Conservative Christians, whose vote helped push President Bush over the top at the last election, are now looking to flex some of their political muscle by threatening the White House and Republicans in Congress to withdraw their support if they don’t do more to oppose same sex marriage, obscenity and abortion.
The New York Times is reporting today that conservative Christian groups are pressuring Bush and the Republicans to push their conservative agenda or face possible defeat in the midterm elections without their political support.
Richard Viguerie, conservative direct mail organizer, said conservative Christians have become dissatisfied with the Republicans’ leadership over government spending, the war in Iraq, immigration policy, obscenity and other hot-button topics.
Just in recent weeks, Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of the influential conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, has openly criticized Republican leaders of betraying social conservatives who helped elect them. Dobson has also threatened top Republicans in private meetings, that he would turn critic unless they back a conservative agenda.
Observers say that these recent complaints demonstrate just how low Bush’s public approval rating has dropped, turning his once boisterous Christian conservative supporters into ardent critics.
It was just two years ago that Dobson and other conservative Christians staged huge rallies to get out the vote on Bush’s behalf.
But Bush’s weak stance on conservative causes and his inability to rally Republicans on his agenda has further eroded his appeal to conservative Christians, Dobson said.
Dobson told the newspaper that in his private meetings with Bush aide Karl Rove, Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois and other top Republicans, he made them aware of the stakes for the upcoming elections.
While some bristle at Bush’s perceived lack of effort in opposing same sex marriage measures around the country, others blast the president for doing little to support a measure to increase obscenity fines for broadcasters.
Although the White House touts the confirmations of Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., some say the two sides are hurting themselves in the process.
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said that if Bush acquiesces to the right and the Republicans do poorly in the midterm election, the party will blame the president for being too conservative.
