Christian conservative leaders decide: None of the above?

posted at 9:53 am on October 22, 2007 by Allahpundit
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The conclave has concluded and if the Wash Times is to be believed, even Mike Huckabee — an ordained minister — may not be “Christian enough.”

“There was no consensus on candidates, no agreement, period,” a participant confided after the meeting, held at the Washington Hilton one day after several of their groups participated in a “Values Voters” summit at that hotel.

Then, referring to Mr. Huckabee, he said, “He’s finished, I think. Bad things will be coming out about him,” referring to long-standing accusations surrounding Mr. Huckabee’s clemency for a rapist who later murdered someone in another state…

Mr. Thompson was the first choice of many top Christian conservatives before he announced formally, but his former boosters say he has lost support since because he lacks energy, passion and even knowledge about current events. Mr. Thompson underperformed in both his speech and the straw poll at the Values summit, garnering only 10 percent of the overall vote, including Internet ballots.

Reportedly Huck had the most support as a consensus choice who might obviate the need for a third-party candidate, which makes the objection to his clemency snafu curious. Do they know that his clemency policy was based explicitly on Christian principles? That’ll be a fun argument to watch, if and when it happens. It’ll also be fun to see how the rest of the party reacts if the religious right succeeds in anointing Huck the nominee even though he’s a second-tier candidate without their support. That would prove that they own the party, if ever proof was needed. Would the center go along with their choice in the interest of slaying the Hillary dragon? Or would they react to social cons’ threats to bolt if they don’t get a tailor-made nominee with some threats of their own? The latter, I hope, although with the possible exception of a few Fredheads (and Paulnuts, of course), I don’t sense such ardent support for any of the other candidates that would cause anyone to sit out if their guy isn’t the nominee.

Your quote of the day, from a WSJ piece on Giuliani’s uphill climb in deep red South Carolina:

Mr. Giuliani came through town earlier this month for a brief public meet-and-greet at a local coffee shop. Perhaps 100 people showed up. Inside, Mr. Jones ran into Doug Wavle, who represents Greenville on the state Republican executive committee. Mr. Wavle describes the county as “Bible-believing” and predicts peace won’t come to the Middle East until “the Lord Jesus Christ returns to Earth.” Mr. Giuliani, he says, doesn’t meet the strict moral standards he and his neighbors set. “I’m here just to be a good host,” Mr. Wavle told Mr. Jones. “This is not my candidate, and you know why.”

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