regent University.
The Wingnuts like to throw around this word "Islamo-fascism", and I was wondering, does that resemble the "Christo-fascism" we have here in America?
http://www.bushflash.com/14.html
Posted by: John E | November 7, 2007 1:12 PM
The Brownback endorsement is a coup for McCain, but Pat Robertson is mentally ill and everyone knows that.
Posted by: Tom | November 7, 2007 9:40 AM
Tom, how can you say that when Rev. Pat continues to come up with answers to life's most bewildering questions?
"Scientists have shown that electrical current is generated by the human brain. According to at least one source I read, this current takes on the transmission qualities of radio signals. This explains, in some measure, why people who are very close often know what each other is thinking without spoken words being exchanged. For this reason, it is possible that Satan knows at least a little bit about what we are thinking."
- Pat Robertson
(See Crazy John, I love fundy Christians.)
Posted by: dt | November 7, 2007 1:53 PM
Woo hoo!!!
Go Rudy!!!
Check him out here:
http://www.joinrudy20008.com
Chat about him here:
http://www.rudygiulianiforum.com
Posted by: William D Berg | November 7, 2007 2:31 PM
"HAS GOD TOUCHED YOU" I SAID HAS GOD TOUCHED YOU"
WELL PLEASE SEND RUDY GUILLIANI $5.36 AND HE WILL SEND YOU A COPY OF THE HAND OF GOD SO YOU CAN GO TOUCH YOURSELF AND BE HEALED FROM ALL OF THE GOP FILLIBUSTERING. ALL OF THE CIRCUMVENTION OF THE LAWS, ALL OF THE 2.4 TRILLION DOLLARS DEFICT AND NO SCHIP MONIES FOR THE CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND.
PAT ROBERTSON SHOULD BE BANNED FROM ATTEMPTING TO INTERPET THE GOSPEL WORD.
HE DOESN'T HEAR THE VOICES, HE SEES THE SCREAMS FROM THE VOICES, LET ME OUT, I'M ONLY 10 YEARS OLD AND I DON'T LIKE WORKING 80 HOURS A WEEK IN A DIAMOND MINE. HE SEE'S THE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION THAT HE HAS PLAGUED THIS PLANET WITH. HE SEE'S THE SOULS THAT HE HAS TOUCHED WRONGFULLY, AND HE SEES THE MANY LIES IN TRUTH THAT HE HAS SAID GOD HAS COME TO HIM AND SPOKE TO HIM.
HE LIKE WARREN JEFF WILL SAY UNTO US THAT HE IS NOT A PROPHET AND HE TOO WANTED TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET AND LET THE WORLD KNOW THAT HE HAD HOMOSEXUAL DESIRES AND ACTED UPON THEM AS WELL.
JUST ANOTHER CROOK SUPPORTING RUDY GUILLIANI.
BY THE WAY WHERE IS THE POLICE CHIEF AT THESE DAYS RUDY.
THAT'S WHY HIS OWN CHILDREN WOULDN'T ENDORSE HIM IN A BURGER KING COMMERCIAL.
HAS GOD TOUCHED YOU RUDY?
WELL HE IS NOW, NO GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARD FOR YOU, MR. 9/11. $9.11 CENTS MAN!
Posted by: Roger Morris | November 7, 2007 3:02 PM