A who's who of the radical far right religious hate groups -- James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Tony Perkins of Family Research Council, Rev. Donald Wildmon of American Family Association, Gary Bauer of American Values, Paul Weyrich of Free Congress Foundation -- are banding together to screen Republican Presidential hopefuls.
Gary Bauer, president of American Values, said in an interview that the sit-down sessions, likely to begin after the 2006 elections, would be "a very effective way to nail down where people are on cultural issues." He said candidates have become "very astute" at answering written questionnaires in ways that avoid making firm commitments.They might even endorse one candidate if all those power-hungry fellows can agree to support the same guy. (Rick Santorum, perhaps?) I'll be praying that they do -- a Republican candidate branded as the choice of these far right radicals would be hobbled severely during the general election.
Imagine being able to link him (or her?) to every single wacky, hate-filled statement these guys indulge in. He'd either have to distance himself from them repeatedly or finally repudiate them if he wanted any pretense of being in the mainstream, thus ticking off their followers. Or he'd stay arm in arm with them and scare off the sane moderate majority of Americans.
Please, please, please, fellows, hand out a scarlet letter to your favorite candidate. Make our day.
