The perfect is the enemy of the good

That's a lesson evangelical leaders should learn, now that their worst nightmare - John McCain as the Republican presidential nominee - is on the verge of coming true. If only they hadn't been so hung up on Mitt Romney's Mormon faith, this probably wouldn't have happened:

Though he has the support of some conservative Christian figures, including Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and onetime presidential candidate Gary Bauer, the hatred for McCain in much of the Christian right is irreversible.

"I am convinced Sen. McCain is not a conservative, and in fact, has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those who are," Focus on the Family founder James Dobson said earlier this month, adding that he "will not vote for Sen. John McCain, as a matter of conscience."

Romney, by contrast, had plenty of Christian right patrons, including Bob Jones University's chancellor, Bob Jones III, and Moral Majority co-founder Paul Weyrich. In an interview last year, Dobson acknowledged that "there are conservative Christians who will not vote for (Romney) because of his Mormon faith," but he said that wasn't necessarily "the correct view or my view."

As Dobson warmed to Romney — the two had a getting-to-know-you session at Focus' Colorado Springs headquarters last year — he could have opened a dialogue with his millions of radio listeners about why evangelicals should feel comfortable voting for a Mormon, even if they rejected his theology.

Instead, he took public swipes at Republican candidates Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and John McCain, leaving his evangelical fans to deduce his support for Romney and Huckabee by process of elimination.

An online voter guide issued by Focus on the Family Action, Focus' political wing, favored Romney over the other candidates, but it attempted to gloss over the "Mormon issue." "(Romney) has acknowledged that Mormonism is not a Christian faith, and I appreciate his acknowledging that," a Focus rep claimed in a video featured in the guide. When a Romney spokesman denied that the candidate had said as much, evangelicals were left with more questions about whether they could support a Mormon.

French, the Evangelicals for Mitt blogger, grew so frustrated by the silence from evangelical leaders on Romney's Mormonism that she called Focus on the Family's 800-number to request that Dobson step up to the plate. But Dobson declined, as did a host of other national evangelical leaders. (Through Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger, Dobson also declined to comment for this piece, though he did formally endorse Huckabee the day Romney left the race.) So it's little surprise that evangelicals have wound up voting for one of their own. In Iowa, Huckabee carried 46% of the evangelical vote, compared with 19% for Romney. In Georgia, Huckabee got 43% evangelical support, compared with 28% for Romney. In Oklahoma, it was 39% for Huckabee vs. 26% for Romney. In those states and others, evangelicals accounted for more than half the Republican electorate.

Via Captain Ed, who offers some insight of his own.

Damian P.

Posted by damian at February 18, 2008 11:22 AM