James Dobson, Tony Perkins, and some others within the Council for National Policy are threatening to leave the Republican Party if Rudy Giuliani wins the Republican nomination, according to The New York Times. This is big news. I for one am happy to see these leaders standing on principle, and I intend to stand with them. I don’t care if Giuliani believes in lower taxes and smaller government. If he’s wrong on the greatest human rights crisis of our time (abortion on demand), then he’s not qualified to be President. “Giuliani Inspires Threat of a Third-Party Run” – by David Kirkpatrick (New York Times)
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Doug Wilson on the Politics of N. T. Wright
This is likely the first and last time you will see the word “turd” in one of my blog posts. But this is the metaphor that the inimitable Doug Wilson chooses to describe the current polarities of the American political landscape. In his commentary “The Fox News Jesus or the CNN Jesus?,” Wilson responds to Joseph Laconte’s critique of N. T. Wright that appeared last week in the web version of The Weekly Standard (see my “More Wrong from Wright“). Wilson’s basic point is that choosing between the “Fox News Jesus” and the “CNN Jesus” is like choosing between cat turds and dog turds. They’re certainly different, but neither one…
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Stick a Fork in Giuliani
You can stick a fork in Mayor Rudy Giuliani because he’s done. At least that’s the judgment that James Dobson has made, and I fundamentally agree with him. In case you missed it last week, Dobson said this: The jig is up. Rudy Giuliani finally admitted in a speech at Houston Baptist University last week that he is an unapologetic supporter of abortion on demand. That revelation came as no great shock to those of us in the pro-life movement. His public pronouncements as mayor of New York, together with his more recent tap dances on the campaign trail, have told a very clear story.
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CT on Salem Communications
Christianity Today has a must-read piece on Salem Communications and its place in Christian radio. If you listen to Christian talk radio in a major market in the U.S., then it’s likely that you have been listening to a station in Salem’s ubiquitous broadcasting network.
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Why Quick Endorsements for Miers from Evangelicals?
The newspaper of record has the best reporting that I have seen thus far on Harriet Miers. The story is titled “In Midcareer, a Turn to Faith to Fill a Void.†This article gives great insight into Miers’s conversion to evangelical faith and the subsequent reconfiguring of her politics. This one is definitely worth your taking the time to read it. For those who have been wondering how prominent Evangelicals have been able to offer such a quick endorsement of someone who is largely an unknown quantity (e.g. James Dobson), there may be some information in this piece that helps to explain. The White House had Texas Supreme Court justice…
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What Do They Know That We Don’t? (Part 2)
Scene from John Roberts’ Confirmation Hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Recent discussions of Judge John Roberts reveal that he is not an altogether satisfying choice for those who occupy places at both ends of the political spectrum. Liberals have been in a tizzy since his nomination, fearing that he will perhaps be in a majority that could overturn Roe v. Wade. Even some conservatives have had persistent questions as to Roberts’ conservative bona fide’s (which I wrote about two months ago here). In particular, conservatives have been questioning what kind of a conservative justice Roberts will prove to be. Is Roberts the kind of conservative who will conserve the…
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What Do They Know That We Don’t?
At first blush, the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court looks like a welcome development. All indications are that he is an originalist in his approach to constitutional interpretation—that is, he believes the constitution to have a fixed meaning grounded in the original intention of the framers. Yet it also looks like Roberts fits the description of a so-called “establishment conservativeâ€â€”meaning, he will show some degree of deference to the traditions of the high court. To this effect, Time magazine speculates: “Roberts may agree in spirit with those who see the past 50 years of jurisprudence as too expansive and too intrusive but respect too much the way…
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Does God care about filibusters?
Sometimes I read things that are so pitifully erroneous that I feel compelled to set the record straight. This is one instance. Recently Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D.-Ill., complained about Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist’s participation in a simulcast to religious conservatives. The simulcast will include pro-family leaders — such as James Dobson — who have portrayed Democrats as being “against people of faith” for blocking President Bush’s judicial nominations. Durbin was not at all happy that Frist was participating in such an event. Durbin groused: “I cannot imagine that God — with everything he has or she[1] has to worry about — is going to take the time to…
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State of the Union Address 2005
Article II, Sec. 3 of the U.S. Constitution says that the President, “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information on the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.†Tonight, President Bush did just that, setting forth his vision and plan for the nation in a 53 minute address to the Congress.The most poignant moment in the speech occurred when he recognized the mother of slain soldier Byron Norwood, who was killed last year in Iraq during the attack on Fallujah. In an unscripted but emotionally powerful moment, the mother of the slain soldier leaned forward to…
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“Morning Joe” says Trump is not on the side of social conservatives
I don’t think we can overstate the significance of Peter Thiel’s speech at the RNC on Thursday night. It’s not just that Thiel spoke nor that he said what he said. What was stunning was that the GOP delegates stood to their feet and cheered. No matter where you are in the culture wars, all sides can acknowledge that this represents a sea change for the Republican party. On Friday morning, the “Morning Joe” crew commented on Thiel’s reception by the GOP delegates. The panel rightly comprehended the significance of it. But what interested me about their discussion is something that Joe remarked on near the end of the video…